The month of November flew by faster then expected. We have been busy this month visiting communities to have conversations regarding the ORV access into communities project.
Myself alongside Board Directors John Blinston and Jennifer Lipinski, visited 100 Mile House in early November for a series of discussions with community representatives, local government officials, RCMP, and MLA Lorne Doerkson. The purpose of the meetings was to explore the possibilities for Off-Road Vehicle (ORV) access into communities along the Gold Rush Snowmobile Trail.
During our visit, the ATVBC team also attended the Southern Cariboo Regional Tourism Forum, connecting with key stakeholders from across the region to discuss challenges, share insights, and explore ways to promote outdoor motorized recreation.
ATVBC will continue working with communities in the area into 2025, with plans to establish a pilot program on the Gold Rush Snowmobile Trail and potentially expand to other significant trail systems. For more information on this initiative, you can reach out to [email protected].
Since our visit to the Cariboo, we heard from other communities including Lac La Hache and Williams Lake, and Clearwater asking for us to visit and share more about the ORV access opportunities. We are planning for a spring visit into these communities to bring the support and resources they need to make informed decisions regarding ORV access. We were very impressed by the turn out of the tourism forum and the connections and relationships we were able to build there!
Following the announcement of the new Provincial Cabinet, we received a call from the new Minister of Water Lands Natural Resources, Hon. Randene Neill. We discussed our current work with her ministry and key areas of concern and potential opportunities for the future. We have setup a follow-up meeting for early January to bring her up to date on our advocacy efforts. We have sent out introductory letters to all the new MLA’s while sharing our “white paper” developed in September to address our key advocacy areas.
Last month, I told you about our new Dealer Kits that we are giving to the dealerships around the province to help with promoting ATVBC in-store. These kits are meant to act as a “gift with purchase” for dealers to give to their customers if they sign up in-store for an ATVBC membership. The membership is still an online process, and the dealerships are given tent cards for their service desks with a special QR code for customers to follow to sign up! We have 1000 kits to distribute and will be visiting more dealers over the winter to ensure everyone has them for the spring season!
We were invited to attend the monthly sales meetings in the Kelowna Powersports group to introduce ATVBC dealer kits, our new Safety Program and membership and are pleased to welcome Kelowna Yamaha & Marine, Kelowna Powersports and VI Powersports in Nanaimo as the newest ATVBC Corporate Members. Check them out for details on special discounts now available to ATVBC members!
After our presentation, we then visited all the remaining ORV dealers in Kelowna and delivered our kits and encouraged each dealer to become a member and support ATVBC!
Over the holidays, we will see our office close for a well-deserved break but not before spending the first few weeks of December catching up on our work with government staff on trail issues, making follow up calls to our ORV dealers, sorting through the new grant applications in our grant intake #1 which is due Dec 15th and selling our 50/50 tickets before the big draw on Dec 15th! Have you got your tickets yet? What a great Xmas gift idea!
Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season!
Kristin
