Sooke ATV Club has signed a land access agreement with Mosaic Forest Management, providing Sooke ATV Club members with access to approximately 23,000 hectares of additional riding area in the Sooke Hills.

The agreement, signed on June 8, 2022, was the sole purpose for forming the Sooke ATV Club, which currently has over 100 members. Sooke ATV Club President Dillon Baycroft sends, “A big shout out to the Island based clubs for continued support & comradery.”

We finally have an agreement in place for local Sooke area land access for our club members!

Club president, Dillon Baycroft says, “We look to grow our club numbers and add responsible riders.  The Victoria area is teeming with new member potential, and we hope to be able to bring more people into the ATVBC club.”

Over the past year the club expanded its board of directors from three to seven, making less work for everyone.  We continue to hold a minimum of two events per month, 1 club trail ride and 1 trail maintenance day.  We have created a calendar so members can plan their participation well in advance.

Signing the agreement may have been the easy part!  The club will create a database to compile information about members and riders to provide to Mosaic Forest Management as part of the agreement.

Two key machine and rider details are required:

1. Proof that all ORVs have basic ICBC $200,000 liability insurance and $1,000,000 3^rd party liability.
2. All riders must complete a free, online ATV safety course, which takes about 1 hour.

Members wishing to access Mosaic Forest Management property must send a photograph or scan of the insurance documents (listed above) and a copy of their safety course certificate to mailto:[email protected]

The land access agreement requires signing of an additional waiver and individual agreement for access keys (more information to follow shortly).

Sooke ATV Club volunteers are working hard to development and implement processes, but it will take some time.  Once the program is complete, adding new members for access will be done periodically so there may be a wait time between document submission and access.

Currently about 25% of the Sooke ATV Club’s membership is ready to ride on Mosaic lands.

For members who have already completed the above 2 prerequisites, we are happy to share the agreement, the waiver, & the riding area map/access points. Just email the club mailto:[email protected]

ATVBC is very proud of the hard work and perseverance put forward by the island clubs and their volunteers to bring this agreement together with Mosaic. We look forward to seeing how this new agreement rolls out and will support our members through the process. We believe this agreement will be key to increasing riders to the region, while boosting local tourism and recreation!  Kristin Parsons, Executive Director, ATVBC

The Sooke ATV Club applied and received grant funding this year to the tune of $7,000 (from ATVBC & Unsmoke Canada).

Granted funds have been used to purchase a branded Sooke ATV Club pop up tent for club and community events, a Stihl Hedge Trimmer to remove some of those pesky face slapping tree branches, and three branded sandwich boards for club and community events.

Funding will also support the Sooke ATV Club’s 3^rd Annual Environmental Clean Up Day.  Finally, club ride leaders will receive CSC, CASI and First Aid training and to cover the costs associated with the land access agreement with Mosaic.

[email protected]

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Thanks,

Dillon Baycroft

President

Sooke ATV Club