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NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
The Canol Trail is slowly being destroyed by Land Rover enthusiasts intent on conquering the 320-km heritage route, according to Garth Wallbridge, a Norman Wells resident who has been hiking the trail since 2006.

Tire treads from Land Rovers seen on the Canol Heritage Trail were seen from the sky. Mark Patrick, manager of tourism and parks for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, took a photo near the Yukon border about two weeks ago. - photo courtesy of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment

"They've made a heck of a mess," he said.

The trail, which stretches through the Mackenzie Mountains from Norman Wells to the Yukon border, is touted by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment as one of the most challenging hikes in Canada.

It was constructed during the Second World War by United States Armed Forces, but later abandoned when the terrain proved too hard to maintain.

Now it attracts people on foot, bike, horseback, ATV and in four-wheel drive vehicles who want to see the canyons, mountains and valleys left behind by the soldiers.

"The harm is this: it is a very fragile environment and a very harsh environment," Wallbridge said.

The Rover-Landers of British Columbia, which he said caught his attention in 2009 when they first tried to conquer the trail, is a non-profit society for Land Rover owners and enthusiasts, according to the group's website.

In 2009 members of the group managed to complete one-third of the trail before running out of fuel, and this past August they reached just farther than that before poor driving conditions forced them to turn around.

Wallbridge said the trips, although adventurous, pose an extreme risk to the environment, especially during river crossings.

"It's kind of like being in a big washing machine, because these rivers are so fast and the water is so hard and fast and furious. They're getting the underside of their vehicles cleaned, and that stuff is getting left in the river," he said.

"Nobody is fully aware just how bad things are out there."

He called the disregard for Canol wildlife "disturbing in its ignorance."

"What happens is these folks see pretty pictures of the Canol Trail and they go, 'Well, we'll just ride down the trail in our bicycles, or our four-wheelers, or our vehicles,'" he said.

Wallbridge said regulations have to be put in place to ensure the trail is kept in good conditions, but the trick isn't deciding who gets to use it, but who gets to rule it.

"Who manages it? Nobody. That's the bottom line," he said.

Although the Canol Heritage Trail is technically Crown land, and its clean-up falls to the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, Wallbridge said it could very well become a part of a land claim agreement and eventually fall in the hands of the territorial government.

"It's those Aboriginal governments, working with the feds and with the GNWT, that have a legal and moral responsibility to sort this out before it becomes impossible to correct. And I think it's heading that way," he said.

"The damage will be so extensive. If the woodland caribou are chased out of there by these people then what is anyone from the three levels of government going to say? 'Woops, we should have acted earlier'?"

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