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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The city has blocked a popular access point to trails at the Sand Pits with large boulders in an attempt to curb illegal dumping in the area, but that's not sitting well with some users who feel the barricade is an affront to those who work hard to keep the area clean.

Trevor Curtis, left, and his son Matthew, 12, stand by the Jeep they would often drive on the trails at the Sand Pits. A gap near where the Jeep is parked here still allows mountain bikes, dog walkers, all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles access to the trails but it is too narrow for the Jeep or other larger vehicles. - Lyndsay Herman/NNSL photo

Mayor Gord Van Tighem said the city found a collection of batteries and other environmentally hazardous refuse along the trails earlier this summer, which was the "straw that broke the camel's back."

As a result, a wall of boulders now block off the trails to any vehicles larger than an all-terrain vehicle or snowmobile.

The Midnight Sun Wheelers 4x4 club has organized an annual cleanup of the Sand Pits for the past three years and members are frustrated that their club activities are now limited because of other peoples' behaviour.

The club volunteers its time and vehicles to pull items like burnt cars, old mattresses, broken gazebos, car batteries, tires, appliances and other refuse into an area where they can be easily carted off to the dump.

Mike Nolting, a member of the club, said dog walkers, mountain bikers and other people who also enjoy the unique terrain often join in.

"We clean it because we don't want what's happened with the rocks to happen," he said.

"We don't want the area closed off to users because quite a few people do use it."

Van Tighem acknowledged the work done during the annual cleanup but said it's not enough to ensure items like batteries don't leak hazardous waste into the environment. A spill like that would require a report to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the resulting cost of clean up would be charged to the city.

While Jeff Corradetti, a Yellowknife resident and sand pit user, is in full support of keeping the space clean, he said he's concerned with the city's lack of communication with the community who uses the recreation space.

"The city's machine gun justice approach, that everybody is going to suffer because of a few bad apples, isn't a proper way to do things and it compounds the problem when there's no communication about it," he said.

"They really don't have good communication with the residents."

Both Corradetti and Nolting said there were no warnings or signs posted to educate people of the fines or implications of dumping at the site before or after the barricade was built and both said they would have liked the city to exhaust that avenue before blocking the trails to everyone.

Safety issues around the barricade are also a concern because someone accessing the trail from any point other than the barricade may not realize there are now sharp rocks awaiting their descent down a sandy hill, said Nolting.

"If you've got a younger individual that is not that skilled on one of these ATVs and he comes around the corner not expecting to see a two-ton boulder and he smashed into that thing, then we're dealing with an issue that I don't think anybody wants," he said.

"I'm thinking, instead of going through the drastic measures of putting big boulders there, why aren't we trying to educate the public?"

Nolting said the 4x4 club often coaches non-members in the area on socially responsible behaviour on the trails and the response from people is usually positive.

Conversations and occasional patrols would most likely prove more effective than the barricade, he said, because the rocks won't change anyone's behaviour and the trails can still be accessed at other points if someone really wanted to.

Nolting said he could think of at least eight other ways to access the trails other than the point of the barricade, just off the top of his head.

"I understand what they're doing and I understand why they're doing it but I think there are other ways around getting the same message across instead of blocking off a trail to a multi-use area," said Nolting.

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