In response to significant recent growth in trail use, the Village recently adopted the Cumberland Community Forest Park Interim Trail Management Strategy in early summer 2021. The purpose of the Strategy is to respond to current trail management issues in the municipal park, and to build understanding about trails in the Park and adjacent trail network.
The Cumberland Community Forest Park is the 500 acre park closest to the Village. This area sees the most diversity of trail users. This park was gifted to the Village by the Cumberland Community Forest Society for ecological protection and low impact recreation between 2005 and 2020.
This new strategy reflects the unique character of the Cumberland Community Forest Park and helps to educate residents and visitors about the Park, the broader network and the delineations between these two areas. The strategy also outlines plans under way for signage, trail designations within the park (Nature and Gravity trails) and other exciting projects that will support the diverse users of the landscape.
This broader Cumberland Trail Network includes the Cumberland Community Forest Park and Cumberland Watershed Lands where trails are managed by the Village of Cumberland, and private managed forest lands where trails are managed by United Riders of Cumberland through a land access (license) agreement with forestry companies.
The Interim Trail Management Strategy includes a Trail Use Etiquette framework that is also being adopted across the network. The goal of this framework is to build a positive community culture around sharing the trails and help to reduce trail related conflict and safety issues.
The Strategy received input from the Cumberland Community Forest Society (CCFS) to ensure consistency with the objectives of the CCFS in their role as community covenant holder, and by the Comox Valley Land Trust in their role as Covenant Holder. Additionally, the Strategy was referred to the United Riders of Cumberland (UROC) for input and coordination of trail management policy for trails in the network managed by UROC.