The City of Edmonton is planning to allow a bike skills park as part of the Queen Elizabeth Park master plan. That plan goes back to 2013, and a lot has changed since then in terms of our understanding of the climate and biodiversity crisis. The bike skills park will involve tree-cutting in the central river valley and intends to include many trails, an asphalt track, and jumps. This is not an appropriate location for the bike skills park. Most people want to see the river valley protected and restored as a quiet, natural space and healthy wildlife corridor that provides access to nature for everyone, rather than turned over to an intensive recreational use for one user group. This CBC article shows the developer's rendering of what the bike skills park will look like: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/new-mountain-bike-park-in-edmonton-s-river-valley-will-start-construction-this-year-1.7487263 How does this align with a preserved natural river valley?
It is also concerning that the engagement and Indigenous consultation were so limited.
We also question the wisdom in the expenditures right now by the province ($613,000) and the city ($407,000). The province's portion could be used to fund a bike skills park in a more appropriate part of the river valley (perhaps Sunridge Ski Area, which is wider and more open, has lifts, and has an adjacent parking lot) and the city's portion could instead go to finally funding a River Valley Trails Strategy, which city council has repeatedly stated it would like to undertake but does not have the money for.
Please sign this petition to ask city council to not allow the bike skills park to go in QE Park and instead to find a more ecologically sound location for it.
