Tip-to-tip grid for ATV riders on P.E.I. won't be easy but it's 'doable,' says trail planner

Stephen Brun · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 29, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: June 29

What it volition instrumentality to physique a provincewide web of all-terrain conveyance trails connected P.E.I. became a batch much wide past week erstwhile an adept successful specified systems visited the Island.

Magi Scallion lives successful Golden, B.C., but grew up successful the Wentworth Valley country of Nova Scotia, wherever her emotion of skiing and upland biking began. 

She yet channelled that passionateness into way planning, and has worked to make networks for everything from snowmobiles to offroad motorcycle clubs. 

Scallion spent a week connected the Island helping the P.E.I. ATV Federation representation retired what a completed tip-to-tip way for its riders mightiness look like. 

"A large precedence for this project… is making definite that it's environmentally liable and besides harmless for each users," she told CBC's Island Morning. 

"You spot antithetic levels of erosion conscionable due to the fact that of the mode the wheels tin rotation and the knob of your tires, truthful it requires a antithetic level of biology responsibility." 

An Island-wide strategy for ATV users has been a extremity for years. The federation had antecedently pushed to person riders beryllium allowed to usage the Confederation Trail, which besides runs from 1 extremity of the state to the other. 

That thought received pushback during nationalist consultations, with immoderate radical acrophobic that the beingness of ATVs would beryllium excessively unsafe for the pedestrians and cyclists who presently usage the way strategy built on the beds of the province's aged railroad system.

'Highs and lows'

There are hundreds of kilometres of ATV trails astir the province, but piecing them each unneurotic into a tip-to-tip web would beryllium tricky.

The P.E.I. authorities has been helping the federation by allowing subordinate clubs to usage definite designated aviator roads successful assorted areas. As of aboriginal June, determination were 77 kilometres of dedicated trails crossed the Island.  

The state requires that the aviator trails beryllium connected ungraded roads, with debased postulation measurement and nary imaginable biology concerns. The federation besides has to enactment with backstage landowners successful those areas to guarantee riders tin get connected and disconnected the roads without issues.

The second presents ATV users successful P.E.I. with a hurdle that riders successful immoderate different provinces don't face, said Scallion. 

In British Columbia, for example, galore akin trails are constructed done publically owned Crown onshore — meaning lone the provincial governments request to beryllium consulted connected usage of the land, alternatively than an array of backstage owners.  

"The biggest situation for the federation is gathering and maintaining relationships with backstage landowners," Scallion said. 

"We each cognize what being successful a narration is similar — there's going to beryllium highs and lows and spot and mistrust…. It's surely a existent situation for the federation to find a mode crossed the state connected backstage land." 

From the federation's perspective, though, those relationships person been processing well. 

WATCH | 'This is simply a immense babe step,' ATV relation says arsenic much aged roads opened up successful southeastern P.E.I.:

Executive manager Peter Mellish said determination are present 600-plus signed agreements with landowners crossed the Island. 

"Private landowners fundamentally are reasonably open-minded erstwhile we attack them," helium said. "We privation to person the champion imaginable narration that's beneficial for the landowner and america and that we're bully stewards of the land… and that we adhd worth to the spot erstwhile we're there." 

Before leaving the province, Scallion provided the federation with a mates of options for imaginable paths the way web could take. 

She besides equipped the radical with immoderate accusation astir the administrative enactment that volition beryllium required with the state erstwhile it comes to permits and legalities of crossing wetlands and backstage property. 

While she couldn't estimation erstwhile the strategy would beryllium complete, she's assured her roadmap volition assistance pb the federation successful the close direction. 

"Trails outgo wealth to build, and gathering trails done wetland is incredibly costly to bash successful a liable manner. We're talking similar hundreds of dollars per metre if you're going to bash it right," Scallion said. 

"It's not going to beryllium easy, but I deliberation it's doable."