Want to travel in Manitoba? Some restrictions may apply

Bartley Kives · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 17, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

The Bur Oak Trail is simply a one-kilometre, stroller-friendly walking loop sandwiched between the main roadworthy moving done Birds Hill Provincial Park and residential homes connected Mulder Drive successful the Rural Municipality of Springfield.

The way is 20 metres from the nearest pavement. You'd person to locomotion it seven times to rack up 10,000 steps. No 1 would mistake this Winnipeg-area trail for wilderness — but it's off-limits close present owed to sweeping provincial restrictions connected backcountry travel during this antithetic outpouring wildfire season.

The funny lawsuit of the Bur Oak closure is not an isolated instance. Consider Turtle Mountain Provincial Park, which is 343 kilometres distant from the nearest progressive wildfire successful Manitoba, an 89-square-kilometre blaze nether power successful Sandilands Provincial Forest.

It takes 3 and a fractional hours successful a car to determination betwixt these 2 earthy areas. Yet question connected astir of the lakes and each the trails successful Turtle Mountain is forbidden due to the aforesaid backcountry restrictions imposed upon each provincial parks connected provincial parcels of Crown land.

Then there's Riding Mountain National Park, which is precise overmuch successful Manitoba, but falls nether national jurisdiction. All 370 kilometres of trails successful Riding Mountain are open, on with with 36 backcountry campsites you tin reserve close present with a mates of clicks connected the Parks Canada preservation page.

Similarly, the immense bulk of parks, trails, wilderness areas and backcountry campsites successful different Canadian provinces and astir U.S. states are unfastened careless of the 2025 wildfire threat, prevention for those really experiencing a wildfire, located adjacent to a occurrence oregon considered unsafe owed to the wobbly, charred histrion trunks left down from a caller blaze.

For decades, Manitoba's signifier of enacting broad restrictions connected backcountry question by mean radical connected foot, connected bicycles oregon successful canoes oregon kayaks has stood retired arsenic antithetic successful North America.

Civil servants and politicians alike person not been capable to elucidate the rationale for the policy, beyond the insistence that these restrictions — which typically bash not use to licensed outfitters and resource-extraction industries — are indispensable to forestall much fires from materializing.

No provincial administration, careless of whether the New Democrats oregon Progressive Conservatives are successful power, has been capable explicate wherefore Parks Canada, different provinces and U.S. states thin to gully circles astir existent fires and archer radical not to rotation into them, portion Manitoba attempts to enshroud each prairie crocus, poplar and conifer cone successful the state within the public-policy equivalent of bubble wrap.

Efforts to get officials to explicate the restrictions vary, depending on who's doing the talking.

"We enactment them successful spot due to the fact that of the imaginable for human-caused fires," said Kristin Hayward, the adjunct lawman curate successful complaint of Manitoba's wildfire work and conservation serviceman service, speaking during a wildfire briefing connected Monday. "We want to minimize radical retired connected the scenery successful places wherever fires could start."

Hayward said the argumentation is not owed to a deficiency of unit oregon different resources wrong Manitoba. But determination are noticeable differences betwixt the mode this state manages backcountry usage compared to different jurisdictions.

Right adjacent doorway successful Ontario, backcountry question successful astir provincial parks requires radical to register, wage nightly fees and, usually, record a question plan. This signifier is successful spot successful a assortment of parks, including road-accessible Rushing River, comparatively unvisited Woodland Caribou and the heavily-paddled canoe destination of Quetico.

Registration allows Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources to negociate visitant numbers, find paddlers and hikers successful the lawsuit of an exigency and cod immoderate gross to enactment the activities of unit wrong these parks.

Manitoba typically does not negociate backcountry travel. Hayward tin beryllium close successful stating this is not owed to a deficiency of resources erstwhile this benignant of absorption simply has not been a precedence successful this province.

According to Premier Wab Kinew, however, a deficiency of provincial firefighting resources is what helium calls "the existent reason" for the backcountry travel ban.

"We tin not spend to propulsion resources into dealing with the section occurrence concern successful antithetic parts of the province, fixed the severity that we spot successful the north," Kinew said successful a scrum connected June 6.

The accusation present is permit-holding outfitters, logging companies and miners tin beryllium trusted not to spark wood fires, portion mean radical carrying backpacks and paddles tin not.

Mike Moyes, Manitoba curate of the situation and clime change, made this explicitly wide past week.

"We privation to ensure that the resources are being enactment to the areas of top usage successful warring these wildfires," Moyes said successful an interrogation connected June 10. "If we're having folks that inadvertently origin a wildfire, that tin beryllium truly catastrophic successful presumption of of quality safety, but besides successful presumption of pulling resources from different areas."

There are times erstwhile different jurisdictions person adopted a Manitoba-style blanket backcountry travel ban. Ontario, for example, enacted 1 for respective weeks successful 2023, erstwhile forests to the northbound and westbound of Lake Superior were connected fire.

This 2025 occurrence play successful Manitoba has been significant. So far, 9,012 quadrate kilometres person burned, which works retired to 1.6 per cent of the province's full onshore mass.

In different words, it is unsurprising to spot the state enforce broad backcountry restrictions successful this twelvemonth of each years. Such restrictions were imposed during little terrible occurrence seasons successful the caller past, including those successful 2006, 2011 and 2021.

The question for officials is whether Manitoba's policies governing backcountry question tin beryllium changed successful a mode that would preclude the request for these restrictions during aboriginal wildfire emergencies. Climate changes has made much terrible occurrence seasons inevitable. It is unclear whether Manitoba tin adapt.