Responsible Trail Management in Gatineau Park

Gatineau Park offers some 200 km of official trails for recreational activities.

There is also a network of unofficial trails that is larger than the official network, and continues to expand. These trails have significant environmental impacts and create a public safety risk. 

The Responsible Trail Management project has the following goals: 

• Reduce the environmental impact of unofficial trails; 
• Minimize public safety risks; 
• Enhance Gatineau Park’s recreational potential. 

At the NCC, we take responsible trail management seriously, and we need your help to succeed. You can help by using only the network of official trails and obeying all signage. 

Phases 1, 2 and 3 of the project are completed. The NCC has now integrated over 48 km of trails, which are now part of the official network.

Volunteers

This project is in partnership with volunteers and could not happen without their valuable contributions. Visit the Gatineau Park trail maintenance volunteers page for more information or to volunteer.

Official trails in Gatineau Park are carefully designed and take sustainability, long-term management and safety principles into consideration. They are designed to help protect the environment while providing a safe and enjoyable recreational experience. 

This does not apply to unofficial trails, which can have significant impacts, such as: 

• Fragmenting ecosystems
• Reducing the number and quality of habitats, which affects at-risk species
• Facilitating the introduction of invasive alien species 
• Disturbing wildlife
• People risking injury (no patrollers present) or potentially getting lost (unmapped areas) 

The Responsible Trail Management project aims to integrate close to 100 km of unofficial trails into the network of Gatineau Park’s official trails. It will also naturalize almost 200 km of unofficial trails, which will no longer be accessible.

Volunteers are helping to make this project happen.

Integrating trails

Before the selected unofficial trails can be integrated into the official trail network, rehabilitation and maintenance work will be done. Once they become part of the official network, these trails will offer a different experience from what exists in the Park’s current trail network.

• Narrower trails with several types of technical challenges on varied terrain
• Trails forming interesting loops, and with different trail options linking to various parts of the Park

Restoring trails

Restoring a trail means allowing nature to take over. It’s a process that takes place naturally when a trail is no longer used, but it takes time. Camouflaging trail entrances and planting trees accelerate the process, but these methods are only effective if people respect the closures and stay on official trails.

From 2014 to 2017, the NCC consulted the public, and undertook environmental and recreational assessments. Comments were received, and then analyzed by staff, which then led to recommendations for the Responsible Trail Management project.

This four-phase project has been ongoing since 2018.

Phase 1 (completed)

• Integration of 14.43 km of trails in the Gatineau and Chelsea sectors
• Result: Trails 41, 42, 43, 66, 67, 68, 76, 77, 79 and 80 are now official

Phase 2 (completed)

• Integration of 16.5 km of trails in the Wakefield sector
• Result: Trails 53B, 58, 59 and 72B are now official

Phase 3 (completed)

• Integration of 25.1 km of trails in the Old Chelsea and Meech Creek Valley sectors
• Result: Trails 78, 79, 79b, 44, 45, 47 are now official and Trail 70 will be added this summer

Phase 4 (currently under way)

• Integration of 55 km of trails in the Eardley Escarpment sector

From 2014 to 2017, the NCC broadly consulted with Park users and major stakeholders. These consultations were aimed at finding satisfactory common ground from both a recreational and a conservation perspective.

Biologists studied the unofficial trails and walked along them to be able to assess the environmental impact of a potential change in use. The assessment of the trails also considered the recreational perspective: type of use, frequency and connectivity with the rest of the network.

Then, for integration into the official network, the NCC selected the trails with the least environmental impact and the best recreational potential. The other trails will be restored to their natural state.

Blog on the implementation of the project