|
When travelling on forest roads in B.C., use care and caution at all
times:
- Some public roads within the fire area may be deactivated, temporarily
or otherwise, to reduce environmental concerns. This includes frequent
cross ditching and in some cases, culvert removal, which may make
the road impassable, even with a four-wheel drive vehicle. The Ministry
of Forests would prefer no vehicular traffic travel these roads.
- In the event that you find yourself on a deactivated road, exercise
extreme caution since the deactivation can render a road extremely
dangerous to navigate by any means.
- Those roads that are not deactivated are likely to have active logging
operations or other traffic on them. Watch out for logging trucks
and other large vehicles at all times - because of their size and
resulting lack of manoeuvrability, they have the right of way on all
forest roads.
- Ensure your activities do not affect water management structures,
like waterbars and cross ditches. These are in place to protect the
environment - if they are altered, adjacent areas may be threatened
by mud slides or flooding.
- Drive with your headlights on at all times.
- Watch for road hazards and industrial traffic. Adhere to all signs,
but beware that not all hazards may be signed.
- Any gates to control cattle are to be kept closed.
- Road conditions change. A road you expect to be open may be difficult
to negotiate, deactivated or otherwise impassable.
- If a road is deactivated, it is done to prevent erosion and to protect
stream and wildlife habitat.
- Respect gates. Often, gates indicate a road is on private land.
Public roads may be gated because the road is unsafe (for example,
due to fallen trees, missing bridges) or to protect wildlife. Usually,
signs are posted to explain why a public road is closed.
- Access across private land is strictly up to agreement with the
individual private land owner.
Note: Road reports are not available in the Southern Interior Region.
|
