My letter to MEC

JUNE 20, 2006

Last month I submitted a proposal requesting the support of the Mountain Equipment Coop (MEC) Expedition Fund and the response that I received last week was less than positive. I responded with the following and I am awaiting a reply...

"By creating my film "Trail Magic", one of my major goals is to raise awareness of the Great Divide Trail (GDT) and the wilderness corridor that it passes through. The GDT is a long-distance trail of no equal. It is truly a wilderness route, allowing hikers to explore, up-close, some of the most wild and spectacular terrain in the world. And yet few people have heard of the GDT while even fewer have hiked it's entire length in a single continuous journey. Unlike the Trans-Canada Trail or the long-distance trails in the U.S. (e.g. Appalachian, Pacific Crest), the GDT has never been designated as an official long-distance route. This is largely due to the fact that Parks Canada and the BC and Alberta Provincial Governments are reluctant to spend the time to study the feasibility of such a route and recognize the positive impacts it could bring.

In 1970, Jim Thorsell prepared the original GDT proposal to the federal government, suggesting that the GDT would act as a backbone trail for the Canadian Rocky Mountains, connecting the myriad of other smaller trail systems into one continuous wilderness corridor. With the involvement of both Federal and Provincial Governments, the GDT would promote an unparalleled cooperation of land management groups and allow for significant progress to be made in the establishment of a continuous, preserved wilderness corridor in the Rocky Mountains. But sadly, the bureaucratic attitude of the Federal Government and the lack of cooperation from the multitude of land management interests led to the concept of the GDT fading away.

But today there is new hope that the GDT may yet live. By working with the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (exploring their continuous wildlife corridor concept), I hope that the film is able to raise the profile of the Great Divide Wilderness and bring more awareness to some of the mismanaged and/or over-resourced land that the route passes through. At the same time my film will highlight what IS working along the GDT and hopefully lessons that can be learned in order to allow the dream of an official long-distance Great Divide Trail to come true.

I am a non-profit filmmaker and I am passionate about this project, but it will be very difficult without support from resources such as MEC. I would very much appreciate MEC's support in this project in any way."