The Royal Tyrrell Museum is concerned about damage from off road vehicles operating in Midland Provincial Park illegally.
    This comes after intentional damage to the Encana Badlands Science Camp site was discovered.
    The park, which surrounds the museum, is well marked with signs prohibiting motor vehicles. Despite this, individuals with quads and dirt bikes often use the park as indicated by tracks throughout.
    Last Tuesday, following the May Long Weekend, Tyrrell Museum Science Camp personnel discovered damage to some of the infrastructure at the campsite.
    “The teepees are not up but we have some of the other structures up,” said Jason Martin, Operations  and Finance director at  the Tyrrell Museum, saying there were quad and motorbike tracks discovered at the scene of the damage.
    “The message we want to leave with the community is motor vehicles are not allowed in the park,” said Martin. “So if people see others riding in the park, they are not only joy riding, these quads are causing damage and should be reported to the RCMP.”
    The Museum has since reported the incident to RCMP.
    Staff Sergeant Art Hopkins said people riding could be charged with trespassing under the provincial statute and could face fines. If they were discovered to have caused willful damage, they could face mischief charges.
    “Simply, there is no dirt biking or quad riding allowed anywhere in the valley,” said Hopkins.
    Grant Santo, operation manager of Alberta Parks said penalties for using an off road vehicle in a park can range from fines to vehicle seizure under The Provincial Parks Act and Regulations. He says Park Officers have a peace officer designation so they are able to charge offenders under the Criminal Code of Canada if warranted.
    For Martin, he hopes  all can enjoy the park.
    “It is disappointing, they are causing damage and we are having to take time to fix things that were already in place. We have a busy camp season coming, we certainly don’t want to jeopardize a service we can provide,” said Martin.
    He adds there is an inherent danger of high-speed motor vehicles sharing paths with campers and pedestrians, not to mention noise and dust.
    “It is not to be expected or permitted,” said Martin, “it’s a park and it should be enjoyed by the whole community.”

    At the May 21 meeting of the Drumheller Town Council, approval was given to award Knibb Developments Ltd. the contract for the 2013 cast iron water line replacement program in downtown Drumheller.
    This year, the program will replace the aging cast iron lines in the alley behind the Drumheller Legion, north across 2nd Avenue West, and ending next to Riverside Value Drug Mart.
    The alley was identified as a top priority due to numerous breaks in the line over the years.
    However, more work may be added should the opportunity arise.
    “We may extend it or add some pieces that could speed up or make the project easier next year, but until we negotiate with the contractor, we won’t know,” said Allan Kendrick, Director of Infrastructure Services for the Town of Drumheller. “We have a little bit of money left in the budget, so we’ll try to use that to our advantage.”
    The Town had budgeted $620,000 for this year’s program. Knibb Developments Ltd. bid just under half that, at $353,493.
    Knibb Developments Ltd. were contracted two years ago  to replace the water mains in the alley north of 3rd Avenue, between 1st Street West and Centre Street. The project ran over its original completion estimates late into the fall.
    The delay was caused by unexpected lines running through the alley, such as steam lines from the Waldorf, and Knibb Developments Ltd. was also working on other projects in Town at the same time.
    The cast iron water main replacement program was initiated to replace downtown’s ageing water lines.
    “We still have other parts of the line that are getting to an age where they could start leaking,” said Kendrick. “You’re dealing with infrastructure that’s around 40 to 50 years old. Now we are doing the best and using the best products that are available to us.”
    It is expected the program will continue for a couple more years, but though the annual construction disrupts traffic downtown, the benefits outweigh the costs.
    “Once we get through the cast iron project, we’ll go back to an auditor survey for leak detection and then get more proactive on repairs,” said Kendrick. “We’ve increased our flow capacity downtown by increasing the size of the pipe. By upgrading it, we increase flow capacity for fire protection and we’ve achieveg a number of things doing this program.”