Upper Sackville woman blocking part of the Trans-Canada Trail
CBC News | Posted: July 15, 2015 2:38 PM | Last Updated: July 15, 2015
Department of Natural Resources says it owns the land and it's a violation to block the trail
A woman in Upper Sackville is blocking the Trans-Canada Trail because she believes the Department of Natural Resources and New Brunswick Trails are not keeping their end of a deal.
Mary Fawcett says the trail is ruining her fences and flooding her land.
Fawcett said she has had enough.
"I'm asking them to do the job, to do what was expected, to do what is in my agreement," she says.
"To do the fencing, would help them out and help us out is to lower the rail bed, which is what they were asked to do over 15 years ago," says Fawcett.
Fawcett says the trail that intersects her pasture is so high, it acts as a snow fence. Each winter, snow drifts wreck her fences and the trail ruins her drainage.
"The fence is basically on the ground. It's usually four strands of barbwire and the ditch is basically gravel. There is no ditch there," said Fawcett.
"You can't pass that even with a tractor."
In an email, the Department of Natural Resources says it owns the land and it's a violation to block it.
But Fawcett says the land is part of the farm, which has been in the Fawcett family for more than 200 years.
She and her son tend the livestock and both have full-time jobs.
She says they don't have the time to keep up the fencing, just to keep the animals off the trail. So they let them roam, and tell people to stay away.
But cyclists, such as Lisa Peters, would prefer to be on the trail.
She said she is on the trail three times a week and would like to see the trail reopened.
"It's a little inconvenient because you have to go out and around the trails, so you can't really flow through like I normally do," said Peters.
It's about a kilometre between the fence and the other side of the barricade.
People wanting to use the trail must take a detour. They have to come off the trail and take a dirt road and head for the paved road.
It's a detour Fawcett says people are going to have to get used to until she gets some help fixing the trail.