In what is to be a passive use park, dogs are running wild and cyclists and dirt bike riders are forging new trails through the woods in the waterfront Gables Park.

“Cyclists going off trail are damaging the surrounding park area. We’re sending operations staff in to clean up the areas that have been disturbed and are attempting to remove access to the unauthorized trails. We do have a bylaw (but) it is an enforcement issue,” said Wendell McArthur, Barrie’s engineering director.

Enforcement is also not taking place when it relates to dogs.

“There’s a lot of damage being done, certainly, by the dogs,” he said. “There are a lot of signs throughout the park indicating dogs must remain on leashes.

Barrie had barely approved the master plan for the park, said Community Services Committee chairperson Coun. John Brassard, when concerns began to emerge.

“This is a piece of real estate the city has pride in and we have invested a lot of time and money to see it properly used in the manner it should be used,” said Brassard.

Reading a letter to councillors from Brereton Field Naturalists’ spokesman Al McNair, Brassard drew attention to the cyclists and dirt bike riders forging new trails through the woods.

“Areas of trilliums and other wildflowers are being destroyed by this, as well as the digging up of soil to create ramps for jumps. One trail is in the south part of the park; the other runs off the north side of the ridge to the north of the meadow area,” he said as he read.

“Of the several dogs owners we met over the 1.5 to two hours (the naturalists club visited there last week), less than half had their dogs on leash. This is a concern for wildlife, as we observed a fox den with three small fox kits playing around the burrow. It is not far away from the main access drive and could be easily disturbed by dogs running loose. There is also more than enough evidence of dog owners not stooping and scooping after their pets have relieved themselves.”

Dogs also have been tearing up the land near the pavilion along the waterfront, McNair noted in his letter. That area “has been almost totally cleared of any natural growth of wildflowers or other natural vegetation. The main culprit appears to be dogs running at large and tearing up the turf with their paws,” he said, suggesting that the closure of Park Place to dogs to make way for the construction of a mixed-use development increased abuse of the Gables.

“It was hard … to believe the amount of dogstruction that is happening at The Gables,” he said.