Walmart has been buying all the ranches it can in British Columbia's Caribou country and other cattle raising area's. they recently bought the Quilchena Ranch and shut down the airstrip, so no more flying there for lunch. They also bought Dog Creek Ranch and closed that strip so no more bush camping there. They also bought the Anihiem Lake Ranch and closed all strips on that property.
WAY TO GO WALMART
I definitely know where I WILL NOT SPEND MY MONEY
KenW

Why thank a faceless corporation. The man and the face you want to personally thank is big business sports mogul Stan Kroenke. He's worth over 3.7 billion and along with half the population in China thinks Canada's a great place to gobble up land, and yes he just bought Quilchena and closing the dirt strip permanently was #1 on the agenda.
It's just wonderful. We have got very few airstrips in this Country, Not like our American cousins, who years ago embraced the concept of the general public traveling in their own air transportation. They planned ahead and put nice paved airstrips in all most every hick town in the Union and then sprinkled a very generous supply of dirt strips in almost all parts of the middle of nowhere. Canada was in a deep sleep on that one. More like a coma.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Edit - Useless belly aching rant removed. When shit happens, smile and adapt, or you will live an unhappy life.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Ive come to the conclusion that it's safer to land on the highway to get gas, than dare land on one of King Kroenke's strips . He's liable to have a gang of his henchmen ride out on atv's and site me with trespassing. This Country is going to shit.
I'd join you on your boycott of Walmart, but then I'd suffer more than Stan & Ann, and miss out on the rollbacks on toilet paper and Twinkies.

Edit: Stan Kroenke's wife, Ann Walton is the daughter and heiress of Walmart co founder Bud Walton

Do not blame them for being rich. We made them that way due to our spending habits. Those that complain the loudest shop at Home Depot for there plumbing stuff. The Delta and Moen faucet companies make a line of pos plastic products just for Home depot. I just retired from 45 + years in the plumbing business and it is hard to compete with the big stores. Even with quality.

When I was a kid, there were probably at least 15 hardware stores in Burbank, CA. All were owned and operated by a person you new. There were little grocery stores all over the place until supermarkets took over. The Busy Bee was at the end of our block but could not compete with Safeway buying power. The mom and pop stores are gone cus we abandoned them for a few cents and better dispalys.

And by the way, I have a strip at my place and it is not published on charts for a good reason. How do you think you are entitled to land your plane or recreate on somebody elses property.

Tim

You Are right Tim. It is their property and they can do as they want with allowing access. The Quilchena Ranch strip is located right next to the Hotel and store and both are over 100 years old. We have always been able to fly up there for lunch or play a round of golf , go horse back riding etc. The other strips are totally back country strips that were put in place for ranch purposes. Their have been many owners of those ranches over the years and there was never an issue with landing there. It was actually encouraged and they asked you to report if you saw anything wrong.
Times are a changing, the SH&t head has arrived.
KenW

I would contact Walmart and ask if RV's and Semi Trucks are allowed to park overnight on their properties, why not airplanes??

175 magnum wrote:You Are right Tim. It is their property and they can do as they want with allowing access. The Quilchena Ranch strip is located right next to the Hotel and store and both are over 100 years old. We have always been able to fly up there for lunch or play a round of golf , go horse back riding etc. The other strips are totally back country strips that were put in place for ranch purposes. Their have been many owners of those ranches over the years and there was never an issue with landing there. It was actually encouraged and they asked you to report if you saw anything wrong.
Times are a changing, the SH&t head has arrived.
KenW

Take a look at the popular x-c routes that fly over these strips and see if you can get other pilots together to make a case for keeping them open in the name of safety - relief airports with nearby shelter/gas/emergency services. That makes it "...just one more way Walmart is contributing to the community, eh?" If you can put a positive spin on the action or outcome you desire, then make it a public relations positive for the company or individual owner, you might get better results!

I was thinking about this some more. Might be a good idea to contact the property/ranch manager and talk to them about keeping the strips open. I almost bet the big company execs may not even have a clue about the strips on property that big.

Has anyone ever considered that maybe they don't want to hear a open header, 500 hp, super duper back country compensation machine with a 96" prop turning 2800 rpm right next to their 100 year old hotel?

Too bad John Walton wasn't still around. He was an airplane nut, used to spray crops and was Walmarts first corporate pilot.

Managers were contacted , DEFINATE CLOSED POLICY. They are even closing access to natural lakes that are on the property, big no no in BC. There will probably be a lot of scrap steel gates available shortly. The Quilchena strip has been operating for 80years no problem. The family that owned the ranch for over 100years encouraged airplanes coming in.
An interesting side note, go look at my pictures and you will see the Bearhawk getting fuel in front of the general store that is part of the ranch. On the wall in the store is a picture of the first stage coach to stop at the store, a picture of the first truck to stop at the store and the picture of the Bearhawk at the store, very cool I would say.
Moving into the future it looks like the new moto is F*** Off we don't want you here and don't come knocking again. pretty simple really.
KenW

175 magnum wrote:An interesting side note, go look at my pictures and you will see the Bearhawk getting fuel in front of the general store that is part of the ranch. On the wall in the store is a picture of the first stage coach to stop at the store, a picture of the first truck to stop at the store and the picture of the Bearhawk at the store, very cool I would say...
KenW

Very nice indeed Ken! Pity about the loss of access.
Mark J

Nosedragger wrote:Too bad John Walton wasn't still around. He was an airplane nut, used to spray crops and was Walmarts first corporate pilot.

John was my hangar mate and a GREAT guy.. After his death in the ultralite... Hawk / CGS, I am 99.999% sure the entire Walton famliy swore off any planes smaller then G-5's.. They probably view all small planes as a HUGE liability and will actively minimize their exposure to a crash by someone *ucking up on their land..... If you guys want to expand the availability of dirt/grass remore strips, just buy some property , build an airstrip and then you can make your own rules.... I did.....

Ben you are very correct about buy your own land and build your own strip and you can make the rules. The thing that is sad from our end is the previous owners encouraged us to use the strips and the new ones do not want us there, that's just the way it is and we move on with the memories.
There is however an interesting little thing developing with regards to crown land leased for grazing. These folks seem to think this crown land is for their sole use and they basically own it. Some of the backcountry strips are on leased land so we will see where that goes.
KenW

175 magnum wrote:There is however an interesting little thing developing with regards to crown land leased for grazing. These folks seem to think this crown land is for their sole use and they basically own it. Some of the backcountry strips are on leased land so we will see where that goes.
KenW

Ken this sounds like a cause for the Recreational Aviation Foundation.

Ten years ago a group of Montana backcountry pilots were concerned about the loss of airstrips and decided to do something about it. They organized the RAF, a backcountry aviation advocacy organization that works cooperatively with stake-holders, government agencies, and elected officials to preserve backcountry aviation access throughout the US. The RAF has seen notable success in their time. You should contact them. I don't know if they yet operate in Canada, but I'm sure they can offer valuable advice on how to proceed.

http://www.theraf.org/content/raf-history

http://www.theraf.org

175 magnum wrote:Ben you are very correct about buy your own land and build your own strip and you can make the rules. The thing that is sad from our end is the previous owners encouraged us to use the strips and the new ones do not want us there, that's just the way it is and we move on with the memories.
There is however an interesting little thing developing with regards to crown land leased for grazing. These folks seem to think this crown land is for their sole use and they basically own it. Some of the backcountry strips are on leased land so we will see where that goes.
KenW

Ken. I think in order to properly be able to have lease land open for us pilots, it will require a waiver or statement that we can not harass the landowner if we get hurt or worse landing on the strips. I've worked for a farm that has a bunch of crown land, and there is always people quading into it. You block the trail and they just cut a new one. Heres the kicker, anytime some rolls their quad and hurts themselves, they come after the land owner. Which is complete BS. If there is no trespassing signs and a fence, and they still come in there should be no way they can come after you.
So perhaps if there is a law change regarding use of strips on crown land, it should include that the land owner is in no way liable, short of intentionally causing damage to said strips.

David

A1Skinner wrote:. Heres the kicker, anytime some rolls their quad and hurts themselves, they come after the land owner. Which is complete BS. If there is no trespassing signs and a fence, and they still come in there should be no way they can come after you.
So perhaps if there is a law change regarding use of strips on crown land, it should include that the land owner is in no way liable, short of intentionally causing damage to said strips.

David

I have a hard time believing that goes on here in Canada, especially up in your neck of the woods, farming communities are usually a tight group You should be far enough away from the big city flakes, who have little concept of self responsibility. Still, I think those type of law suites are rare here in Canada.

Sidewinder wrote:

A1Skinner wrote:. Heres the kicker, anytime some rolls their quad and hurts themselves, they come after the land owner. Which is complete BS. If there is no trespassing signs and a fence, and they still come in there should be no way they can come after you.
So perhaps if there is a law change regarding use of strips on crown land, it should include that the land owner is in no way liable, short of intentionally causing damage to said strips.

David

I have a hard time believing that goes on here in Canada, especially up in your neck of the woods, farming communities are usually a tight group You should be far enough away from the big city flakes, who have little concept of self responsibility. Still, I think those type of law suites are rare here in Canada.

Ya I know what you mean. Unfortunately, I live where the oil field is huge. And the kids who come out from town to quad are entitled little bastards. They've always gotten everything given to them and are spoiled rotten. Thats just how a lot of kids are raised these days, spoiled and no discipline. Its unfortunate how so much of society raises its kids these days. Can't even give a kid a 0 in school anymore for not turning in work, everyone at the hockey tournament gets a trophy, and so on. They are spoon fed until they leave for college, at which point most have no concept of taking responsibility.
The farm neighbors kids and families are very respectful with regards to one another, its the outsiders.
I can't wait to raise kids and hopefully manage to do a lot better job then how city kids are raised.
Sorry. Rant over.
David

A1Skinner wrote:

Sidewinder wrote:

A1Skinner wrote:. Heres the kicker, anytime some rolls their quad and hurts themselves, they come after the land owner. Which is complete BS. If there is no trespassing signs and a fence, and they still come in there should be no way they can come after you.
So perhaps if there is a law change regarding use of strips on crown land, it should include that the land owner is in no way liable, short of intentionally causing damage to said strips.

David

I have a hard time believing that goes on here in Canada, especially up in your neck of the woods, farming communities are usually a tight group You should be far enough away from the big city flakes, who have little concept of self responsibility. Still, I think those type of law suites are rare here in Canada.

Ya I know what you mean. Unfortunately, I live where the oil field is huge. And the kids who come out from town to quad are entitled little bastards. They've always gotten everything given to them and are spoiled rotten. Thats just how a lot of kids are raised these days, spoiled and no discipline. Its unfortunate how so much of society raises its kids these days. Can't even give a kid a 0 in school anymore for not turning in work, everyone at the hockey tournament gets a trophy, and so on. They are spoon fed until they leave for college, at which point most have no concept of taking responsibility.
The farm neighbors kids and families are very respectful with regards to one another, its the outsiders.
I can't wait to raise kids and hopefully manage to do a lot better job then how city kids are raised.
Sorry. Rant over.
David

David,

I'm contributing to the thread drift, but I wholeheartedly second this.

.

David[/quote]

I have a hard time believing that goes on here in Canada, especially up in your neck of the woods, farming communities are usually a tight group You should be far enough away from the big city flakes, who have little concept of self responsibility. Still, I think those type of law suites are rare here in Canada.[/quote]

Ya I know what you mean. Unfortunately, I live where the oil field is huge. And the kids who come out from town to quad are entitled little bastards. They've always gotten everything given to them and are spoiled rotten. Thats just how a lot of kids are raised these days, spoiled and no discipline. Its unfortunate how so much of society raises its kids these days. Can't even give a kid a 0 in school anymore for not turning in work, everyone at the hockey tournament gets a trophy, and so on. They are spoon fed until they leave for college, at which point most have no concept of taking responsibility.
The farm neighbors kids and families are very respectful with regards to one another, its the outsiders.
I can't wait to raise kids and hopefully manage to do a lot better job then how city kids are raised.
Sorry. Rant over.
David[/quote]

Ya tell me about. I watch the new parents I know. Their kid controls them, no discipline is allowed in the new world order. if the kid has a tantrum, he's rewarded with his demands. .He's going to make a fine adult one day. Ya I forgot you live in oil and gas land. Lot's of spoiled youth with too much money.

But back on topic I have heard little of these types of law suits here, but everything that happens in the US is bound to make it's way up here. Especially if the lawyers think they can make a buck at it.

Found this interesting pdf file pertaining to property owners liability and recreational public users. Mostly deals with Canada but states that much of the US is enacting similar legislation to give property owners more legal protection. For a change, It's a step in the right direction.

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=& ... bQ&cad=rja