One would think it should be fairly easy to convert a former rail line into a rural trail for hikers and bikers—buy the discontinued right-of-way from the rail company, apply to the B.C. Agricultural Land Commission for non-farm use in the Agricultural Land Reserve and once approved, construct it.

Plans to build the 51-kilometre Shuswap North Okanagan Rail Trail from Sicamous to Armstrong prove it's not always that simple and digging deeper, there could be much more to the story.

Splatsin First Nation, North Okanagan and Columbia-Shuswap regional districts bought the rail line from CP Rail in December 2017 and then applied to the land commission for non-farm use for 35 kilometres of ALR involving 46 properties (104 hectares).

The sticking point is the commission requires a report prior to construction including confirmation from property owners (171 ALR parcels) that trail owners have taken "appropriate steps to identify and resolve issues of concern or conflict with the trail."

There are always two sides to the story as a long interview with Jeanette and Ken Netzel proved recently. They own an 85-acre farm in the Agricultural Land Reserve on Highway 97A north of Armstrong........

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