(Jackson Goldstone on Mount Prevost/Swuq'us. Credit: Sterling Lorence/Red Bull)
Major companies drawn to Municipal Forest Reserve to film elite mountain biking
North Cowichan has no formal policy on commercial filming
Should commercial companies pay for the right to film on mountain bike trails in North Cowichan’s Municipal Forest Reserve? That’s the question arising from major companies filming at two locations last year, on Mount Prevost and Mount Tzouhalem.
Rick Martinson, president of the Cowichan Trail Stewardship Society, says that Shimano — a leading component manufacturer — voluntarily paid the society US$50,000 to film Squamish’s Jackson Goldstone riding expert trails on Mount Prevost for a Red Bull film.
“It involved jumps that were already there,” he told sixmountains.ca. “They were enhanced. A little bigger, a little better, to suit a world-cup rider and the speed he goes.”
Shimano wanted trail-naming rights, but the municipality had no policy to provide for that, he said. The company chose to go ahead with the shoot, anyways.
(Visit the 36-minute mark: https://www.redbull.com/ca-en/films/anytime )
Meanwhile, bike manufacturer Specialized donated CDN$2,000 to trail maintenance for filming a prototype mountain bike on Mount Tzouhalem. The company wanted exclusive trail use during filming, but, again, there was no commercial filming policy.
“It was secret,” Martinson said. “They had people in the parking lot to make sure where these riders were that nobody was up there trying to sneak in and get a video.”
(Rick Martinson, president of the Cowichan Trail Stewardship Society)
A policy on commercial filming on forest reserve trails could create a formal pricing system known to all, but Martinson also questioned whether some companies might go elsewhere to do their filming if required to pay commercial fees.
The other question is whether money raised from filming should go to the trail society or to the municipality. Martinson would be ok with the latter option. “If I was in their shoes, that’s how I would want it. It’s their land, their trails.”
The municipality is contributing $120,000 to the trail society this year to maintain trails on Mount Tzouhalem, Mount Prevost and Maple Mountain, he said.
Councillor Chris Istace has proposed a notice of motion asking staff to prepare a report on implementing an Adopt-a-Trail program for sanctioned trails in North Cowichan. The motion will be debated at Wednesday’s council meeting.
North Cowichan has sanctioned 13 expert mountain bike trails on Mount Prevost, but so far not one hiking trail. Read more: https://www.sixmountains.ca/article/4b8a2b51-5769-466c-99a4-ca90e76789b1
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— Larry Pynn, June 15, 2025
