Maintenance Report By Alan Day

Maintenance Director’s Report for July and August.

1. Trail clearing.

This report concentrates on maintenance in the north end as Dave Potten has coordinated work in the south end.

A maintenance ‘blitz’ was held in mid July and a number of volunteers and Trail Captains worked hard to ensure that the wilder parts of the trail from Valleyview Rd. to the northern terminus at St. Mary’s remained clear. It was noticeable that our earlier efforts in mid June had paid dividends as July trail clearing was relatively easy - even in this area which has always been difficult to maintain.

Another blitz is currently in operation to do a final clearing of this same northern part of the trail by about Sept 8.

Many thanks to the many people who turned out to help at various times this summer.

2. Construction.

In conjunction with Rob and Michael Kuenzlen, plans to build one more bridge in the Ebenezer to Hwy 7 section are being made with a view to completion this month. Also Tom Friesen will be organizing construction of some steps on some steeper parts of the trail, using the recently purchased metal step brackets.

3. Trail Captains reports

The two seasonal reports by Trail Captains on the state of the trail in their section are an important part of our insurance requirements and also a key part of a maintenance strategy. The second set of these reports is now coming in, with a deadline of Sept 15.

4. Hogweed Report.

Virtually all potential Giant Hogweed plants that have been reported so far turned out to be less noxious relatives such as Cow Parsley or Angelica. A few likely plants have been reported located well off trail between Rannoch Ford and the Golf course - so at present we do not seem to have much of a problem.

If do you see any possible cases please try to take a photo of leaves and flowers and send to me, noting its location as precisely as possible.

5. Possible reorganization of some Trail Captain’s sections

It has been suggested that the 2 extreme sections at the south and north ends are too big for Trail Captains and/or Trail Maintenance Leaders and need some reorganization – particularly as they are among the most difficult sections to manage. I will be discussing this with interested parties and bringing back a recommendation if necessary – comments and suggestions from Board members are welcome.

Alan Day,

Trail Maintenance Director.