Trail builder honoured

Photo: Contributed

Connie Harris Crowley (second from left) receiving the Shuswap Trails award in 2010 for her outstanding contribution to trails within the region. Also shown are fellow trail stewards, Jim Beckner, Jim Hoskins, and Ed Hinman. Harris Crowley has most recently been awarded a Senate 150th Commemorative Medal in recognition for her work in building and promoting community trails throughout the Shuswap as a legacy for the future.

Shuswap Trails living legend Connie Harris Crowley has been recognized for her work as a Canadian trail builder by Sen. Nancy Greene Raine with a Senate 150th Commemorative Medal. 

Harris Crowley will receive her medal at a special ceremony at Salmon Arm City Hall Dec. 11 at 2:30 p.m.

The medal is awarded to outstanding community volunteers from the interior of British Columbia for their work in building and promoting community trails as a legacy for the future.

Harris has put in thousands of volunteer hours.

Since the early 1970s, Harris Crowley was a core part of this dedicated group of individuals committed to engaging people in a quieter, more thoughtful appreciation of the outdoors.

Their work led to the evolution of the Larch Hills backcountry trial system, the Larch Hills Nordic Society, most of the Shuswap's iconic Alpine hiking trails, the creation of the Mara Meadows Ecological Reserve, and helped to guide the creation of the Shuswap Trail Alliance.

Greene Raine acknowledged the work of Harris Crowley and the other Senate 150th Commemorative Medal recipients.

"I truly appreciate the thousands and thousands of trail building volunteers all across our country who have  made it possible for all Canadians to have an opportunity to get out into nature and enjoy healthful physical recreation,” said Greene Raine.