CBT supports trail work, job creation in eight West Kootenay communities

Local trails to get boost

Photo: Steve Doucet

Kaslo Outdoor Recreation & Trails Society trail crew members will gain skills and improve local trails as part of Columbia Basin Trust’s Basin Job Experience Trail Crew Program.

Work is set to begin in eight West Kootenay communities and create 22 jobs this spring as the Columbia Basin Trust’s Basin job experience trail crew program gears up.

Starting this spring and moving into summer, people across the Columbia Basin will gain jobs and develop work skills while helping improve recreational trails for residents and visitors.

Through partnerships with community trails and recreation groups, the job experience trail crew program will help create 47 short-term jobs for people who are unemployed or underemployed.

According to a CBT statement, crew members will benefit from skills development and training, including carpentry, first aid, trail-building, chainsaw operations and GPS use, as they complete projects to maintain, repair and enhance local trails.

Serving several outdoor recreation groups in their community — including the Kaslo Nordic Club, Kaslo Mountain Bike Club, Kaslo Disc Golf Club and the Kaslo Run Club — the Kaslo Outdoor Recreation and Trails Society (KORTS) has more than 400 members and multiple recreation assets to manage.

This season, KORTS will tackle upgrades to its 75 kilometres of multi-use, non-motorized trails including the Kaslo Family Mountain Bike Park and community disc golf course and will focus on danger tree assessments and removal.

“The variety of clubs under the KORTS umbrella encourages outdoor activity in our community in all kinds of ways. These active citizens depend on safe, reliable and well laid out trails,” said Dan Miles, president of the Kaslo Outdoor Recreation and Trails Society. “The trail crew program supports our team with training in trail building, FireSmart practices, and responding to extreme weather, blowdowns and erosion.”

Also approved for funding under the job experience trail crew program include the Nelson Cycling Club Society (four jobs, $25,000), Castlegar Parks and Trails Society (two jobs, $25,000), Nakusp and Area Bike Society (two jobs, $25,000) and the North Slocan Trails Society (four jobs, $21,000) in New Denver.

In Rossland, the Black Jack Cross Country Ski Club Society will receive $11,100 (two jobs) and the Kootenay Columbia Trails Society will get $25,000 (two jobs), while Salmo’s Salmo Valley Trail Society will receive $13,600 (three jobs).

Photo: Submitted

Total trail building tallies.