The Haney Heritage Village & Museum and Shuswap Trail Alliance (STA) are seeking support in a physical trail project with symbolic “Cultural Bridge Building.”
Haney director Garry Landers and STA operations manager Adrian Bostock approached School District 83 at the Jan. 23 meeting to get a letter of support in creating a physical link between the Salmon Arm’s pioneer and Indigenous history.
“It is our dream to connect Haney Park with the trail system so that there is a link between our colonial heritage… and the Neskonlith heritage,” Landers explained. “It’s a dream that Mary Thomas had, so it’s become a dream of mine.”
While portions of the Heritage Trail currently exist, there are still some key gaps and this project would just cover the stretch between Haney and Little Mountain Park, which is in the Agricultural Land Reserve. A previous application to the land commission was denied, so proponents are now adding clout to their cause with a letter of support from SD83 as the trail could be mutually beneficial.
“There’s Sullivan, South Broadview, King’s Christian and Shuswap Middle School all within striking distance of Haney with the archives and the history,” Landers said of nearby schools. “But no other way of getting to the village other than by road.”
The trail itself is proposed to be a 1.5-3 metre wide with compacted gravel on an existing easement area, and the proposed route along property parcel boundaries appears to disrupt the least amount of ALR land, and would have fencing and gates to further limit impacts.
As part of Salmon Arm’s Greenways Strategy approved in 2011, the Heritage Trail has been in development for a few years as an approximately 63 kilometre trail system that will connect the area west of the city, through town and up to Haney, with developers having known that ALC approval would be necessary for some parts.
The SD83 board seemed amenable to sending a letter of support for the trail application but, as per policy, the motion will come back for decision at the next meeting, Feb. 20.
Read more: Salmon Arm invited to dive into local history during Heritage Week
Read more: Work on Sicamous section of rail trail to start in March