Co-operation and good work made for some big name recognition for the Shuswap Trail Alliance.
In a recent letter, Minister of Environment Mary Polak recognized the individuals and partner organizations who have been working together to support BC Parks throughout the Shuswap region.
“It is with great pleasure,” writes Polak to the Shuswap Trail Alliance membership, “that you have been selected as BC Parks’ Volunteer Group of the Year. The incredible amount of time and energy you have invested in parks in the Shuswap and North Okanagan over the past seven years shows your remarkable commitment to BC Parks.”
Nomination for the award was submitted jointly by North Okanagan and Shuswap BC Parks Area Supervisors, Kevin Wilson and Wes DeArmond. Together they cite an impressive list of projects that local volunteers have worked on through the Alliance.
Both Wilson and DeArmond are quick to acknowledge that all of this project work would not have been possible otherwise.
Successful projects include: the upgrade of the Enderby Cliffs Provincial Park trail with the Splatsin community; the Eagle River boardwalk, bridge, and sign upgrades championed by trails advocate Lori Schneider Wood; the winter trail maintenance at Roderick Haig-Brown provincial park with Services Canada’s Job Creation Program; the Routes and Blues and Bigfoot Snowshoe trail programs in partnership with the Roots and Blues, Adams River Salmon Society, Salmon Arm Bay Nature Society, Shuswap Tourism, CSRD Parks and Shuswap Community Foundation; installation of trail gates and signage to protect the Upper Violet Creek Provincial Park, with the Larch Hills Nordic Society, Shuswap Outdoors, Natures Nomads ATV Club, EQ Trail Association and Recreation Sites and Trails BC; support for recent hydrology studies in Mara Meadows with volunteer warden, Jeremy Ayotte; mapping, and development of new snowshoe trails with the Larch Hills Nordic Society, Thompson Rivers University, Services Canada’s Job Creation Program, Skookum Cycle and Atlas Snowshoes; the White Lake Turtle research project with stewards, Trish Wallensteen and Carmen Massey; support from the Shuswap Trail Report hotline co-ordinated by Clint Smith and the announcement of BC Parks support for the Shuswap TrailRider project to improve assisted trail access.
“It takes a moment like this to step back and realize just how much good work is being done by so many people,” says Shuswap Trail Alliance co-ordinator, Phil McIntyre-Paul.