The near future will be filled with field juggling, as the SASCU Sports Fields at Little Mountain will be closed from Monday, May 28 until Friday, June 8.
The fields are being closed so they can be aerated, top-dressed and overseeded in order to reestablish the turf cover, says Brad Ackerman, the city’s supervisor of parks.
“That will be adequate time to get the seed germinated and on its way to being established,” he said, noting the parks department wants to minimize the inconvenience of a closure at the same time as making sure the fields regenerate.
(The fields at Little Mountain were closed yesterday, Tuesday the 22nd, because of excessive water on the fields.)
Along with shuffling all the games slated for Little Mountain when the fields are closed come May 28, a junior girls high school tournament scheduled for this coming weekend had to be moved to Kamloops because of the condition of the fields.
No games will be cancelled because of the closure, Ackerman said.
“The school district has been great in working together with us in finding alternate locations for user groups during the closure period. It speaks to the relationship between the school district and the city.”
The status of all the fields is available by going to the city’s website, www.salmonarm.ca, then the ‘residents’ tab, then ‘parks and recreation,’ then ‘field status’ and scroll down.
He said the city looked at closing fields at Little Mountain at the start of the season, but the temperatures were cold then so it “wasn’t condusive to establishing turf coverage.”
Ackerman said it’s imperative they be shut down.
“If we don’t close the fields and get grass re-established, we will have poor conditions all year long and possibly into next year.”
He said Little Mountain is overly popular because it has three fields at one location.
“That’s what makes Little Mountain shine and, at the same time, that’s its worst enemy. Everyone wants to go there.”
In a previous interview, Ackerman said parks and recreation will be changing how fields are booked. He explained that in 2011, fields at Little Mountain underwent nearly double the 450 hours recommended for a field during a 12-month period.
Field #1 saw 760 hours, Field #2 800 hours and Field #3, just over 700 hours. Meanwhile the Jackson campus field sustained just 275 hours of use, while Blackburn #1 and #2 each saw less than 400.
“Historically, user groups can book a field location wherever they want. We’re trying to change to having them request a time and we’ll find the location. We won’t turn down a request, but it might not be the location they want.”