Backcountry Trails Meetings

[albertatrout]

http://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=4022531D0F703-D20D-AA10-37D84C478D5006F3

 

"Open house events to focus on backcountry trail flood repairs

Outdoor enthusiasts are encouraged to attend upcoming information sessions on backcountry trail restoration.

The Alberta government will host information sessions in three communities to share progress on repairs to backcountry trails damaged in the 2013 floods and set rehabilitation priorities for the 2016 season.

Nearly 350 kilometres of backcountry trails have been restored through the Backcountry Trail Flood Rehabilitation Program since the program was launched in 2014. These results have largely been driven by the efforts of volunteers, with more than 2,400 person hours volunteered in 2015 alone.

Event details:

Wednesday, February 24
Cochrane Ranche House
101 Ranche House Road
Cochrane
7 – 9 p.m.

Thursday, February 25
Elks Hall
2025 – 129 street
Blairmore
7 – 9 p.m

Tuesday, March 1
Canalta Hotel
4406 – 41 Avenue
Rocky Mountain House
7 – 9 p.m

Staff from the government’s Backcountry Trails Flood Rehabilitation Program will present information on completed and upcoming projects. There will be time for questions and review of project maps for the 2016 field season."

[BurningChrome]

I'll be attending the one in Cochrane next week.

[BurningChrome]

Lots of trail closures that cross cuttie creeks in waiparous. Bridges over creeks everywhere else.

[Xplorer]

Hey BurningChrome,

 

I have checked out the flood map for Waiparous on the alberta gov website and see the where they indicate the bridges that were washed out or damaged during the floods but it does not mention the trail closures. Even the trails that have bridges washed out still say they are open.

 

Do they have an updated map somewhere or am I looking at it wrong?

 

Thanks

[BurningChrome]

Right now everything is still open. There will be temporary closures while they're working on trails and they won't close Lost Knife until they open the new section. The trail to Waiparous falls will need a lot of "deterrent" work before they can even hope to close it. I think the plan is to reroute the trail to Margaret lake away from the river crossing or put significant debris on the river bank. Here's a picture I took of the trail map with the future closures in sort of red/purple.

 

IMG_20160224_203448 by Marc Fossi, on Flickr

[Xplorer]

Thanks for the info!

 

Hopefully there will be good signage regarding what is closed/open so people will abide by the rules.

 

I will be out there in a few weeks, I will post back with what (if anything) I see.

[BurningChrome]

I'm pretty sure they won't be starting any work until June or so. They need to bring in heavy equipment to do the work and it'd just rip up the trails if they aren't dry.

[BurningChrome]

So I think that announcing trail closures months before actually closing them was a bad thing. I'm seeing a much higher than normal volume of people going on those trails before they close, which is more than likely causing even more damage especially with cutthroat spawning season upon us.