The District of Barriere (DOB) and the Barriere Trails Society (BTS) signed a stewardship agreement together on Monday, April 7, that will allow the trails society to work in partnership with the district to maintain and develop trails within the DOB.
Newly-elected mayor of Barriere Rob Kerslake met with Harry Waldron, president of the BTS, to sign the stewardship agreement and discuss their partnership moving forward.
Kerslake told the Barriere Star / Journal "the district doesn’t have the manpower and appreciates the contributions of the volunteers in the Barriere Trails Society and the hard work the members can provide in support of our Official Community Plan (OCP). We feel this will be a productive collaboration together to enhance community access, tourism, and healthy local activities.”
Waldron agreed with mayor Kerslake."This gives us some official status. Before we were just working on one of the society director's private trails," Waldron said. "Now with the newly-signed stewardship agreement we can promote trails in and around Barriere which is in alignment with our vision to build, promote and maintain trails in the region. With staff and council, we have identified three trails that we can start to work on developing which aligns with the DOB's Official Community Plan.”
Kerslake sees advantages for both the society and the district in working “collaboratively” which can also be of benefit when applying for grants and funding for specific projects.
“With their passion, knowledge and expertise in trail planning this will only enhance and support our community planning working together like this," Kerslake said.
The district plans on providing letters of support to the society as they require to apply for specific funding opportunities in the future.
“The official community plan is still coming together, but this stewardship agreement will definitely work well in conjunction with our OCP objectives and future community development,” said Kerslake.
Waldron said the new three-year trail stewardship agreement is already proving to draw positive attention from various levels of government, local residents and other valley partners.
"We want to thank the district, of course our own board and the community for acknowledging our hard work and the vision we have to partner in creating a healthy, attractive trail network locally," added Waldron.
If you are interested in learning more about the Barriere Trails Society you can contact president, Harry Waldron at harry.waldron@hotmail.com
