On May 31, a crew of enthusiastic volunteers showed up at the former West Creston ferry landing.
Much appreciated was the mechanical assistance of a skid steer, donated by Northtown Rental and Sales owner Dave Moore and operated by Todd Francoeur, loading and grading layers of dirt full of glass and nails from the fire site.
Four hours later, after the unglamorous job of yet again cleaning up the burnt remains of people’s personal household garbage, pulling bags of trash and old appliances out of the bush and trimming grass, Trails for Creston Valley Society volunteers stood back to admire a job well done.
How to keep it this way is the question being uttered by each of the volunteers. The trails society is working with Regional District of Central Kootenay Area C director Larry Binks to clean up this site to create a clean, safe recreational space where visitors and residents can go to enjoy the beauty and natural habitat we call home.
The society’s goal by fall is to expand the parking space, creating ample room for a truck and trailer to pull through and park 10 to 15 cars without blocking access to the boat launch or the road. It also wants to put in several picnic sites with fire pits, including a large “communal” fire pit where people can enjoy a safe, reasonably sized fire where nails from burned pallets will be contained.
The more the site is used, the more eyes and ears will be on the ground to discourage those who would continue to make it their personal dump. Please go take a look at the hard work that has been done. Like all user maintained sites, this is a carry in, carry out recreation site, and is an important asset in the valley.
The trails society appreciates the Telus crew for choosing a local trails project for their annual days of giving. Their contribution helped make the clean-up day a success.
—TRAILS FOR CRESTON VALLEY
