The trail networks around Golden are some of the community’s greatest assets, and they would be nothing without the volunteers who make them possible.
The Golden Community Resource Society has started the discussion about a community planning and decision-making model for Golden, and how the trails user groups and stakeholders fit into that.
On July 13 the GCRS brought in the trails manager from the Kootenay Columbia Trails Society (KCTS) for a presentation on Rossland’s trail network model.
“I would say there are about 38 stakeholder organizations that are involved with Golden’s trail networks,” said Ryan Watmough, with the GCRS. Stewart Spooner, the trails manager with the KCTS, told the group at the Rockwater Grill and Bar what a trails alliance would look like, and how those 38 groups would fit into an alliance while still maintaining their interests.
Spooner is a paid employee of the KCTS that exists to “manage, maintain, and develop a regional network of recreational trails for the variety of self-propelled trail users.”
“Our model of sustained public funding, access to private land, and professional management and maintenance, is one which many communities would like to emulate, and we willingly share our experience,” said Spooner.
The trail networks take a lot of volunteer time to maintain, and the more people who are represented by a single organization or alliance, the more power they will have, particularly when they are searching for grant money, says Watmough.
This discussion is part of a larger Community Co-ordination Project that the GCRS is spearheading. The project is also looking at how to connect recreation groups, and health and social service groups.
To learn more about Rossland’s Kootenay Columbia Trail Society go to www.rosslandtrails.ca.
