Kincardine’s Trail System has gotten a report card.
In a council delegation from the Kincardine Trails Association, it was explained that overall, the trails system is doing well.
Strong points were given to trail safety and usability, to trail volunteers, and to maintaining and leveraging what resources are available.
Dave Lafortune, who is with the Kincardine Trails Association, says that keeping the trails safe and usable is an asset to the municipality.
“In the last year… I’ve been told by six individuals – seven tonight – that our trail system was one of the reasons they moved to Kincardine,” he says. “And that’s quite a profound endorsement of this community resource.”
He addressed council, saying that he trail system needs improvement on upgrading and extending features that are already part of the system, and removing hazardous trees.
“In terms of improvement opportunities, there’s a need to implement a proactive program for hazardous tree removal,” says Lafortune. “Some work, not much, is required to finalize the KIPP Trail with signage installation, which is imminent.”
A strength with the trail system is the number of volunteers who give their time.
“We continue to get new volunteers to our team,” Lafortune says. “We have a strong trail inspection program and we have a strong reactive trail maintenance capability that’s frequently called into action.”
He says that the municipality could do more to improve Kincardine’s trail network to ensure that it continues to be a strength for the community.
“At the heart of these two improvement opportunities, is the level and timing of support available from the municipality for trails. The level of support does not align with the volume of required work, and the timing of available support in this year, mostly after mid-August, does not align with preparing for the season of peak trail use.”
Lafortune says that the cooperation between the Kincardine Trails Association and Kincardine staff is strong.
“The working relationship between Parks & Facilities staff with the Kincardine Trails Association is very positive.”
The purpose of the report is to provide Council with a forecast regarding the status of trails and trails initiatives.