News and event information for Williams Lake, BC - as it happens.

By LeRae Haynes 

There was a ribbon cutting today in Horsefly to officially open a wheelchair-accessible trail that goes along the Horsefly River. The Horsefly River Roundtable in partnership with the CRD and the Horsefly Board of Trade, has remodeled, repaired and re-surfaced the existing trail, and are looking forward to the official opening this afternoon. 

The 1.5km newly-finished trail starts at the bridge in Horsefly and follows the river to the spawning channel, goes along the top of the channel, down through some big cottonwood trees, and ends back at the bridge.

The ribbon cutting today included the CRD, members of the Horsefly River Roundtable, Duncan Barnett, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, some of the young people, local contractors and trades people from Horsefly who worked on the trial. 

(Photo:  Bruce McLeod cutting the ribbon.)

“We leveled it, brought in gravel, put in platforms and walkways with railings,” said Maureen Le Bourdais from the Horsefly River Roundtable. “There are interpretive signs about plants, about the river and about salmon.” 

She said that one of the Roundtable Directors, Bruce McLeod, is in a wheelchair, and was not only a wonderful advocate of the concept, but also provided practical suggestions throughout the project.  

 “Horsefly has also become a ‘Measuring Up the North’ community, meeting the qualifications to use their logo,’ Maureen continued. “Every business in Horsefly is wheelchair accessible, as well as the library and the community hall on both floors. Partnering with the CRD, we have added accessible public washrooms both at the campground and in town, helping to brand Horsefly as a great holiday destination.” 

(Photo:  Duncan Barnett)

Duncan Barnett stated that the funding for the project was based on making communities accessible, adding that the work done by Measuring Up the North’ was passed on to various parties that included the Horsefly Community. “This is more than a trail---it’s a very special trail,” he stated. “It will be one trail in a network within the Cariboo and beyond.” 

Darron Campbell, CRD Manager of Community Services, agreed. He said that the trail is a community-driven opportunity, and that there are five others like it right now in the Cariboo Regional District funded by the same grant program. 

“It came from a vision at the Regional District Board table about creating outdoor accessible environments,” he explained. “There was initiative for accessibility throughout communities with ‘Measuring Up the North’ and I think the CRD embraced outdoor accessibility because that’s something we have that’s different than the City of Williams Lake and the City of Quesnel where it’s about sidewalks and parking. The CRD thought about our best asset: outdoor recreation, and how you get people with low mobility outdoors to enjoy all the beautiful scenery and landscapes and salmon spawning channels.” 

He said that three of the five accessible nature trails will be finished by the next week. “It builds momentum because it’s such a good idea, and this just shows that you can’t hold good ideas like this back,” he continued. “Congratulations to the Horsefly community for pulling this together.” 

(Photo:  Roy Argue)

Roy Argue from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans thanked Bruce for cutting the ribbon and officially opening the trail on the fifth Horsefly Salmon Festival. “We believe that it’s really important to bring people to the river, because as people are educated about salmon, care about salmon and appreciate salmon, they develop the stewardship ethic that we’re looking for, and can hopefully help us protect these runs for the future,” he said. “On behalf of the DFO I want to thank the community of Horsefly and the Horsefly River Roundtable for putting the festival together this year.” 

Bruce Mcleod, Director on the Horsefly River Roundtable and the man who cut the ribbon, said that a special thanks was due Duncan Barnett, who championed the accessibility cause from the very beginning. 

Duncan said that with increased accessibility, communities make themselves more attractive for guests and tourists, and also increase retention in rural communities. “Tourism is important, but the angle I really picked up on is that if you build a community that people can age in, it will be a more attractive community,” he explained. “If you come here with a young family and can see that mom isn’t stuck indoors all day because where’s she going to go with a stroller, that is something that’s really an asset to young families and makes it an attractive community to them.” 

He added that it was Bruce McLeod who had trouble getting into a town hall meeting in Horsefly at the community hall, who helped bring the issue home in the beginning. “He wanted to get in to the town hall meeting so he could tell be about the trouble he had getting in to the CRD library,” he continued. “That was a motivator to get the whole thing going.”

01/10 

   

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