| Summer Projects Committee Report - 1998 By Carol Billett Summer of 1998 was a busy and a productive one. Human Resource Development Canada - Summer Career Placement Program funded 2 positions ($5,054). Manitoba Education and Training - Urban Green Team Program funded 6 positions ($19,023). A Green Team Program sponsored and managed by the Manitoba M�tis Federation worked with our crew for the summer to plant trees, clean the river and its banks, and develop the trail between Provencher & Marion. Over the summer and fall, we exhausted our $55,000 Winnipeg Development Funding for trail development. The Energy Pathways On-Site Program provided us with the means to hire a co-ordinator of the summer projects. Thank-you to all who contributed and to our river crew consisting of : J�r�me Marchildon (Co-ordinator), Tim Parker, Jon Brown, and Mike Wilson (Supervisors); Kristen Brown, Caitlin Brown, Sylvie H�bert, Maxine H�bert, Carrie Boles, and Carl - Stephanie Habeck (Crew Members), and the five crew members from MMF. A big thanks also go out to our fall trail development crew consisting of Mike Wilson (Supervisor), Angie Derin, Chris Topar, Dale Kopytko, Bernard Gaudet (Crew Members). Kavanaugh Annual Greening 1998 By JP Brunet Blessed with fine weather, some song and some music, our Annual Greening at Kavanaugh turned out to be a successful event. This site was very much a disaster after the city had reinforced the bank. Thanks go out to Carolyn Chartrand and the M�tis Horticultural Green Team and Roger Geeves' Omand's Creek Green team who came out to lend a hand. The entire bank was re-planted with trees thanks to $25,000 we received from Action 21 (Federal Program), $7,500 from the Special Conservation Fund as well as $1,250 from Shell Canada. John Morgan from Prairie Habitat conducted a workshop on tall grass prairie restoration and tall grass prairie mix was seeded between the tree seedlings. During the course of the summer the Kavanaugh Site became a high maintenance site requiring much weeding and watering. With the balance of the funding, both SOS's and MMF's Green Team tackled numerous spots along the Seine from Provencher all the way to Marion. There are only a few spots that still require attention. The main one is the bank failure at Youville. SOS will have to wait to see how this situation is resolved. Meanwhile there is a certain satisfaction in knowing that a quarter of corridor within Winnipeg (no doubt the worse stretch) has now been restored through SOS and its Green Teams. It has been a task that has taken four years of work. Thankfully the worst is now behind us. SOS will continue to move Southward through the corridor and continue the work of restoring the corridor. Trail Forges South by Bob Tinker Our Trail has proved to be a popular neighbourhood asset since its completion from Provencher to Cabana last fall. A heartfelt thank you goes out to our fall and summer crews for their labour, Glenat Enterprises for their expertise on the Cat and Bobcat, Al Dyregrov for his geotechnical advice and to Westeel and AFG for allowing us to put the trail in and giving us the access to do so. Thanks also to Jim Paterson from the City for their assistance. This summer we will complete the canoe launch at Provencher, add an access trail at the end of Deschambault, put in a section of fence behind Westeel and push the main trail further south access the Youville Development property once their plan is in place with the City. An appropriate design for a protective structure has been found for under the rail bridge and negotiations are underway with CN. Hopefully this too can be completed this summer. Getting a bridge built to hook up with the Kavanagh trail on the east bank has proved to be more onerous and lengthy task than first suspected. It may in fact turn out to be a project for the next millennium. Preliminary design should be completed by this fall and then be presented to the city for approval. Maybe some enterprising Voyageurs would like to set up a ferry service in the meantime. |
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| Photo caption: Our fall crew quickly discovered they were in for no picnic as they tackled the most difficult and challenging stretch of the trail - the embankment behind Westeel. Forced to go mid-bank, (Westeel didn't want us on top of the bank) the happy result is that you walk right by Westeel without knowing that it is there. |