26 January 2010

Province Offers to Help Protect Old CPR Railway

Roseberry British Columbia - The provincial government is now taking steps to protect a stretch of old CPR railway land between Rosebery and Summit Lake.
 
Sparked by the submission of an application for 95 hectare land tenure by the RDCK, chair Gary Wright says the project has been 20 years in the making.
 
"I think it was in 1990 when the local government leaders from Nakusp to New Denver and the rural directors met with Parks B.C.," says Wright. "This was when CPR closed the line from New Denver to Nakusp and turned it back over to their realty branch and some to the Crown."
 
Wright says at that time, the provincial government had marked the stretch of land as Class A park, one of the highest ratings given to parkland.
 
The provincial government gives up to $3 million a year to buy land from the Crown, land which is to be made available to other levels of government. Wright says the government has offered the RDCK $100,000. The RDCK would act as a public recreation co-ordinator, Wright says, adding the offer does not include surveyor or legal costs.
 
"It's still subject to input from the public," says Wright. "It's notice of their intent to do this, unless there's some credible reason why they shouldn't."
 
One New Denver Resident, Chris Fox, says he's unsure why the issue is being brought back up after so many years. One of Fox's major concerns is whether motorized vehicles will be allowed on the trail if it is designated as provincial parkland.
 
"I don't think anyone's recreation is any more important than the others," says Fox.
 
Wright says the idea of not letting motorized vehicles on the trail would be debated during the managing process, after the land has been acquired.
 
The trail from Rosebery to Summit Lake would continue a project a couple decades old when local activists tried to connect a trail from Kaslo to Nakusp. Eventually, this project led to trails connecting New Denver, Rosebery, and Three Forks.
 
Keith Powell.