President's Report
t’s been a slow start to the 2017 season with snow still accumulating up high and considerable precipitation down low, resulting in few trails being open compared to previous years. While this has resulted in a marked increase in traffic on the trails in the Trail and lower Rossland areas, it’s also great to see so many keen enthusiasts out enjoying themselves.
The KCTS has been focused on recent years on increasing trail opportunities across the Lower Columbia Region. The tremendously popular Sunningdale and Bluffs Trails were expanded last season with the Rusty Chainsaw trail, which has been widely praised as a beautiful - if not challenging- addition. Stay tuned for a grand trail opening ceremony in the near future.
Additionally, we have been spending considerable efforts to identify new trail network opportunities in the Beaver Valley area. While we have identified some ideal Crown Land for this purpose, were are just working through some land access challenges to make it a reality. This is a priority for the KCTS as we recognize the popularity of trails in the Trail, Beaver Valley and Fruitvale areas, especially in the spring and fall seasons.
The KCTS trail crews are now at work doing maintenance on trails that are already open as well as construction of the new Green Door connector to Warfield. This new addition will offer a great hiking and biking experience from north Warfield, provide key connectivity to the network to Rossland and avoid sensitive habitat that has shown rapid increase in the spread of invasive species in recent years. We ask that you please use the temporary connector to Warfield for the time being and respect the permanent closure of Lower Green Door from the highway to the Wagon Road.
If you happen to come across the trail crews this summer, give them a high five and thank them for their hard work. In addition to having the funding for two full-time crews this summer, we recently received word that we have funding for two additional summer students through the Canada Summer Jobs program!
With warmer temperatures on the horizon more and more trails will be opening up rapidly. Our crews will do their best to get to these trails to clear blow down and deal with any drainage issues, so please be patient. If you notice anything of concern, please contact us atinformaiton@kcts.ca.
Happy Trails!
Ryan
Spring Community Trail Building Days are coming up
Sunday, May 21st on Green Door: meeting at the gas-line at the current exit of green door (the main entrance to upper Warfield from the highway), at 9AM and will be working until 12PM.
Saturday, June 3rd on RedHead: Details will be available closer to the date.
Church of Dirt
The 'Monday Night Church of Dirt' will be back for 2017! However, it will be a late start because of snow pack. Plans are for CoD to start the season by building a single track alternative to the road that goes from the end of Coffee Run to the top of Lower Milky Way. Subsequent projects will be from the north end of Techno-Grind to Milky Way. Looking forward to seeing you on build nights.
Planned start date is May 29th. We will meet at the Centennial parking lot @ 5:30. Updates will be posted on Bhubble.
Early birds membership draw
We would like to thanks the community for supporting the KCTS through membership. Once again, we had a successful early season membership drive and the lucky winners of our draw will be directly contacted by email.
We would like to acknowledge and thank our draw sponsors again:
2 nights in a Luxury Townhouse from Mountain Town Properties ($830 value)
$100 gift certificate from Powderhound
$100 gift certificate from Revolution Cycles and Service
Bell Stroker Bike Helmet from Gericks Sports ($105 value)
1 Hour mountain biking lesson from Kootenay Mountain Biking
Keen Swag from the Red Pair
$40 gift certificates from Aka Lake Sushi (x2)
$25 gift certificate from Kootenay Gateway
$20 gift certificates from the Flying Steam Shovel (x5)
$20 gift certificates from the Alpine Grind (x5)
Growler, beer and swag from the Rossland Beer Company
Drop-in gym passes from Better Life Fitness (x5) ($12 value each)
Get involved? We have put in place several committees to help us spread the work and are always looking for new community members to join us: - Operations, HR, and Safety Committee - Land Access Committee - Grants and Fundraising Committee - Public Relations and Memberships Committee If you are interested in getting involved with the KCTS, you can contact us at information@kcts.ca