Johns Family Nature Conservancy Trails

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Johns Family Nature Conservancy Trails

CLIENT/LOCATION

Regional District Central Okanagan (RDCO) – Kelowna, BC

DATE

2015

DIVISION INVOLVED

Recreation

Background

Cabin’s team designed and installed approximately 3kms of multi-use recreation trail tread in the John’s Family Nature Conservancy Regional Park. The trails were considered blue-rated multi-directional hiking and mountain bike trails. This is a well-used park, especially for birders and nature enthusiasts, so our team had to be cognoscente of how much impact they had on this site.

An important component of this project involved managing drainage across the trail with the installation of rolling grade dips, cross drains and small timber boardwalks. Managing water on unstable or sensitive terrain is essential to reduce long-term maintenance and make the trail safer for all users.

This project also involved fitting the trails onto old trail beds where suited, and across native material on steep, rocky slopes in other areas.

Challenge

This project demanded very little disturbance throughout the construction of the trails and infrastructure so our crews had to be very aware of environmental disturbance. Efficiency and limited impact with machinery and choosing the right equipment were essential.

Solution

We worked closely with the client to ensure design principles and construction had minimal impact on nature conservancy. This was a great learning moment for our trails crew and provided valuable context for working in and around environmentally sensitive ecosystems. The experience gained on this project eventually led to the creation of the Environmental Division at Cabin which now specializes in protecting, enhancing, and restoring natural habitat.