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Trail Care Day: Digby chosen for special event

KATHY JOHNSON TRI-COUNTY VANGUARD kathy.johnson@saltwire. com

The Town of Digby has been chosen by the Trans Canada Trail (TCT) to host a special Trail Care Day event in early June that will beautify and create an even more welcoming environment on the town’s section of Canada’s national trail.

“It is the first time TCT chose Digby for the special event with extra funding top off,” says Kat Kovalenko, Community Development Coordinator for the Town of Digby.

“We hosted our first trail care event in partnership with TCT this winter and they were very happy with our report because the majority of our volunteers were high school (DRHS) students, who did a great job building birdhouses and cleaning the trail," she says. "For this round we received more funding and will have more volunteers join the original DRHS team, including the Digby Alternative High students, and people who signed up as volunteers for the Digby Trail Care Club during our volunteer fair” in March.

“Our volunteers are painting rocks, nesting boxes, buoys, and will be putting together new benches, which will all be installed during the Trail Care Day. Kids will also clean the trail,” says Kovalenko. “In addition to all this, as a requirement for the Special Trail Care Day, we have to film a short documentary, and we also have a small team of students from Weymouth and Clare who will be in charge of this task under my supervision.”

Kovalenko notes a Grade 8 student from St. Mary’s Bay Academy in Weymouth also dropped by and donated some painted rocks to the cause.

Digby’s Trail Care Day event is scheduled for June 2, with a rain date of June 5. The day starts with a 10 a.m. rendezvous at the Victoria Street

Trail Head near the Digby Campground. The first group of volunteers, consisting of DRHS students and possibly some volunteers from the Trail Care Club, will meet

at the trailhead, and will be greeted by Town officials and a representative from TCT, says Kovalenko.

“The film crew will be there a bit earlier to set up (three of my assistants and myself) with a representative from TCT,” she adds.

The day continues at 1 p.m. at the Tideview Terrace trailhead, where the Digby Alternative High students will install their portion of décor and their bench set.

The Town of Digby is one of 192 trail groups awarded Trail Care Grants (TCG) by TCT to prepare the trail for the 2023 spring and summer seasons.

The Town received $2,000 through the TCG program to enhance the local section of Canada’s national trail. The funds will go towards buying new bench kits that will be assembled by the DRHS and alternative school students, art supplies for trail décor that will be created by volunteers, memory cards for videographers, and gift cards for volunteers, says Kovalenko.

Anyone interested in volunteering for Trail Care Day is asked to contact Kovalenko prior to the event and sign up for the Trail Care Volunteer Club.

“We have a lot of kids volunteering and I would like to make sure that I know who is attending the events for safety reasons. In some cases, I would need to ask for a criminal record check. There is a volunteer opportunity for everyone, however. In some instances, we can just accept art/craft donations, however, for trail work during times when kids are involved,” says Kovalenko.

The Digby Railbed Trail runs through both the Town and Municipality of Digby and is part of the TCT, which spans over 28,000 kilometres on land and water. The longest recreational trail in the world, the trail links three oceans – the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic – and connects 15,000 rural, urban and Indigenous communities across every province and territory.

Since April 2018, the TCT Trail Funding Program (TFP) has invested over $19.5 million toward 508 Trail projects across every province and territory, with the value of supported trail projects exceeding $124 million. Funding for the TFP is provided by the Government of Canada through Parks Canada.

The TFP is open to all trail organizations that operate one of the over 500 sections of the Trans Canada Trail. The TFP provides financial support to groups for trail infrastructure and major repairs, improvements to safety and accessibility, and destination development projects, as well as to First Nation communities to develop new trails.

In addition to providing TFP infrastructure funding, Trans Canada Trail supports local trail operators through an array of programs including funding initiatives such as the Trail Care Grant, to ensure the trail’s sustainability now and for generations to come. Trans Canada Trail supports local conservation efforts including the enhancement of green spaces, the protection of biodiversity, and the restoration of the ecosystems that underpin our economy and enrich our quality of life.

TRI-COUNTY VANGUARD

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2023-05-31T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-31T07:00:00.0000000Z

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