Great strides have been made on the Sea to Sky Trail over the last year, Project Manager Gordon McKeever told the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) directors at their Monday (April 27) meeting.
And there's another busy year ahead.
McKeever and the SLRD announced Monday that the Squamish-Whistler section of the Sea to Sky Trail has become the newest section of the Trans Canada Trail, and the Trans Canada Trail Foundation has committed $300,000 towards work on the trail.
The partnership with the Trans Canada Trail, a projected 21,000-kilometre route that will become the largest trail network in the world once the remaining 30 per cent of its trails are completed, gives the Sea to Sky project national exposure and opportunities while "significantly" raising its profile, McKeever told the board.
"It's just been a great partnership," he said. While the Whistler-Squamish section is the only part to be registered with the national network at this point, he added, "as we develop the trail north from Whistler to Pemberton, Mount Currie and Lillooet, the opportunity for registering that will also be there."
Momentum is building around the Sea to Sky Trail with the Trans Canada Trail partnership and the support of the provincial trail strategy, which has made creating a network of regional trails a priority.
"The Sea to Sky Trail is a magnificent addition to the Trans Canada Trail. With its mountain vistas, pristine lakes, old growth forests and dramatic rock formations, it will be a highlight of the trail for both Canadian and international visitors," Valerie Pringle, board chair for the Trans Canada Trail, said in a statement.
McKeever said 2009 will be a busy year for trail construction, and will also see the launch of an informative, technologically innovative website for the project at the www.SeaToSkyTrail.ca address, plus the installation of signage at minor trailheads all along the Squamish-Whistler route.
While major trailhead pavilions and interpretive signage will follow in later phases, 2009 should see signs go up along the Whistler-Squamish section to show maps of the regional trails and tell local stories.
A previously announced donation of $50,000 from the American Friends of Whistler will support the signs. The comprehensive, interactive website should be ready to roll out "very shortly," McKeever told the board.
The portion of the trail from Whistler's Athletes Village site to the Cal Cheak Recreation Site is complete, and construction on the Squamish Corridor Trail - which represents about 50 per cent of the route through Squamish - is underway.
Construction on the Highway 99 Trail around Pemberton is also slated to start in 2009, along with further work on the routes around Whistler beginning in the summer of 2009, McKeever said.
Discussions will be pursued for the regions north of Whistler, McKeever told the board. The planners have been focused on Whistler and the south for the last few years because of opportunities with the Sea to Sky Highway Improvement Project and the Olympics, he said, "but now it's time to start turning our gaze north."
The project has also received financial contributions from the Resort Municipality of Whistler and the District of Squamish, grant programs from multiple levels of governments, and charitable groups such as the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation.
Building the 180 kilometres of the Sea to Sky Trail from Squamish to D'Arcy, which represents Phase 1 of the project, is expected to cost about $10 million, and $2.5 million has already been secured for that purpose, a project introduction statement said.
First dreamed up in the early 1990s, the Sea to Sky Trail project is intended to create a multi-user, year-round trail from Horseshoe Bay to Lillooet. The SLRD is leading the project, directed by a committee with representatives from the corridor communities, local First Nations, the SLRD, two government ministries and the Trans Canada Trail Foundation.
