By Chris Newel

Have you walked, run, rode or rollerbladed on the Northstar Rails-to-Trails? If so you are one of the 25,000-30,000 who do every year. The trail is popular attraction in the East Kootenay, which was officially opened in May 2012. It took a lot of work by some very dedicated volunteers to make the trail happen.

Now that the trail is open and hosting such a vast population of users, how is it maintained? Again, by a number of volunteers.

The Northstar Rails-to-Trails Society manages the trail in cooperation with the cities of Cranbrook and Kimberley and the Regional District of East Kootenay. The society holds an AGM in the spring and elected directors meet throughout the season to plan future projects, deal with trail issues, seek funding and work with various partners to maintain the trail structure.

To welcome the world the society currently maintains a Facebook page and a website. There is a large number of organizations and individuals who have contributed and the society would like to thank them for their support.

These contributions have been in the forms of financial support, value in kind support and/or as volunteers.

Advisory Board, BA Blacktop, BC Hydro, BC Public Works, Canadian Mental Health Association, City Liaisons, City of Cranbrook, City of Kimberley, College of the Rockies, Columbia Basin Trust, CP Rail, Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce, Cranbrook Dodge, Cranbrook Veterinary Clinic, C+S Performance, David Heckford Family, Dow Chemicals Ltd. Equicare Mechanical Services, Estrela Family, Focus Corporation, Gerick Sports, Government of British Columbia, Government of Canada, Kootenay Rockies Gran Fondo, Hearingloss Clinic, High Country Sportswear, Hryciuk Gallinger + Co. Inc. Janice Strong, Kaman Industrial Technologies Ltd. Kimberley Building Supplies, Kimberley City Bakery, Kimberley Garden Club, Kimberley Health Care Auxiliary, Kootenay Savings Credit Union, Lee Holm – Mountain View Resources, Mackay Contracting, Mainroads Contracting, Northstar GM, NSR2T Society, R.C.M.P. Rockies Law Office, Rocky Mountain Naturalists Club, Sidekick Stickers, South Sierra Development Ltd. Sunrise Rotary, Telus, Regional District of East Kootenay, The Seasonal Workers, Tourism Kimberley, volunteers, Wolseley Waterworks Group. If you have donated and are not on the list please contact the society.

If you have any questions or comments the society can be contacted through the website, Facebook page or at [email protected]

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