The Friends of the South Slopes maintenance site has been given a boost.
The site facility, on Stewart Road West in Kelowna at the entrance to Myra Bellevue Provincial Park, has seen the culmination of a two-year project to be equipped with electricity.
Hugh Culver, a FOSS member, said electrical power delivered to the maintenance service site will help keep the facility secure from break-ins, improve communications with volunteer crews working in the field, and to begin to shift from gas-powered to rechargable battery-powered equipment.
Funding for the project was provided by BC Parks, the Trans-Canada Trail Society and an anonymous donor.
"It will really allow us to further expand our operations," Culver said.
FOSS began in November 1997 as a few people interested in the orderly management of the Crown lands met to develop a plan for recreational use and environmental preservation of the South Slopes, the area between Myra Canyon and the eastern portion of Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park.
In 2004, FOSS signed its first volunteer group agreement with BC Parks which saw them become stewards of Myra Bellevue Provincial Park, and then in 2022, the Myra Canyon Trestle Restoration Society's responsibilities were turned over to FOSS, making the Kettle Valley Rail trail part of FOSS's South Slopes mandate.
FOSS has embarked this year on further enhancements of the Myra Bellevue trail network to relieve mountain biker-hiker use conflicts and ecosystem impacts, along with upgrades to the information kiosks and trail direction signage that enhances the Indigenous connection to the land, working with both Westbank First Nation and the Okanagan Nation Alliance on the First Nations history to be provided to the public.
Access to electricity will allow the dedicated group of volunteers to work on projects throughout the summer when excessive heat often forces work involving gas-powered equipment to be curtailed due to posing a wildfire hazard.
"And electrical equipment is less obnoxious for people using the trails in areas where we are working," he added.
The society has also been working on the trestles to reduce safety hazards on the trestles, along with re-establishing camp worksites that existed during the construction of the historic railway route, working with retired history professor Maury Williams from UBC Okanagan, who has conducted two archaeological digs in Myra Canyon and is now about to carry out a third.
Williams also wrote a book about the railway's history, "Myra's Men – Building the Kettle Valley Railway."
Culver noted that history is an important part of the Kettle Valley trestles experience, one that is considered a national treasure by the Trans Canada Trail Society and Destination Canada and a point of significant interest for international tourists.
He says the trestles route is a remarkable engineering achievement that both offers a recreational outlet for hikers and cyclists, but also raises questions about how and why the railway existed in the first place.
"Preserving that history helps make the experience a bit richer, " he said.
