A group of detected students from the Rutland Senior Secondary School Forestry program will be dedicating their time to help improve safety and security in a section of Mission Creek Regional Park.
Photo credit: Regional District of Central Okanagan.
Beginning on Tuesday, April 28th, students will be out in full force from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.
The students will be clearing shrubs and ground plants from a densely vegetated 1.8-hectare section of the park between the Irrigation Channel to the Leckie Road parking lot and Springfield Road.
While the students are hard at work, the parking lot will be closed for debris disposal. Residents are asked to stay out of the area while supervised students are at work.
Photo credit: RDCO contributed.
The project is expected to wrap up by Friday, May 1st.
“The RSS Forestry students worked in this area of the park in the fall of 2013. We’re pleased that they’re able to return, cleaning up the vegetation that’s grown back over the past two years,” said Communications Officer Bruce Smith. “They’ve done excellent work on several other Regional Parks projects over the years including the initial ground vegetation clean up in this area in 2009. This particular project provides them with some in-field experience while helping improve the overall safety and experience for visitors to Mission Creek Regional Park.”
“This work uses one of the important principles of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design: increasing visibility and natural surveillance by removing cover vegetation. In the past, this area of the park off the Leckie Road parking lot has had occasional instances of inappropriate and illegal activities. The vegetation clean-up will help to improve the safety and security for everyone using this section of the regional park,” added Smith.
Some of the many trails that run through the area may be decommissioned as a result of this work. Vegetation in the area will be allowed to naturally regenerate and will be maintained by Park Services staff.
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