亚洲天堂

Students at Decker Lake Elementary School (DLES) have freshly groomed cross country trails to enjoy for the remainder of the winter season, thanks in part to the work done by Spirit North Leader Chris Paulson.

Paulson, who has dedicated many hours with his snowmobile and homemade groomer on snow trails in the area, told Lakes District 亚洲天堂 that the new trail project was backed by a couple of different sources. 鈥淭here is such an essential need to get kids active in the outdoors. The health and well being benefits are to crucial to ignore any longer,鈥� said Paulson.

鈥淭his is part of the Spirit North program of providing opportunities for kids, students, families and adults to get back on the land. However, there is also overwhelming support from teachers and the education system to start reaping the benefits of outdoor education. Wendy Kelemen, principal at DLES, had the proposal supporting the trail and School District 91 endorsed the project,鈥� he continued

All the work on the trails was done with all values in mind.

鈥淪afety was number one so the removal of danger trees was the most significant. It鈥檚 mainly an Aspen stand so the trees have significant wildlife potential especially for cavity nesters so initially I spent a lot of time just wondering around looking up to try and determine how much impact the trail would have on wildlife,鈥� said Paulson

Next, he spent time laying out the trail to make the most of a small area.

鈥淚 really tried to apply the same model of trail that the Ride 亚洲天堂, Boer Mountain and Kager Lake folks have implemented. It鈥檚 a very windy fairly narrow trail that often has a tunnel like feel that is very alluring to follow. I also targeted numerous clumps of spruce trees that the First Nations call shelter trees for the trail to pass by. The kids call them their forts and they can duck under and play while following the trail. The shelter trees will also make stellar outdoor classrooms for the teachers to utilize,鈥� Paulson explained.

Paulson said that initially he wanted to get the students involved in helping out on the trails, however, he soon realized it was unrealistic for elementary school students to assist with the initial building.

However, once the trail is well established and a safety protocol is in place, Paulson told Lakes District 亚洲天堂 that the students will be able to take over general maintenance .

The whole process for 1.5 kms of trail took about Paulson over a week of standing out there in -30 degrees Celsius. 鈥淚t was about a week visualizing then getting busy with the polaski to warm up. I found it to be a very creative and rewarding process,鈥� he said.

READ MORE: What to expect from the school semester in 亚洲天堂 Lake