Gray Park Natural Area
2024 was a busy year!
From the project launch in June 2023, we had an ambitious goal to start park construction by September of this year, and we made it! Much of 2023 was spent on building a vision for Gray Park—we started background studies and we with stakeholders and residents of Diamond Valley to develop a concept plan for the park. With a conceptual plan of the park finalized in early 2024, we started in on regulatory approvals from the province and firming up the construction tender and schedule.
In April we went back to the community and hosted a public open house where we presented the park design and spoke to the community about the upcoming construction plans. In early May, we presented the park plans to Diamond Valley Town Council. Late spring and early summer was focused on completing some key studies such as a biophysical inventory and historical resources overview and securing a contractor construct the park. In July we secured a construction contract for the park entries, and construction started on September 10. By the end of the month, the entry features were 90% completed. A picnic shelter adjacent to the main entrance was a later addition to the park plan, and will be installed in early 2025. We worked on interpretive trail design throughout the summer and had the trails constructed in September. Interpretive signs were installed as well.
Beaver co-existence was another focus this year. There is a healthy beaver population in the park. The wetland habitat that they’ve created plays a big part in what makes Gray Park so special, so we have been working hard to employ co-existence strategies that will continue to keep them on the landscape, but also reduce some of the impacts we see from excessive tree loss and flooding. In 2023, we installed ‘pond levellers’ to help reduce flooding, and we have seen some good results, but our local beaver population has been very diligent in working around them. We’re going to continue that work into 2025.
We’ve been very fortunate to get assistance in this from the Miistakis Institute and Cows and Fish who helped us develop some sustainable co-existence strategies that we plan to start implementing in 2025. On October 18 we held a second tree wiring workshop with the generous support of the Miistakis Institute and Cows and Fish. We wrapped another 66 trees which will help protect the balsam poplar forest in the park from significant beaver damage.
From the project launch in June 2023, we had an ambitious goal to start park construction by September of this year, and we made it! Much of 2023 was spent on building a vision for Gray Park—we started background studies and we with stakeholders and residents of Diamond Valley to develop a concept plan for the park. With a conceptual plan of the park finalized in early 2024, we started in on regulatory approvals from the province and firming up the construction tender and schedule.
In April we went back to the community and hosted a public open house where we presented the park design and spoke to the community about the upcoming construction plans. In early May, we presented the park plans to Diamond Valley Town Council. Late spring and early summer was focused on completing some key studies such as a biophysical inventory and historical resources overview and securing a contractor construct the park. In July we secured a construction contract for the park entries, and construction started on September 10. By the end of the month, the entry features were 90% completed. A picnic shelter adjacent to the main entrance was a later addition to the park plan, and will be installed in early 2025. We worked on interpretive trail design throughout the summer and had the trails constructed in September. Interpretive signs were installed as well.
Beaver co-existence was another focus this year. There is a healthy beaver population in the park. The wetland habitat that they’ve created plays a big part in what makes Gray Park so special, so we have been working hard to employ co-existence strategies that will continue to keep them on the landscape, but also reduce some of the impacts we see from excessive tree loss and flooding. In 2023, we installed ‘pond levellers’ to help reduce flooding, and we have seen some good results, but our local beaver population has been very diligent in working around them. We’re going to continue that work into 2025.
We’ve been very fortunate to get assistance in this from the Miistakis Institute and Cows and Fish who helped us develop some sustainable co-existence strategies that we plan to start implementing in 2025. On October 18 we held a second tree wiring workshop with the generous support of the Miistakis Institute and Cows and Fish. We wrapped another 66 trees which will help protect the balsam poplar forest in the park from significant beaver damage.
