COVID-19 Update

After consultation with provincial and municipal officials here is the status of trails that are managed or monitored by CHPTA as of 5:15pm Monday 23 March 2020:

• Salt Marsh Trail CLOSED
• Shearwater Flyer Trail OPEN. However users cannot use the parking lots for vehicles, they must walk to the trail and/or use the #60 Halifax Transit bus
• Heritage Trail CLOSED
• Bissett Trail CLOSED
• Forest Hills Trail CLOSED
• Cole Harbour Heritage Park (including inside trails) CLOSED

Until further notice and pending documented authorization from DLF, there will be NO volunteer or contractor maintenance work conducted anywhere in our system.

Michael McFadden
Chair
Cole Harbour Parks and Trails Association

iNaturalist

iNaturalist is a citizen science project and online social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe. iNaturalist may be accessed via its website or from its mobile applications.
To view a collection of photos from our area click here 

• To share your personal collection of photos of wild plants and animals on this page simply join iNaturalist - go to https://inaturalist.ca and signup today!
• iNaturalist is an excellent tool to help you learn the names of plants and animals – you do not need to be an expert in order to share – it is possible to assign a generic name such as plant or frog or spruce tree. The iNat community will assist with the identification process.
• Sharing observations with iNat will help the CHPTA compile a list of all the species observed in our area – your observations may fill in temporal, geographic, and/or taxonomic gaps in our current knowledge.

If enough people record their observations in iNaturalist Canada, we can make a difference for Canada’s wildlife. We can build a living record of life in Canada that scientists and environmental managers can use to monitor changes in biodiversity, and that anyone can use to learn more about Canada’s amazing natural history.

To help promote iNaturalist locally, HRM and 5 other Maritime areas have been registered to participate in the international City Nature Challenge  (CNC)  Over 250 cities from around the world will compete between April 24-27^th to see who can get the most number of observations posted to iNaturalist from their given city/area. The CNC also tracks the number of participants and the number of species observed. Every person and every observation counts!

To learn more about the Maritimes CNC follow our Facebook page .

This is a great opportunity to highlight Cole Harbour Parks and Trails.  We will be hosting a number of activities during the CNC event – up to date info will be posted on our Facebook page .

NOTE: it is not necessary to be part of a larger organized group to participate in the CNC – the only requirement is that you get outdoors, observe nature, and share photos using iNaturalist.

To follow the global CNC leaderboard click here

To follow the Maritime leaderboard click here .  If you join this iNat project you will be notified if/when news items relevant to our local CNC are posted. NOTE: If you click on any of the individual CNC names in the Maritimes leaderboard it will open to the local CNC leaderboard.

Into the new decade

Trail Status - All trails and the Park are open with the following conditions:

• There is no winter maintenance conducted on any of our trails;
• The Salt Marsh Trail between the Bald Eagle and Ready Aye Ready bridges is passable but rough with tripping hazards. Persons using mobility aids will likely be unable to use this section; and
• The Jersey Jack Trail along the Cole Harbour edge has been damaged by Dorian with passage possible by going on the uphill side of the trail. Dangerous areas have been cordoned off with safety tape. 

Trail Closure

The section of the Salt Marsh Trail from West Lawrencetown Road to the Canada Goose Bridge will be closed starting Tuesday 12 November until further notice. This is to allow the movement of heavy trucks and excavator equipment to work on this season's re-rocking project. The contractor, Lange's Rock Farm Construction Ltd, is in the final year of a 3 year contract and has provided exemplary service in the first two years of the work. This year's work will be concentrated in the section from Flying Point to the Canada Goose Bridge with truck movement entering the trail at West Lawrencetown Road

This multi-year project is building up the trail sides to a design developed by Grigg's Engineering. Previous years' work has proven to be much more resistant to storms as most of the damage from the Dorian event occurred in the unprotected section of the trail.

The duration of this years' work is weather dependant and will be at least 10 working days.

Cole Harbour Parks and Trails Association gratefully acknowledges the funding partners in this project (funding contribution for this year in brackets):

• Halifax Regional Municipality through the Capital Funding Agreements ($25,000.00)
• NS Department of Community Culture and Heritage through the Recreational Trail Expansion Grant Program ($18,000.00); and
• Trans Canada Trails through the Capital Improvement Plan ($12,500.00)

Updates will be provided through the course of the work.

AS I WALK event