Wildlife enthusiasts working to attract new residents to walking trails
By Dale Woodard on March 12, 2021.
A southern Alberta group is hoping to add a few residents to the walking trails around Picture Butte.With spring approaching, Walk on the Wild Side have been working on a new addition to the trails that will be put up at the end of the month, weather permitting.
Ideally, this structure will attract some wildlife that will call the area home and provide bird watching enthusiasts with some prime viewing.
“What we’re hoping to be able to do on March 31 is we’re working with Alta Link, Lethbridge Northern Irrigation District and Picture Butte to put up an osprey or eagle nesting platform.
“We’ve got a great habitat and good opportunities for viewing, but we’re trying to bring some habitat for some of the predators like osprey or eagles,” said John Kolk, chair of Walk on the Wild Side.
“That’s about a 60-foot pole with a platform. These predators can either fish or see their prey from a distance. They’re the kinds of birds that want height and oversight.”
With the size of the platform, Kolk said the hope is the osprey and eagles will use it to build a nest.
“That’s one of the hopes, but sometimes it can take two or three years.
“But the hope is they’ll come in and if they start nesting and having eggs, there’s the opportunity to observe hatchlings and that would be really exciting.”
The platform will be raised close to the walking trail, said Kolk, adding the platform will be another way to improve the usability on the trails.
“People want to be outside if they can, so hopefully this spring will be hardening the surface so we don’t have as many gopher intrusions.
“We hope to do that sometime in May and also put up some benches and some observation locations with telescopes. We’re going to become the place to go for birding in southern Alberta.”
The trails are human powered, said Kolk.
“It’s not there for power equipment. We’re just working to improve it and improve access for seniors and people in wheelchairs and just improving the access so we have better year-round conditions on the trail.”
Kolk said there was some work done on the trails in the early-1980s
“But in the early-1990s the society was formed,” he said. “They put a viewing platform on and gravelled some of the trails.”
About 10 years ago, Walk on the Wild Side added more to the trails.
“There’s a nice gazebo straight up the street along the dam from the centre of town,” said Kolk.
“Now, the next steps will more benching and hopefully a serenity garden location and other trails along with improving some habitat.
“The finished area is about two-and-half miles, but pretty accessible from the highway or in town.
“It’ll be tied into the larger Picture Butte recreational master plan, which will include some trails through town. But this one is right around the resevoir, that’s really the big thing. Over some time we’d like to be able to get all the way around and tie into some of those local attractions like the tractor club and golf course.”
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