The Burton Lake trail will continue to be developed after city council approved the spending of $10,000 on the trails by the Community and Leisure Services Department.
Burton Lake trail is an old Canadian Pacific Railway line that runs south out of Humboldt.
The city purchased the line a couple of years ago and, since nothing had been done with it since the line was shut down, a lot of the gravel had been taken away and some sections of the trail had been reclaimed by landowners.
The city wanted to ensure that farmers were aware of plans for the trail before seeding, says department director Michael Ulriksen so landowners parallel to the trail were informed last year as to the plan to work more heavily on the project.
There are two distinct sections of the trail, says Ulriksen; one that runs from Humboldt city limits to a gravel road and another that runs from the gravel road to HWY 20 north of the city.
City crews also staked out the trail after last year’s harvest with the plan this year being to map out the first section, which will need to be further defined and where there needs to be culverts for draining. About three-quarters of the trail had been reclaimed by landowners.
Much of the gravel still remains on the second section of the trail, however it has experienced heavy traffic from farm equipment.
Ulriksen says that crews will be out this year to relevel that section.
That amount of time and machine work is about all that the crews will be able to complete this year, says Ulriksen with some grass seeding already being planned for next year.
Work for next year will also include working the trail’s connection to the city. The trail does not have a distinct entry into the city as of yet, says Ulriksen, but creating that welcome to the trail will be part of the project.
Producers will still be able to farm parallel to the trail after the trail has been established.
The trail ends at the east-west grid road just before the Burton Lake elevator. The city has no further plans to develop the trail all the way to Burton Lake as of yet but it could be a discussion for the future.
