Access trail repairs funded
Key path to fishing lakes across from Pangnirtung to be made safer
Casey Lessard
Northern News Services
Monday, June 22, 2015
PANNIQTUUQ/PANGNIRTUNG
A trail much-used by Pangnirtung hunters and fishers is going to be safer this winter thanks to government funding that will see important upgrades made to stop erosion on an unstable path.
The Kuullik Trail, across the fiord from Pangnirtung, gives hunters and fishers access to hunting areas and fishing lakes. The hamlet received funding to improve the trail, which is used by snowmobiles. - photo courtesy of Jason Harasimo |
Kuullik Trail is across the fiord from the hamlet, and gives snowmobilers winter access to hunting grounds and fishing lakes.
"Owing to its location alongside a riverbed, the trail has a steep profile and unstable ground," said economic development officer Jason Harasimo.
"These characteristics have led to an urgent need for improvements to ensure the safety of the trail and to prevent future erosion. Parts of it are steep cliffs, so we're putting rails all the way through the trail to help people travelling to the lakes, so it's a little less dangerous."
The trail is one of two "rudimentary" trails that enable access to the land surrounding the hamlet, which is located at the base of mountains lining the fiord, Harasimo said.
"The trail has been used for a long time, heavily used in the winter. It's an important route in the early winter and late spring, when there is limited to zero access to other areas due to breaking-up of the sea ice around the entrance to the fiord, tidal currents creating thin ice and impassable leads."
This year's $70,000 funding package from the Department of Economic Development and Transportation's Community Transportation Initiatives Program is almost double last year's funding, which enabled the hamlet to work on the trail for five weeks last summer.
This year's funding will enable the hamlet to hire four or five people to work on the trail for eight weeks this summer.
The bulk of the cost will be for labour, Harasimo said, but the funding will also cover materials, boat rentals and ATV rentals.
