What to do with the recreational trail?

The Recreational Trail Corporation is organizing a meeting within the next month with Gary J. Barton, the warden of the United Counties of Prescott-Russell and other UCPR staff members, to finally come to a decision about the future of the trail, according to Serge Joly, a member of the Prescott-Russell Recreational Trail Corporation.

The issue revolving around the Prescott-Russell Recreational Trail has been an ongoing one for some time now; in October 2016 significant cuts were made to the 2017 budget of the trail, at the suggestion of Clarence-Rockland Mayor Guy Desjardins, who was, at the time, warden of the United Counties.

Although local mayors refused a proposal to close down certain less-used sections of the trail, back in March of this year, none have come up with a more feasible plan.

A series of four separate public consultations were held in May of this year with the aim of finding solutions and coming up with ideas to make the trail more viable.

Many ideas for unique activities were bounced around, including bird watching, photography outings and stargazing, amongst others, but the issue always remains to be the promotion of these activities.

Before the budget cuts, the PrescotRussell Recreational Trail had a budget for publicity, but along with the maintenance budget, publicity money was slashed from the 2017 budget.

As for right now, there are not many activities taking place along the Prescott-Russell Recreational Trail. On the Bourget side of the trail, Canadian artist Jeanette Tossounian has been working on painting the mural along the trail at the Bourget Pavilion, and has been encouraging residents to come out to the trail to see her work and discuss ideas for the mural with her.

The Recreational Trail Corporation, along with the United Counties, should be announcing a final decision in the coming month on the future of the trail. La Corporation du Sentier récréatif de Prescott-Russell organise une consultation avec Gary J. Barton, le président des Comtés unis de Prescott et Russell, et d’autres membres du personnel afin de prendre une décision sur le futur du sentier, selon Serge Joly, un membre de la corporation des sentiers récréatifs.