‘Big problem is low numbers’: Yarmouth trail association needs more volunteers to tend former rail line

YARMOUTH, NS – While it’s not difficult to spot walkers and recreational vehicles on Yarmouth County trails, it’s much more of a challenge to find volunteers to groom those grounds.

The Yarmouth County Trail Development Association believes it’s vital for people to step up to preserve the 87-kilometre trail system running across the former railbed.

A small group of a dozen volunteers, including four people over the age of 70, has tried to maintain the trails for years. But the task has become even more daunting of late, with less hands to help and more incidences of vandalism countering those efforts.

“Volunteers would make a big difference,” says Ron Day, the association’s chair. “The big problem is low numbers.

“The comment has been made, ‘We’ve worked on this for 20 years and this (damage) is the treatment we get. Why wouldn’t we just pack it in?’ And there are a number (of people) talking that way.”

Dedicated people, but more needed

Day is 86 years old and he’s been the chair since the group was formed in the early 2000s.

“I’ve been trying to find somebody to take over, so I could back out, and I’m not having much luck,” he says. “In some cases, people don’t realize that volunteers are actually volunteering. I think some of them think that (volunteers) get paid for doing what they do.”

The trails were opened in 2011 after about five years of preparatory work to repurpose the old railway lines. Back in those days, as many as 25 volunteers would show up for a Saturday work bee.

Those numbers gradually declined, but a spirited base of dedicated people still kept the trails functional, regardless of the season.

“Over the years, we’ve been fortunate to have a number of retirees who were keenly interested,” Day says. “When they’d hand in their hour sheets at the end of the month, some of them were putting in 30 hours a week on the trails. We accomplished a lot.”

Those counts of volunteer hours are critical in applying for grants, which still only cover a portion of the work needed to groom the trails on a continual basis. The network includes 16 bridges along the route.

This past summer alone, the association paid $11,000 to contractors to mow the entire trail sidelines just one time, Day says. More help might have enabled the group to do more than a single cut this season and improve the appearance of trails, he says.

“We would like to be able to cut the grass more than once a year, but at $11,000 a mowing, it’s very difficult.”

Help and support needed

The few people willing to help have been busy as it is, with problematic weather causing extensive water damage and crevices that compromised the trail banks.

Not to mention at least three incidences of vandalism since the spring. Those acts have frustrated volunteers who not only tend the trails, but also like to use them for their daily recreation.

That group includes Day, who walks on the trails regularly. After retiring from his job as development co-ordinator of provincial parks, the Lake Annis resident has been a catalyst in preserving and enhancing the Yarmouth County trail system.

Now, he and others would like a break, not the broken barriers that have dogged the trail and its infrastructure lately.

Day recalls that a volunteer recruitment drive has been successful in the past.

“We sort of scraped around and found people who hadn’t thought of volunteering and got them out,” he says. “We got them interested and they stayed and did good things for us.”

He would like to see each community along the route commit to maintaining trail grounds in their respective neighbourhoods. That was the initial plan when the trail development association was formed, Day says.

“With the volunteers not being there, it really hampers what we can do.”

Some of the loyal volunteers are people balancing that personal commitment with their professional jobs.

The trail association is calling for volunteers from all walks of life, retired or not.

While help might be in short supply, there’s still plenty of people enjoying the multi-purpose trails, from walkers and runners to cyclists and all-terrain vehicle (ATV) operators.

“Close to Yarmouth and Tusket and other population centres, you can probably see somebody (walking) on the trail just about any time during the day,” says Day. “In the more rural areas, you have lots of ATVs using the trail.”

While his age prevents him from being involved in the hands-on maintenance as much as he was in years past, Day continues to champion the trail upkeep. There’s even winter work that needs to be done.

“If the weather is nice, we fill potholes and the big thing is it’s a nice time to get out (for other maintenance),” he says.

“We can cut brush along the trail and get those things cleaned up in the off-season. There’s not as much (interference) because you don’t have to worry about leaves on the branches.”