KNPS 1998 AGM
Report from the Executive
In 1998 the Nature Park
Society had 75 memberships representing 193 individuals, 2 businesses and 2
clubs.
This year we sold a record
545 trail maps at outlets throughout town surpassing our last year's total of
544 by one map. Payment for maps is on the honour system and we had a 78%
honesty rate this year that netted us $98.74. Many thanks to Frank Goodwin for
looking after our map distribution and keeping such accurate accounts.
This year for the first
time, we held a raffle to raise money for our various projects netting over $400
in profits, thanks to Merv Vincent, Ivan Mather and Bev Jenks as well as
numerous members who flogged the tickets to coworkers and friends.
As part of our focus on
education we have now developed a Nature Park Internet homepage, which has
gotten off to a great start this year thanks to the pictures, articles and time
donated by David MacKenzie, Karen Paynter, Don Davies, Marty Musser, Pat Bates,
Doug Pyper, and Roy Musser. Thanks to all these folks you can come to the
library on a blustery night and tour the nature park, learning about its ecology
and history without even getting wet. You can also do this from a computer
anywhere in the world.
The grade six kids at McKim
Middle School have once again been exploring and learning about the Nature Park
thanks to teachers, Ruth Martens and Marg Bibby, who are trying to instill a
sense of respect and ownership in their students. Their future plans include
more hikes, making videos and adding to the Nature Park web page.
A number of special events
were held in the Nature Park this year. Thanks to Katie Mackay for organizing
our annual Mother's Day Walk and to various volunteers that worked with the
Volksmarch Club to lay out a route and lead a number of Volksmarches.
Keeping the trails clear was
a big job this year especially after that major August thunderstorm. We haven't
constructed any new trails in the last 12 months, but we are looking at the
possibility of replacing Skid Road. We have flagged a potential route that would
be less wet, rocky and steep than the existing one and will have another look at
it in the spring.
Another ten trail signs went
up this summer thanks to Wayne Heppner and his McKim woodworking class and
installers Jeff Wilson and Marty Musser. About half of the existing trail signs
have been refurbished with a new coat of paint on the lettering applied in the
field by Struan Robertson.
We now have our first-ever
boundary signs in place, 4 along the St. Mary Lake Road and three more along the
Kimberley West border, with more ready to go up when the other boundaries of the
Park are finalized. Thanks to Irene Teske, Marty Musser and Earle and Barbara
Robertson for helping install the signs. Thanks as well to Ivan Mather, Earle
Chambers and Donna Cummins for looking after the sign-in boxes at three
entrances to the Park. No thanks to the vandals that have stolen the book at the
Higgin's St. box and messed up pages in the others.
Another first for the Park
this year was the accurate mapping of our trail network. Eaglevision Geomatics
and Archeology and their technician Robert Williams, donated two full days of
time and the use of a $15,000 Global Positioning System receiver to produce a
digital map of the trails. We hope to use this map to create a new trail guide
in the coming year.
On the administrative and
political side of things, our liaison committee, Merve Vincent, Peter Moody,
Earle Robertson and myself, was kept busy this year with a number of meetings
and discussions with the City of Kimberley and representatives of the provincial
government. We met with the consultant hired by the City to review possible
locations for the Happy Hans Campground, and have been working for some time to
reestablish regular discussions with the City about the future of the Park.
This year the exchange of
land between Cominco and the Crown was finalized and both the Kimberley West and
Nature Park lands are now set for further planning and development. The Province
has announced its desire to see a public planning process for the Park,
organized by the City of Kimberley. We are hopeful that such a process will
begin in the next few months and are confident that we will have a great deal of
input into any overall plan for the area. We have begun a visioning process with
our membership to firmly establish the organizations goals and objectives for
the Park and have a summary here tonight of our last membership brainstorming
session. We hope everyone will take one home and think about the issues that it
raises and whether there are further issues that need to be discussed.
Hopefully, we will get back together in the new year and continue to build our
vision.
Nineteen ninety-nine
promises to be a busy and very important year for our organization. We have
never been closer to having a legally established Park, but we are not quite
there yet. We are going to have to show the Kimberley City Council, and the
Provincial government that not only is the Park something the people of
Kimberley value, but it is something the people of Kimberley can steward and
protect. We need to make sure the trails are well maintained and our signs
looked after. We need to expand our educational efforts and do more to teach
kids and adults that the Park is a place to both enjoy and respect. We need to
increase our membership and increase the percentage of our members that are
active in the Society. We need to inventory the cultural and natural resources
of the Park so that we can better understand and protect them. We have to reach
out to other groups and organizations, to the Park's neighbours, like Charlie
Locke and the Kimberley Nordic Club and to all the users of the Park whether
they are members or not. We need to explain our vision for the area and listen
to their concerns and ideas and work cooperatively for the good of the Park and
the community.
In a few minutes, we will be
electing a new executive to lead us into 1999. We are also hoping to revitalize
our standing committees by finding new volunteers to help out with a variety of
tasks. I hope that many of you will find the time and energy to pitch in over
the next 12 months and help make the decades-long dream of a Nature Park for
Kimberley come true.
Kent Goodwin
Vice-President
For the KNPS Executive
1999 Kimberley Nature
Park Society Directors
President - Kent Goodwin
Vice-President - Struan Robertson
Secretary - Julie-Anne Davies
Treasurer - Lorne Hope
Membership Secretary - Earle Robertson
Director - John Dunbar
Director - Katie McCay
Director - Ruth Martens
Director - Ivan Mather
Director - Peter Moody
Director - Marty Musser
