Cottonwood Park Closed by Rising Water
Sunday, May 12, 2013 @ 7:36 AM
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(Water blocks a portion of trail in Cottonwood Island Park, which is now closed. -Photo- 250NEWS)
Prince George, B.C. – Warm temperatures melting the mountain snowpack has resulted in increased water levels on the Fraser and Nechako Rivers.
And that means low ground at the eastern end of the city is starting to get damp. As a result, City Hall has closed Cottonwood Island Park and the Heritage River Trails from the Cameron Street Bridge to Fort George Park. The closure went into effect at 6 last night and will remain posted until further notice.
A trip to the park yesterday afternoon, prior to the issuance of the notice, gave this scribe a fairly good indication that a park closure wasn’t far off. “Did you bring your hip waders?” asked the elderly gent as I got out of the car in the park’s parking lot. “You’re going to need them. I came down to do a walk of all the trails but I couldn’t make it through. Had to turn back, too much water.” “Thanks for that. Should be good for a picture or two”, I said.
Down one of the trails and, as you can see from the photo above, water from the Nechako has come up enough that you’d need your gumboots to slosh through.
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So the park is closed for now and the City is keeping an eye on things, just like this little guy (friend of mine calls ‘em tree rats) was keeping an eye on me as he scrounged around for dinner. “Who you lookin’ at?” he seemed to say. Ornery critters them tree rats.
Comments
Every year its the same thing- increased snow pack and warmer temps leading to increased water levels!!
We live in the northern part of a province surrounded by mountains and have 6 months of winter, therefore LOTS of snow.Then it FINALLY warms up and becomes lots of water.
This park was once a beautiful place to walk.After the great ice jam and flooding parts of this park have never been re-opened, trails compromised and undercut.Some well placed riprap and dredging would go a long way to help keep this park here. There is significant erosion and loss every year and eventually its going to ne Cottonwood Island Drive.
Give up on this park and let Mother Nature do what she does best which is often too expensive for humans to fight against.
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