Prince George, B.C. – The Hudson’s Bay Wetland Project has taken another step forward.

A new observation deck giving an overview of the wetland from the Heritage Trail is complete thanks to a $15,000 contribution from FortisBC.

The new deck is located a short walk along the Heritage Trail from the parking lot of Hudson’s Bay Wetland Nature Park on Queensway Street.

The deck was built by members and friends of the Caledonia Ramblers. An additional elevated deck – the fourth deck in the area – is also now in the final stage of completion.

“We’re terribly pleased to get the decks finished. We were kind of fighting against the deadlines – we wanted to get them done before freeze up and just managed to get in there I think,” says Prince George Naturalists Club past president Clive Keen. “So once that was done the boys built them fast.”

He says FortisBC plan to celebrate the new observation deck with a little party and some cleanup around the area this Saturday at 1 p.m. Keen says the completion of the fourth deck will be celebrated next month.

So, what’s next?

“One thing we wanted to do with the wetland was give people reasons to head around the circuit. It’s the circuit that is the crucial bit,” says Keen. “At the moment we’re still not there – we’ve got to put in the footbridge and the boardwalks to get people so they can really go around the entire circuit.”

To reach that goal, he says the PG Naturalists’ will require further funding.