Prince George, B.C. – There is a very strong possibility most of Cottonwood Island Park will not open this year.

While trails close to River Road are open, those closer to the Nechako River remains off limits because of damage done during the ice jam and flooding over the winter.

 

The City of Prince George’s Manager of Leisure Services, Tom Madden is also in charge of the flood recovery efforts. “Although we have identified all the things we need to do, we don’t have any cost estimates yet.” 

 

Those cost estimates will depend on the flood mitigation study which is not expected to be complete until early 2009. “We are hopeful we will see a preliminary flood mitigation analysis at the end of July and that would give us some direction on what we can go ahead and do” says Madden. He says it’s already known something has to be done about the bridges within the park and that trails need to be restored but the flood mitigation study may call for action that would impact those bridges and trails “We are not anxious to move forward in haste to replace something that might not be there for the long term” says Madden.

 

He says when the details are available on what work can proceed, the City will look to more than one source for the funds “We will attempt to get as much as possible under the Provincial Government’s DFA funding (Disaster Financial Assistance) and the rest may be supplemented by City resources and the friends of Cottonwood Island Park have also indicated they would be willing to help.”