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Restoration Camps: Exhausted with Accomplishment This past weekend (July 26-28), I officially started as a Catching the Spirit Peer Leader at one of our Spirit Stewards restoration camps. This time, our project was gravelling or re-surfacing of a section of the "Huckleberry" trail, not far in from its intersection with "Sasamat." Although the job was physically straining after awhile, I, along with the rest, felt very about able to help out in the park after completing the project. On Friday, when I arrived at our small makeshift camp near Camosun Bog, not far in from Imperial Street, the group was getting ready to make dinner. Supervisors who were leading this camp were Camilo Cortes Aguirre and Hilary Young. Also there were five other Peer Leaders. All together we had 15 people. Part of the program is to learn low impact camping, so after dinner, we practiced some methods such as "bring out what you take in," and burying soapy dish water (chemically non-hazardous) nearby the main road and 6 inches underground. This was done as so not to impact the surrounding soil and vegetation too much. We then had a friendly match of soccer on a nearby field at Queen Elizabeth Elementary and a single-filed spooky night walk. Next morning, I woke up to the call of the camp supervisors and got up to help prepare breakfast. I was surprised to wake up in the morning finding myself quite rested and ready for a day's work. There in the forest, we adjust ourselves to use our different senses to allow greater efficiency in absorbing our surroundings. The air smelled was unusually fresh to my unadjusted nose and, there in the woods, the birdcalls seem to be more apparent to my insensitive ears than usual. Soon after breakfast, we set out to meet a Park staff 16th Avenue and "Sasamat" for our day's work at "Huckleberry." At the work site, we were given wheelbarrows, shovels, and rakes and shown how to re-surface the trail. The gravel path needed to be about 10 cm high and sloping down on the sides. This is done so that in the rainy season, water can drain off the sides of the trail instead of making puddles in the middle of trails and making it difficult for park users to walk on. Before we put the gravel on, the path had the occasionally root sticky out and it was also rocky. Sometimes there are dips in the path and so it was our job to fill the path. As this was one of the feel trails in the Park where is it designated "pedestrians only," it made sense to gravel a sturdy path that can be used at all times. Sometimes a trail like this is necessary to put in because this, hopefully, prevents park users from trampling into nearby vegetation beds and making illegal trails that can easily hinder vegetation growth. Each year, the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) staff has to re-surface 10 km of trails. I will throw in a side note to give you a little background on "GVRD" and how GVRD relates to Pacific Spirit Park. Reading straight out of the "Regional Parks for harmony & health" pamphlet put out by GVRD's Regional Parks Department (12/99), "GVRD is a partnership of 21 municipalities and one electoral area. Its services include regional parks, regional growth management, transportation planning, drinking water supply��GVRD's purpose is to guard the quality of life in our magnificent region and to deliver region-wide essential services." Things that involve several cities like air quality control and drinking water supplies are governed by the GVRD. Pacific Spirit is one of 23 regional "greenspaces" maintained under the GVRD "for recreation, education and rejuvenation and provide refuge for a vast array of native fish and wildlife" (Regional Parks pamphlet). Hence, it is especially important that we pitch in and help in preserving an area, which has been designated as having an "unique" and "sensitive" habitat for our native plants and animals. Park programs such as "Catching the Spirit," sponsored by the community-based Pacific Spirit Park Society, are intended for the purpose of actively involving caring community members in the Park. While we were camping and working this past weekend, several park users very concernedly inquired about our stay and working in the Park. We would then inform them about our program. I think this kind of concern shown to us by community members and park users is a very positive sign that shows us people really care about this park. We worked about 4 hours on the trail, shoveling loads of gravel into bright orange wheelbarrows. Then working together, several of us would then carrying wheelbarrows after wheelbarrows of gravel down the familiar path where some participants would be standing at the end with rakes, waiting to pat down firm the gravel. Our backs, arms, and legs ached but we helped each other and worked tirelessly. We breaked for lunch and quickly returned to work. As participant Jessica Lam said, "I think [the project was] quite fun, I feel very happy that I accomplished something. Helping the park [staff] to help make those boardwalk and put [on] gravel was quite big accomplishments for me." The finished product looked quite impressive to our eyes. When I asked Ahlaam Mahmood, a Peer Leader, how she felt about finishing the projected, she commented, "I think it was fun [that] it's something that was different. It was like I did something to help a community. [It will] benefiting all the [park users for a long time]." Participant Lily Li agreed, "It's kind of fun when you are doing it and later you are all tired [but] I never had [an] experience [like this.]" The path that we re-surfaced was not as long as we had expected it, about 100 metres, but as it was made firm with our sweat and energy, and although exhausted, we felt quite accomplished. We all nodded in agreement that we felt very happy about actually able to help out in the Park. Overall, it was very good experience me, as I had no prior camping experience. I was also glad that I got a chance to meet some participants in the program who are also interested in helping out in the Park and learning more about nature. The camp was a good break away from the busy schedule and city scenes. So the food and group activities could use some improvement, but this is real camping and we leaders are all learning as we go along. In the end, most tired campers went away bearing a satisfied smiled, while waving goodbye to newly- made friends. |
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