Nanaimo helps purchase $4.2M in land to connect local parks
The Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN), along with the City of Nanaimo have come together to acquire a significant amount of land which will connect two popular parks.
A combined, 99.1 hectares between the city’s Westwood Lake Park and the RDN’s Mount Benson Regional Park have been acquired from Mosaic Forest Management.
In total, the purchase cost around $4.2 million.
With three parcels of land in total, the RDN purchased two of them for $2.96 million (78.9 hectares) and the City of Nanaimo bought the last parcel for $1.25 million (20.2 hectares).
The parkland expansion will give outdoor users permanent access to this popular recreational corridor which will take them from the shores of Westwood Lake right to the top of Mount Benson.
"It’s piecing the puzzle together quite nicely that allows for publicly-owned land for people to enjoy," said Tom Osborne, general manager of recreation and parks for the RDN.
For years there have been trail systems already linking the two parks together, but they were unofficial because the trails were on private forest lands.
"This legitimizes and authorizes proper usage in the forest and connects it too," said Osborne.
Trailhead maps at both park entrances are expected to be updated soon.
The plan is to use the existing trail infrastructure and install new signage along routes to help users navigate between the two parks.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.