SYDNEY, N.S. — Alysha Jessome hopes a stroll through the Baille Ard Trail will help convince Cape Breton Regional Municipality councillors to protect the popular urban forest and nature trails.
The 27-year-old Sydney resident has organized a community walk Saturday as a way to help bring attention to the potentially devastating effects the municipality’s current flood prevention plan could have on the trail and surrounding forest.
So far more than 200 people have indicated on social media that they intend to attend the walk, with more than 600 others saying they are interested.
“I just noticed that a lot of people were really frustrated — they had a lot of opinions that they wanted to share, so I thought, ‘How neat would it be if we all just met up on the trail, we could kind of discuss and all have a walk together?’” said Jessome, who is from Georges River but now owns a home on Cottage Road.
The CBRM’s preliminary plans delineated as many as eight large embankments — each eight feet high, 50 feet wide and between 300 and 400 metres long — cutting across large sections of the 70-acre forest and four-kilometre trail system.
Municipal staff and engineers from CBCL Ltd. have since met with members of Baille Ard Recreation Association. CBRM wastewater operations manager Matt Viva told council Monday staff will analyze some suggestions Baille Ard Recreation Association members made to the plan, then meet with the group again in January.
However, the original plan already has council’s approval so even if there are no changes, it doesn’t require a second vote for work to go ahead.
Jessome said Saturday’s walk might change the minds of some councillors.
“I’ve called most of our councillors and left them messages inviting them out to the walk just so that they see how many people love the trails as they are and hopefully they’ll do their best to protect them after seeing how many people love the trails,” she said. “It’s hard to take a walk in that area and not instantly enjoy it. I think that would have some kind of effect on their opinions as well.”
Jessome said she often walks the trail with her shepherd mix Randy.
“It’s just a nice place to walk — it’s peaceful and quiet. I don’t love walking my dog on the street because he gets distracted easily and if he sees another animal across the street he’ll try to pull me across the street, which he’s almost capable of,” she said.
Saturday’s walk is scheduled to begin at noon and people are asked to meet at the Terrace Street entrance.
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