K-Country gets an extra hand with clean-up efforts

Kananaskis Country is getting an extra hand to help with flood repair efforts from a local volunteer group.

Friends of Kananaskis Country is using $30,000 in corporate donations to buy self-propelled heavy-duty wheelbarrows to help move large rocks and building material easily. Seven bridges and many trails were swept away in June's floods and the area is still working hard to move forward.

"Almost half of the trails were actually damaged during the floods," said Derek Ryder with Friends of Kananaskis Country. "Those are the trails we're working on. Rebuilding and restoring these trails, it's critical. People love these trails."

The four wheelbarrows can carry up to 1000 lbs of material and navigate into most places that a person could go. 

For those working to repair the flood's damage, having that extra help is significant.

"We're talking erosion, 30 feet deep, of waterfalls that used to be trails," said Jeff Eamon, who supervises trails for Alberta Parks. "A lot of the repairs are putting repairs in to some of these huge caverns that are on the trails and in order to do that, we have to move the rock that was washed out of the cavern back into it."

Alberta Parks says it could be another five years before the trails are fully repaired.