From tires and shopping carts to trails and benches: Summerside pond being transformed
'It was so overgrown with weeds and grass that people were dumping stuff and no one was seeing it'
A group in Summerside is working to re-establish a pond as a gathering place for the community, rather than a local dump.
The pond, just off Notre Dame Street, was once a place where people would fish, play hockey, and —going back even further — cut ice for cold storage in the summer months.
"Most people wouldn't even know it was a pond. Most people would think it was a marsh or wetland," said Tracy Brown, executive director of the Bedeque Bay Environmental Management Association.
"There was old bicycles, there was old tires, a whole lot of shopping carts. It was so overgrown with weeds and grass that people were dumping stuff and no one was seeing it. The actual dam itself that was blocking the stream was all caved in and broken in."
Federal help
Two years ago the Bedeque Bay Environmental Management Association applied for federal government funding to bring life back to the space, and that work is well underway. So far there has been work to remove the dam, do stream restoration and replace culverts.
Excavation work in the pond is happening now.
By next summer the goal is to have a bridge, benches and a trail built around the pond. There will also be a fish ladder and enhancement work to boost the population of brook trout.
The overall cost of the project is more than $300,000.