Volunteers Build A Path To Success

If trail building is an art as much as a craft, the Cowichan Lake Trail Blazers Society are on their way to becoming masters.

Julia Martinusen, President of the Cowichan Lake Trail Blazers Society, hard at work on the Christopher Rock Trail in Youbou.

These active volunteers have worked with Mosaic Forest Management on a formal agreement to develop trails above the town of Youbou as part of their overall goal to ‘develop, maintain, and promote hiking and biking trails throughout the Cowichan Lake region for residents and tourists’. 

The Cowichan Lake Trail Blazers Society’s work on the Christopher Rock Trail has focused on adding switchbacks to improve user safety on the steeper sections of the trail. 

“It has taken time, and a very productive working relationship with Mosaic, to define the agreement to access Mosaic’s private forest lands,” said Julia Martinusen, President of the Cowichan Lake Trail Blazers Society. “We believe that our community will love the improvements to this important trail in the Youbou area.”

In 2021, the Cowichan Lake Trail Blazers Society and Mosaic signed a trail management licence for trail building on Mosaic’s private forest lands in the Youbou and Lake Cowichan areas.  

“An access agreement, like the one we have with the Cowichan Lake Trail Blazers Society, is an important partnership,” said Pam Jorgenson, Land Use Forester with Mosaic Forest Management. “It establishes a shared understanding of what safe and responsible use looks like on Mosaic privately owned forest lands. The volunteer work of the Cowichan Lake Trail Blazers Society benefits the community in many important ways.” 

The Cowichan Lake Trail Blazers Society prides itself on supporting the development and maintenance of well-constructed, sanctioned mixed-use trails within the Cowichan Lake Region. To learn more or to become a member, visit cowichanlaketrailblazers.com. For information about access agreements for Mosaic forest lands, visit mosaicforests.com/access.