Recap 2024 - Rossburn Subdivision Trail

Recap 2024! - Our projects

The last year has been a very busy and successful year for the Rossburn Subdivision Trail Association!

Thanks to generous funding and grant opportunities and our engaged board members, we could finalize several projects as well as start new ones. A big shout-out here to our main sponsors Trails Manitoba and Trans Canada Trail.

We appreciate everyone’s support and hope for 2025 to be just as exciting as 2024!

Rossburn Subdivision Trail Association's projects 2024

Mowing Pilot Project

With the help of Trails Manitoba‘s grant program, we could buy a mower and lease a tractor. With our equipment, our trail group therefore could mow our whole trail system twice in 2024. This means over 200 km altogether with the Rossburn Subdivision Trail/ Trans Canada Trail, Flying Eagle Link Trail, and Elk Link Trail.

Beforehand the communities along the trail oversaw mowing. Understandably, this was not always their highest priority. Therefore, every community had its mowing schedule. In the past, this led to very inconsistent trail conditions along our trail network. People using our trails encountered unpredictable trail conditions which don’t make for a great experience.
After this year, we can report that being able to take care of the mowing ourselves massively improved the condition of our trails. It ensured consistent mowing over the whole stretch in time for the season. The municipalities are still in charge of mowing within their town limits.

A team effort!

Mowing such a distance is, as you can imagine, a challenge – logistical, financial, and manpower-wise. Fortunately, we can point out the immense support our project received throughout the year. Volunteers donating their free time to sit on the tractor and mow the trail for us, more volunteers picking up and dropping off our ‘mowing-volunteers’, people offering their facilities to safely store our equipment, others donating diesel or oil – keeping our expenses to an unexpected minimum – and our board members for moving this project forward.

This pilot project was a huge success we are looking forward to providing users with better trail conditions again in 2025.

“My experience with the mowing project has been that it provides an opportunity for our volunteers to better appreciate our wonderful trail and that it improves our relationship with area landowners. It also provided an opportunity to channel a community outreach program offered by Mazergroup, who supplied the equipment.” – RSTA Vice President Dave Walker

Symonds Rails to Trails Kiosk

Together with the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Association Sandy Lake, we replaced the signs at the Sandy Lake information kiosk along the Rossburn Subdivision Trail. The new signs share interesting stories about the Rossburn Subdivision Trail/ Trans Canada Trail, railway history and (historic and present-day) Sandy Lake.

Trans Canada Trail, Trails Manitoba, Sandy Lake Endowment Fund and Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Association Sandy Lake provided funding.

Manitoba Trails Day: Erickson Storybook Trail & Water Tower Rest Stop

On June 1^st, 2024, we celebrated Manitoba Trails Day in Erickson. We hosted an inaugural walk on the Rossburn Subdivision Trail/ Trans Canada Trail along the new storybook trail. This ~4.5 km stretch starts at the Viking boat and ends at the water tower rest stop. It displays a book on 18 pedestals to read while you walk. We held a community barbecue and had the official opening for the Erickson water tower rest stop. Erickson Collegiate had their graduation students help with trail clean-up before the event.

It was a great day with many people attending and very positive feedback afterwards.

The event and the new storybook trail were mainly sponsored by Trans Canada Trail. The water tower rest stop construction was supported by Trails Manitoba’s grant program.

Onanole Trail & Leda Lake Eco Park

We officially added the former Onanole Trail (connecting the Elk Link Trail to Wasagaming) to our trail network. The Leda Lake Eco Park is in the final stages of becoming part of our network as well. This new recreation area is right next to the Rossburn Subdivision Trail/ Trans Canada Trail in Erickson. It offers (accessible) walking paths, bike trails, and a floating boardwalk overlooking Leda Lake. Adding those two new areas opens new possibilities for funding in the future and adds additional value to our trail network.

Rossburn Railway Signs

We finalized a project in Rossburn to replace the outdated and faded interpretive signs in the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Park at Centennial Street, right next to the trail. The new signs showcase the trail’s history and its connection to the railway as well as interesting facts about railway history.

Trails Manitoba, Trans Canada Trail and Rossburn Lions Club provided funding.

Russell Storybook Trail

After some storybook pedestals in Russell have been damaged, we were able to help Assiniboine Valley Recreation purchase new pedestals thanks to Trails Manitoba funding. The new pedestals were installed recently, and the first book is already displayed.

Waywayseecappo Landslide

We had a significant washout problem between Rossburn and Waywayseecappo that we could repair in time for the snowmobiling season thanks to Trails Manitoba, Trans Canada Trail and Snowtraxx Snowmobile Club financial support.