January 2019
COMMUNITY NEWS
RenfrewCollingwoodCommunityNews.com
New trail system opens up the wonders of Renfrew Ravine by Julie Cheng “Have you come across the coyotes yet?” the walker asked me one morning. It’s a completely different world down here, deep in Renfrew Ravine. The peace of the forest surrounds you; the sounds of the birds and rushing water soothe you. Then there are the coyotes. I’d taken the steel stairs and timber steps leading from the Boyd Diversion entranceway near 22nd Avenue, past newly planted native plants and down to a boardwalk that winds its way alongside its creek, Still Creek. The walkways are part of a park renewal that’s been years in the making. In fall 2018, the Vancouver Park Board finally completed the construction of the new trails around Renfrew Community Park and Renfrew Ravine Park. Renfrew Ravine Park is located between the 29th Avenue SkyTrain station and East 22nd Avenue. It’s the only park in Vancouver with a creek in a natural ravine. It’s never been culverted over, like many other Vancouver creeks, apparently because it was too far east and too steep.
The boardwalk runs along Still Creek. Photo by Julie Cheng
Members of the Still Moon Arts Society, a local arts and environmental organization that coproduces the Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival, have long envisioned a trail system around the ravine and were key in getting these trails done. Still Moon Arts has also been instrumental in the return of chum salmon to Still Creek. This Coyotes spotted near Renfrew Ravine. Photo courtesy of Bernie Yakowich
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