By CHAT News Today/Alberta Government

New Alberta trails look to break accessibility barriers.

Nov 16, 2018 | 3:11 PM

Calgary, AB- A new trail at Fish Creek Provincial Park will be named for an Alberta Parks volunteer who fought to make provincial parks more accessible.

The Cecile Buhl One Kilometer Experience incorporates accessible viewpoints, bridge railings and tactile warning surfaces for people with vision loss. It is the first of seven accessible one-kilometer trails being rolled out across the province.

“Being outside can improve your life, reducing stress and bringing joy,” said Minister of Environment and Park Shannon Phillips in a news-release. “For one out of every 10 Albertans, mobility challenges make it difficult to get out and enjoy these spaces. Thanks to advocates like Cecile Buhl, we’re helping more Albertans to get out and explore provincial parks with their friends and families.”

Cecile Buhl was an educator and Alberta Parks volunteer who helped the province in its work to better serve Albertans with limited mobility or other disabilities. Just weeks before her death in 2016, she led an accessibility review of the Sikome (Lake) Aquatic Facility in Fish Creek Provincial Park.

“Cecile had a vision,” explained Cecile’s mother Lydia Buhl in the same release.  “The volunteers and employees who worked on this project put their hearts and souls into it. Nature is what she lived for and that’s where she was happiest. It is an honor and a pleasure that Cecile is being recognized.”

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Other accessibility features will ensure even more Albertans can enjoy the Fish Creek trail. New signage near the Bow Valley Ranch facility area will facilitate Calgary Transit Access, the city’s door-to-door service for Calgarians with disabilities.

The province is also working with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and the Trans Canada Trail on a pilot project to use an existing GPS-based way finding app to help Albertans with vision loss access and experience the trail.

Cecile Buhl trails are already open or nearing completion in southern Alberta at Fish Creek Provincial Park, Writing-on-Stone and Bow Valley Provincial Park (Mount Lorette).