The Town of Okotoks is in process of seeing the potential in single track trail systems within the river valley area.

The Okotoks Trail Alliance group approached Town Council last week on proposing the creation of official trails to be used another way to walk around town and be closer to nature.

Parks Manager Christa Michailuck says the plans have been drawn up for a few spots for trails to be made and now it's an observation process to see which trail systems would work and which ones wouldn't.

"There already is unofficial single track trail systems down there that people use on a regular basis, so this group recognizes that and wants to enhance those trails and make them more sustainable so they're not susceptible to erosion," she says.

Michailuck says the Trail Alliance's proposal is a great way to more means of getting outside and active.

"Instead of just everybody making their own little trails to the forest sites these are the dedicated single track trails, these are the ones we are going to remove the fallen trees from and make them usable for everybody who has that interest. Kind of an alternate trail experience from the paved pathways."

She says there's plenty of work to be done before the trails can even be an official pathway in town.

"A single track trail is only about 18 inches wide, a lot of those trails will already be like that. Walking those trails and seeing what types of improvements need to be made, some might have some grade issues that type of things. So we want to address so that when we drop people down there on a regular basis you aren't creating muddy erosion."

The trail locations proposed include the southside of the Sheep River along Cimarron Drive and the southside of 32nd Street north of Burnco.

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