The Osoyoos Desert Centre will be getting a new boardwalk, with a local company doing the work.
The 1.5 kilometre long elevated boardwalk will be replaced by Osoyoos based landscape company C3 Industries.
“As we wind down our 2021 season at the Osoyoos Desert Centre we are excited to be ramping up for this very momentous occasion which will walk us into our future,” said Jayme Friedt, the Osoyoos Desert Centre’s managing director.
The boardwalk trail was the initial improvement made to the desert centre over 20 years ago and has begun to show its age.
“With an average of 10,000 guests visiting each year it provides an up-close look at our extraordinary and endangered antelope-brush habitat without disturbing it,” said Friedt.
Funding for the new boardwalk was provided through the BC government’s Community Economic Recovery Infrastructure Program (CERIP) grant.
READ MORE: Funding of over $800K will create new boardwalk
“By working with a local contractor C3 Industries not only are we going to get a beautiful new boardwalk but we are able to honour the objective of the grant to infuse economic benefit into our local economy and create jobs,” continues Friedt.
The new boardwalk will be made out of a composite instead of wood, in order to make it last longer and to reduce maintenance and weather impacts.
C3 Industries was purchased by Martin and Trish Hahn in 2017 and the couple first operated the business out of a shed in their backyard. As the company has grown, they’ve been able to increase the number of employees and strengthen their commitment to provide a stable environment for employee growth and career development offering a living wage, opportunity for learning and a positive workplace atmosphere.
“As long-term community members, we are thrilled to work with such an important and worthwhile organization as the Osoyoos Desert Society,” said co-owner Trish Hahn. “Being able to give our team year-round employment in a typically seasonal business is very rewarding, especially when that work is so firmly entrenched in the spirit of community development.”
The Osoyoos Desert Centre is open annually from May to October. Construction on the new boardwalk trail project will begin immediately and be completed by spring of 2022.
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