Boardwalk on the Yellow Trail behind the old school

Managing and diverting water is a key issue with trail management. Water was pooling on Yellow Trail between the old school and the cemetery, making it very mucky. During the spring of 2024, Sentiers Wakefield Trails built 3 boardwalks to lift hikers out of the mud, allowing water to move beneath the wooden walkway. Funding for the project was provided by the Municipality of La Pêche through a maintenance grant.

Building boardwalks, and the materials used to do so, has changed over the 15 or so years that the organization has been maintaining trails in this area. Sentiers Wakefield Trails used anchors made from galvanized sheet steel to stabilize the boardwalks above the muddy pathway. ​

The material used for the boardwalk, 6X6 inch pressure treated lumber, is also different today than it was in the past. Prior to the 2000s, lumber was treated with chromated copper arsenate. Today, health and environmental concerns about arsenic have resulted in the lumber being treated with Alkaline copper quaternary(ACQ) and Copper azole (CA). You can see the difference in the colour of the wood - today the wood is more brown than the greenish hue in the older lumber.

Lumber delivery from Gauvreau Hardware! Volunteers carry the lumber to the installation site on yellow trail between the cemetery and the old school.

Ghislain and Dave building the boardwalk. Photo by Ken Bouchard.

Ken, Ghislain, Rick and Dominique