Numerous washouts occurred throughout Riding Mountain National Park in the spring of 2011 due to excessive runoff created by the extreme rainfall which was preceded by a winter of near record snowfalls.

The runoff resulted in damages of varying degrees to the trail systems, ranging from minor washouts to major damage.

On the Ominnik Marsh Walk, a number of sections were built during the 2012/13 winter and were installed this spring replacing the heavily damaged sections. An additional re-route was also created which offers visitors a shorter alternative if they are not up for the entire walk. Work on the Ominnik trail will continue throughout this winter and the park staff is hopeful the repairs will be completed in the spring of 2014.

Areas like Moon Lake and Burls & Bittersweet had new metal bridges installed in May 2012 to replace those which had been completely washed out.

The Sugarloaf trail was so severely damaged that the Parks Canada Trail Crew had to devote a considerable amount of time repairing a number of damaged areas. The crew began working on the trail in November 2011 and wrapped up the project in January 2013.

A number of floating docks were built during 2012/13 winter and installed this spring replacing the existing stationary docks along the Lakeshore Walk. The new floating docks are better equipped to withstand the elements and the ever changing lake conditions. Construction on additional new docks will take place this winter for installation in the spring of 2014.

The most severe damage occurred at the Agassiz Ski Hill site. The extreme runoff in McKinnon Creek carried large amounts of rock and shale debris including entire trees, down the stream bed, plugging the large corrugated steel culvert at the Agassiz site. The culvert, originally installed in the 1950s, had served its purpose for many years. It was reaching the end of its serviceable life however, and the damage it sustained during the flooding was beyond repair.

A sandbag dam was created at the west end of McKinnon Creek and the water diverted to create a dry workspace to complete the construction and remediation. The entire culvert was removed and used for scrap and the existing creek channel was rebuilt in a series of riffles and pools to enable fish migration. The stream banks were excavated, sloped, and erosion prevention materials were installed. The banks were remediated with grasses and shrubs which also added additional stabilization and erosion control. Approximately 1000 cubic metres of rock was used in the rebuilding of the creek bed and the construction and remediation, which began in the spring of 2011, lasted approximately 5 weeks. In terms of project magnitude, only the construction at Km 49 was greater in size and complexity.

src:news.gc.ca