Kinsmen Participark off Bowen Rd. is temporarily closed to allow crews to safely remove hazardous trees. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

park closure

Popular park closed for maintenance, other improvements planned this year

Jan 18, 2021 | 5:27 AM

NANAIMO — Well used Kinsmen Participark will be closed this week, signifying the first of a few overhauls expected in 2021.

The city’s manager of parks operations Charlotte Davis said the forested park at Bowen and Labieux roads is slated to be closed between Monday, Jan 18 and Friday, Jan. 22.

“To remove some of the dead trees or trees with reduced canopy then removal of invasive species. Following that we’ll be having some re-planting of trees and the understory as well.”

Davis said the city intends to replace the aging wooden workout equipment placed along interior trails in the park. She said some of the old equipment has already been dismantled.

“Those will all be removed this year and we’re hoping to replace them with some new workout stations and there will be more on that as soon as we have more information.”

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Davis said a new modernized workout station circuit is included in this year’s draft budget, which requires final approval before the $20,000 investment can be made.

About dozen aging wooden workout structures like these hurdles will be removed from Kinsmen Participark this year.

New educational interpretive signage is also included in the planned investment later this year.

Davis said it’s important to invest in highly valued, accessible green spaces like Kinsmen Participark.

“This park is really a jewel in the middle of our city,” Davis said. “I think it’s quite rare for a city the size of Nanaimo to have a 23-acre forest right in the middle of the city.”

Kinsmen Participark was built in the early 1980’s by the local Kinsmen Service Club. The urban forest includes a perimeter and looped interior trails.

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