Damage from the December ice storm continues to litter parks and trails across the Grand River watershed, prompting authorities to post signs warning against trespassing in affected areas.
The Grand River Conservation Authority posted the signs this week at most of their properties.
“We have a lot of damage on our trails and in our parks,” GRCA spokesperson Dave Schultz tells CTV News.
“It’s going to take us a long time to get rid of all those dangerous hanging branches and trees.”
The GRCA estimates that thousands of trees were damaged on land they own due to the storm.
Dozens of people have been working to clean up the properties, but the damage is so widespread that even some of the more popular parks and trails won’t be addressed for weeks.
The farther north one travels in the watershed, the more severe damage will be found, Schultz says.
Most GRCA parks are normally closed during the winter, but nearly all of the exceptions – including Belwood Lake, Laurel Creek and Pinehurst Lake – are also off-limits due to the conditions.
At Laurel Creek, Tina Huras and her husband planned to make Saturday a cross-country ski day, only to find that it wasn’t to be.
“Hopefully it’s not too dangerous in there,” she says.
Shade’s Mills Park in Cambridge reopened Saturday, making it the only GRCA park open to the public at the time.
Schultz says the biggest issue is concern that some branches have yet to fall.
“The danger’s not what’s on the ground. The danger’s what’s in the air,” he says.
“We don’t want anyone getting hurt.”
Anyone who refuses to leave closed GRCA properties or repeatedly returns could be issued a trespassing ticket.
