2012-Situated across from Alaska’s Misty Fjords National Park and at the end of the Portland Canal, Stewart, BC is a unique border town attracting tourists from every corner of the world. Visitors as well as Stewart’s four hundred residents enjoy a wealth of outdoor recreational opportunities including world-class heli-skiing, grizzly bear watching, ancient ice glaciers, and action packed north coast ocean fishing charters.
To enhance the community’s main street while also enhancing Stewart’s local trail network that allows residents and visitors to walk along the tidal flats, the municipality undertook major upgrades to local trails, developed a new campground, and beautified the mainstreet in 2009 and 2010. This was a major project during difficult economic times for the community, helping create a number of employment opportunities that also included skills development training in trades such as carpentry to help residents diversify their skill sets.
This project included the creation of a new treed green space in the downtown core with added picnic areas and footpaths. The municipality also upgraded sidewalks along the main street for easier accessibility, constructed flower boxes, benches, picnic tables, covered shelters, cement areas for the placement of picnic tables, and added information kiosks that provide local information and give a sense of Stewart’s history. New picnic areas and campsites were added to the municipal campground and a new nature trail was created with interpretive signs and benches.
