The Okotoks Trail Association opened their two new multi-purpose trails on Thursday night.

The Association, created during the winter months, of people in the Okotoks and surrounding areas who wanted to take care of and add to the trails in town.

Secretary of the Association Micheal Bain says that in the spring the group took their proposal to Okotoks Town Council.

Members of the Okotoks Trail Association and the Public partaking in the BBQ.

Bain says the response from council was extremely positive.

"They were on board and very helpful with us, encouraging us to go and take on this process."

After the plan was approved by council members of the Bragg Creek Trail Association and Moose Mountain trail association came in and taught the Okotoks volunteers how to build a proper and sustainable trail.

After the ground breaking, through volunteer hours, between 2 and 5 KM of new path was added to the towns pathways.

"We added a line of trail above it and an easier beginner loop geared towards kids and first time riders below it," Bain says.

When building the new path ways and cleaning up the existing pathways the two main focuses were sustainability and easy maintenance.

Bain says that there were some existing pathways that just did not meet these requirements and others that were just completely unsafe.

"We reclaimed several unsustainable trails that were already existing, so we filled in areas that had been dug out and planted new grass and trees."

The associations hope is that these trails will make it so people don't have to drive into Calgary or out to the mountains to do their bike riding and hiking, but instead do it right here in their back yard.

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