Environmental Restoration of Brewer Creek Trail

DESCRIPTION: The Brewer Creek Trail is a 5.1 km trail in Brewer Basin leading up through the alpine forest, crossing Brewer Creek several times, leading through a flat marshy area in an alpine meadow to a series of tarns and culminating in Mount Brewer. The trail is heavily used, and over 1,400 people used the trail in 2023 based on monitoring data. Summit Trail Makers Society has been maintaining this trail on a volunteer basis, but the users of this extremely popular trail have caused extensive damage in several areas, with extensive destruction of the alpine meadow, marsh and Brewer Creek as the trail passes through several open areas. One area in particular cannot be rerouted and requires a boardwalk to stop the erosion of the forest floor and prevent a stream from forming in the area. This project will benefit Columbia Valley by maintaining the environmental quality of one of the most popular hiking trails in the valley.

OBJECTIVE: The primary goal of this project is to restore the alpine meadow in the Brewer Creek Trail by rerouting the trail away from the meadow and blocking the existing trail thereby permitting the vegetation to regrow. In addition, the project will build a boardwalk on a short steep section of trail to prevent the formation of a stream.