Sun Peaks Recreational Trail Association (SPRTA), the organization responsible for creating and maintaining a vast network of multi-use trails in Sun Peaks, looked back on a year of growth and toward a time of transition at its annual general meeting in March.
SPRTA was formed in 2014 to help maintain and develop free to use recreational trails in the area. With a large focus on mountain bike trails, SPRTA is also working to create multi-use options for hiking, adaptive biking and more.
The group is an independent, volunteer-led non-profit organization with upwards of 360 members, who contribute financially to maintenance and development through member fees.
Following its annual general meeting in March, Sun Peaks Recreational Association (SPRTA) president Sam Loxton provided updates on the twists and turns of the past year, as well as what members can look forward to and important need-to-knows.
McGillivray Lake Trail construction
Ongoing work on the McGillivray Lake Trail is coming to fruition as SPRTA eyes up construction, hopefully slated for this summer, pending an application for a provincial Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure grant.
“Everything’s looking positive on that front,” Loxton said. “We’re hopeful on that one.”
While the grant isn’t signed in stone, it would provide a boost to other funding sources, such as Tourism Sun Peaks’ $125,000 grant, needed to move the project to the next phase.
The trail will be approximately four kilometres, and offer downhill mountain biking, hiking and fat biking.
Connecting the base of Mount Morrissey and extending to McGillivray Lake, the trail will provide a purpose-built alternative to the current Nordic trails in the area.
The trail will cross McGillivray Creek near the midpoint of the trail, and will require a special permit as well as construction of a significant bridge. Some local contractors have expressed interest and SPRTA hopes to partner with some cost savings through in-kind donations, according to the meeting presentation.
Membership bump and fee increase
From 2024 to 2025, SPRTA saw an increase in membership, from 259 to 360, signaling more interest and community support despite Sun Peaks being a small municipality, Loxton said.
“At our peak we’ve had 300 to 400 members each year. We took a bit of a dip in 2023/20204…so it’s really nice to see that we’re back up. We like to hover around that 300 to 400 mark.”
High membership numbers are vital for funding, trail building operations and more, bolstering the association.
“Memberships are really key from an advocacy standpoint, to help us demonstrate strong community support for SPRTA and help us when we’re applying for grants and things like that,” Loxton explained.
A new online platform was introduced to help members with ease, based on recommendations from Kamloops’ trail association, and while this transition accounts for a slight increase in member fees, Loxton said it will be a $5 increase for individuals and family memberships.
“The business memberships have gone from $100 up to $150 and then we did bring in a new super supporter membership for people who use our trails lots and want to give us a little bit more than just the $25 individual membership.”
Trail crew additions
In addition to trail crew lead Melissa Da Silva, SPRTA hired Korbin Kjolby to put in hours on the trails, thanks to funding through the Canada Summer Jobs Program which offers grand funding to non-profits.
“A two person crew on the trails was beneficial, [and] enabled us to be a bit more efficient and get a lot of more work done maintaining the trails,” Loxton said.
The two put in 992 work hours on the trails getting them up and running for the season and repairing and cleaning them through the summer.
The trail crew lead position will be returning in 2026, and SPRTA has applied for funding for two additional roles through the Canada Summer Jobs program.
Trail counters
Sun Peaks Rotary contributed to another exciting addition on the trails, donating $2,000 for trail counters.
The devices are either metal detecting or infrared, and enable SPRTA to track the number of people using the trails, which helps the association demonstrate the need for its maintenance and development, Loxton explained.
“We had at least 10,000 users on the Morrissey trails last year,” he noted. “It was super cool to see. We knew that they were popular…But it was cool to have some hard and fast data behind that.”
SPRTA also received municipality grants-in-aid, which will go toward two more counters.
Leadership changes
Two big leadership shifts in the organization include Loxton himself and director of trails Jase Petersen.
Loxton, who has been president for around six years, will be stepping back to an ex officio, non-voting position on SPRTA’s board of directors. In this role, he will be able to assist a new president in the transition.
“[Petersen] was also the founding president of SPRTA, so he’s been involved with the organization and the board for at least 10 years,” Loxton said. “So, big, big shout out to Jase, and thank you to Jase for his 10 plus years contributing to SPRTA.”
The hunt for a new president is on, but until then Loxton said the board has it handled.
“We’ve got a pretty good, pretty solid board, most of them have been in place for several years. So we’ll keep running things as usual until we find someone who’s keen to be the next president.”
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