Halalt First Nation with the support of the Island Corridor Foundation and Cowichan Valley Regional District have plans to construct a recreational trail in 2015 that will connect the south end to the north end of their community spanning 1.3km along the E&N railway corridor that is within their traditional territory. This particular trail will be a connector piece on the Cowichan Valley Trail that meets the boundary of the Halalt community. Cowichan Valley Regional district came forward last year with a shelf ready engineer plan for the trail and a promissory note of high priority for this trail construction. It is the first First Nation initiated recreational trail along the corridor and hopefully the first of many. Last month, a second Strategic Partnerships Planning meeting was held at the Halalt First Nation Administration office in Chemainus. The partnerships are businesses and industry that already have a working relationship with Halalt. Western Forest Products, TimberWest, Telus, FortisBC, Vancouver Island University, Cowichan Valley Regional District, Young Professionals of Cowichan, Rotary and Island Corridor Foundation are all working collaboratively to bring this idea to fruition. More recently, FortisBC has come forward with a $5000 dollar contribution and Vancouver Island University is making plans to try and incorporate the brushing and grubbing activities into their heavy machine operators course.