WE DOUBT MANY READERS have visited the Arrow Lakes area of southern British Columbia, much less spent some time in the pretty village of Nakusp, population about 2,500.

Once a major railway terminus where freight was transshipped from lake steamers to trains that headed up and down mountain passes to Kootenay Lake, Nakusp today relies mainly on tourism attracted primarily by the nearby commercial and "natural" hot springs in what is often referred to as Hot Springs Valley.

But it does have quite a history, well displayed in a little museum that was once a schoolhouse, including a major event in the mid-20th Century, as road transportation took over from the railways and steamships. The event was the Columbia River Treaty between Canada and the United States, under which a series of dams and reservoirs was built along the upper reaches of the Columbia to serve a double purpose: large-scale hydroelectric generation for British Columbia Hydro and regulation of stream flows (to reduce springtime flooding and maintain minimal flows in summertime).

A major feature of the project was a dam south of Nakusp that raised the level of the Lower Arrow Lake about 20 feet.

That required relocating whole streets and led to creation of a lakefront park where once there were railway tracks, along which today there's a lovely trailway that runs between a marina and a beach area, a distance of roughly a mile.

A major feature of the linear park has been the installation of literally dozens of concrete memorial benches, anchored in the ground to make them vandal-proof.

Today, trails are springing up all over Dufferin, the latest being the one through the Hockley Tract of Dufferin County Forest between Hockley Road and the north dam on Island Lake.

One thing missing from this beautiful new trail, with its 400-metre-long boardwalk, is anywhere for hikers to rest and take in the amazing range of vegetation.

In our view, the new trail would be the perfect location for perhaps half a dozen concrete benches donated by local families as memorials for loved ones.

Perhaps Mono, Dufferin or Friends of Island Lake might make it a project for 2008?