Canoe/kayak access ramp officially opens in Leechburg’s Riverfront Park

The Kiskiminetas Watershed Association formally opened a canoe/kayak access ramp Saturday in Leechburg’s Riverfront Park.

The boat launch actually has been in use since mid-April.

Genay Hess, association president, told the people gathered that the group took on the project at the request of late Leechburg Mayor Wayne Dobos and Leechburg Council.

The association initially received a grant from the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy’s Canoe Access Development Fund. Hess said “topographical constraints” required the association to obtain further funding, which came from Armstrong County and the CNX Foundation. Donations from private donors came through Leechburg Borough, as well.

Hess credited association members Martha and Kerry Frech of Streamline Engineering for developing the engineering plans and securing permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection. The ramp was built by Khris Kulick of Boulder Landscaping, Excavation and Supply.

“The kayak/canoe launch has been a terrific undertaking and will handsomely augment our community,” Mayor Tony Roppolo said in a statement. “This is a culmination of a broad array of efforts and contributions of a number of groups who accomplished all of the necessary groundwork to bring this about.”

Roppolo stressed the efforts of Dobos, “who was quite instrumental in initiating this noble undertaking.”