Without Steve Smith’s dedication to the Strathcona Park and persistence in creating an organization specifically for the education of the public about the Park, SWI as we know
it today would not exist. In the aftermath of the FOSP protests against mining in the Park in the late 1980s, Steve and others organized the 1993 Conference “Where the Wild Things Are” to highlight the need to preserve the biodiversity of the Park, and out
of that emerged the plan to set up the Strathcona Wilderness Institute. Spearheaded by Steve ,the Institute came into being in 1995. Steve would remain a director for 21 years overseeing the establishment of the core guided walks, hikes, workshops and courses, all led by Volunteers, providing the public with naturalist programmes no longer offered by BC Parks. In 2000 he established volunteer-run information booths out of a Nordic “warming hut” at the Paradise Meadows and a former ranger cabin at Buttle, “because no one else would do it”. Over the next ten years he worked selflessly and tirelessly to garner the bureaucratic permission and financial backing for the realization of his
dream of an appropriate structure for the Institute, the Strathcona Park Wilderness Centre, designed by Rob Wood, and eventually completed in 2011. Numerous volunteers, supporters and donors were involved in this project, too many to name, but
we will mention Marlene standing staunchly at Steve’s side throughout. This building has remained the principal locus of SWI’s activities in the Park. We are immeasurably indebted to Steve for the example he set and the legacy he left for us to continue.