In this Issue:
- GENERAL NEWS & UPDATE ON CONDITIONS IN THE PARK
- NOTICE OF IMPORTANT EVENTS THIS SUMMER
- SPWC opening on Friday June 27th
- Volunteer Appreciation Tea: Saturday June 28th
- SWI 30th Anniversary: Saturday July 19th
- THREE FURTHER EVENTS IN JUNE
- A LAST BUT NOT LEAST NOTE
GENERAL NEWS
We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded a Canada Summer Jobs grant to cover five positions – two visitor counsellors who will staff the Wilderness Centre, two research assistants/naturalist interpreters and one programme coordinator. Moreover, all five students who held these positions last summer will be returning to work with us again. In addition to this Federal funding, we have also received a grant from the Strathcona Regional District towards our programmes in the Buttle Lake area and a grant from the BC Parks Foundation supporting the operation of the SPWC and our educational activities for visitors to the Park.
CONDITIONS IN THE PARK
The snowpack up on the Plateau is melting – slowly. The photo above shows the north side of the Meadows on May 9th, typically one of the first sections clear of snow, where water runs from Mt Washington above across the south-facing area exposed to the sun. In the first week of May there was still 2.5 m of snow up at the Ranger Cabin near Hairtrigger Lake and even now the Battleship-Helen MacKenzie trail is still substantially under snow, with increasing potential of “post-holing” for the unwary. So we will likely have to wait another month for the snow to clear up to 1200 m.
On the west side of the Park, the Elk River Trail was clear to the second campsite by the May long weekend, with all the winter blowdown cleared by a team of trainees from the BC Wildfire Service. Even Landslide lake was free of ice for the wild swimming enthusiasts to enjoy a chilly dip. And many of the lower elevation early spring flowers are in bloom, and even the occasional fungus.
BC Parks and 43K have worked hard to clear the substantial blowdown in the campsites at Buttle and the lower trails. The Upper Myra Falls trail was badly hit in one section, and though cleared, there is one huge veteran across the trail that could not be moved, so be prepared to crawl under or scramble over. Note that because of potential rock falls at the level of the Karst Creek Falls, in addition to the debris at the trailhead, the Karst Creek Trail will remain closed until further notice. Trails reaching up into the Alpine, such as Crest, Marble Meadows or Augerpoint may not have been officially inspected and cleared yet. As there is no Trail Report for this year available on the Strathcona Park Website, “unofficial” reports from hikers on the amount of fallen trees etc would be welcome. Please mail us with any observations at strathconawilderness@gmail.com.
IMPORTANT UPCOMING EVENTS THIS SUMMER
SPWC opening on June 27th
The Wilderness Centre should be “unwinterized” at the end of May and it is our plan to open our doors on June 27th, at which time our students will be starting their summer employment.
We hope that by then the Parking lot, as seen above on May 21st, will be clear of the mounds of gravel-laced snow.
Volunteer Appreciation Tea – Saturday June 28th
in the Ruth Masters Nature Hall, SPWC,
Paradise Meadows, 2:30-4:30 pm
On this annual occasion at the Strathcona Park Wilderness Centre, SWI would like to thank all of our amazing volunteers – staffers, walk and hike leaders, all those helpers at our winter events – who have contributed to the successes of SWI’s programmes in 2024 and in previous years. Please join us on the afternoon of Juune 28th as we recognize our volunteers and mark the return of spring in the Subalpine. There will be refreshments, a short presentation, tokens of our appreciation for our 2024 cohort, and the opportunity to meet and socialize with your fellow volunteers. New volunteers are especially welcome to attend to learn more about SWI, its mission and the volunteering opportunities available.
SWI 30th Anniversary – Saturday July 19th: 1pm – 4pm
The Strathcona Wilderness Institute would like to invite the public and all those who over the past 30 year have contributed to our successes to a special 30th Anniversary Celebration on Saturday July 19th from 1-4 pm at the Strathcona Park Wilderness Centre at the Paradise Meadows Trailhead. There will be a short presentation, the unveiling of a new 3-D Wall Map of Strathcona Provincial Park, refreshments, including anniversary cake and of course lots of good conversation.
In the screen grab below from a video clip taken at our 20th Anniversary ,Steve Smith has just blown out the birthday candles on the cake.
SWI was officially registered as a nonprofit Society in 1995, the idea emerging from a Symposium “Where the Wild Things Are”, hosted by the Friends of Strathcona Park in 1992, with keynote speaker Elizabeth May. At the end of the conference there was general agreement that public education on parks and wilderness was vital. So out the political actions of the Friends of Strathcona Park to protect Strathcona Park in the late 1980s emerged a group dedicated to educating the public about the Park with a “mission to inspire awareness, appreciation and stewardship of the natural world through research, education and participation”. Through the work of Founding Directors, notably Steve Smith, Rob Wood, Betty Brooks and Les Carter as well as later board members from 1995 onwards – SWI as you know it came into being. As Steve Smith put it in his article “The Birth of Strathcona Wilderness Institute” in Phil Stones Exploring Strathcona Park, in 2000, since no one else was doing it, SWI voluntarily started offering information about the Park to visitors at the Paradise Meadows Trailhead, at first using one of Strathcona Nordic’s “Warming Huts” and as of 2009/10 the Strathcona Park Wilderness Centre with its “Ruth Masters Nature Hall”, which was to become the focal point of SWI’s summer programmes. Many of the objectives of the long-term vision of the founders have been realized – e.g. outreach to the public through interpretive walks and hikes, lectures, workshops, publications and website.
For more information please email:
strathconawilderness@gmail.com
3 FURTHER EVENTS IN JUNE
SWI Workshop-Backcountry Safety and First Aid
at the Wilderness Centre, Paradise Meadows
June 22nd, 9:30 am – 2:30 pm.
Our first day-long workshop of the season will be led by Director and Paramedic Margaret Symon and is designed to prepare you for a safe summer on single-day hikes or multi-day trips into the Backcountry. It will include a presentation and demonstrations in the morning in the Ruth Masters Nature Hall, lower floor of the Wilderness Centre, followed by a break for lunch, and then an afternoon session out on the trails (weather and snow permitting). More details to follow soon.
An injured hiker is brought back to Paradise Meadows on the TrailRider – take this opportunity to learn how to avoid such situations.
The Annual Strathcona Park Bird Search –
Sunday June 22nd, 8:30 am onwards.
Jocie Brooks and Mandy Vaughan are organizing the count this year, with the main focus on the Buttle Area (free of snow, unlike Paradise Meadows). One can stay at the Ralph River Campground (not Buttle Lake this year) or drive over to Buttle for the day. Please meet at the Ralph River Campground at 8: 30 am, reconvening in the later afternoon for a short wrap-up (optional).
The areas of the count are listed below. Please let Jocie and Mandy know if you would like to participate and if you are willing to be the leader for one of the areas to be covered.
Southwest area (Thelwood Narrows bridge to Myra Falls)
Southeast area (Augerpoint to Ralph River campsite)
Northeast area (Strathcona Park Lodge to Lupin Falls)
Northwest area (Buttle Narrows to Crest Creek)
Paradise Meadows Area – or as far as you can go without getting into snow.
You may also choose a trail! take a hike and record birds as you go. There are many trails in the Buttle Lake corridor (though there will be likely still be snow at higher elevations, above 1000m).
To Reserve a campsite go to: https://bcparks.ca/reservations/ .
For more information and to register as a participant (including for the Paradise Meadows area)
please contact Jocie: brooksjocie@gmail.com
Beyond the Summit: Tales of Resilience on
Mount Logan and Waddington.
June 7th 7:00 pm, Stan Hagen Theatre, NIC
CDMC is working in collaboration with the Canadian Exploration Historical Society in hosting this event on June 7th which will consist of 3 parts:
- presentation of 2 different films –
Chaos Glacier Country
– An authentic re-creation of an historic climb.
The Conquest of Mt Logan
– Archival footage from the 1925 expedition. - 2) focus on the book about the Mt Logan expedition
Capturing the Summit: Hamilton Mack Laing and
the Mount Logan Expedition of 1925
by Trevor Marc Hughes - 3) Panel Discussion with:
Trevor Marc Hughes (Capturing the Summit, The Final Spire)
Bryan Thompson (The Well-Fed Backcountry Adventurer)
Susanna Oreskovic (Expedition to Mystery Mountain)
Greg Gransden (Filmmaker, CEHS)
The event is by donation, but reservations are requested through:
Beyond the Summit: The Mt Logan Centennial Tour. An Evening with the Canadian Explorations Historical Society | Simpli Events
A LAST BUT NOT LEAST NOTE
Since May 22nd was the International Day for Biological Diversity, let us use this tiny creature to illustrate the biodiversity of Strathcona Provincial Park – there is so much out there that we know so little about. The western red-backed salamander (Plethodon vehiculum) is not commonly seen, but can be found lurking in mature temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, often in riparian areas. The bright orange one in the photo, about 10 cm in length, was observed along the upper Puntledge river within the Park boundary above Forbush Lake.
And for some thought-provoking words on the plight of BC’s Parks read a recent article on our Website’s Research page
“Consider BC’s Parks” by L. Maingon.
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For more information or to contact Strathcona Wilderness Institute (SWI) please email: strathconawilderness@gmail.com
