Powell Forest Canoe Route is undergoing a renovation that will deliver first-class adventure experiences for paddlers venturing onto the lakes and over the portages in the qathet region backcountry.
Project manager Hugh Prichard said since 2012, Powell River Educational Services Society (PRESS) has been responsible for the maintenance of the canoe route and over the years, the society has done its best with small pots of money to maintain it. Prichard said a sharp increase of visitors has been noted on the route and upgrades have become necessary. PRESS has managed to secure grant funding to do just this.
“It’s a huge area, and we have been limited over the past years since 2012 to be able to do a good job of providing ongoing maintenance,” said Prichard. “There’s lots of different factors involved with it being in a working forest, and with environmental things like flooding, that have impacted the route over the years.
“Unlike the Sunshine Coast Trail, the canoe route has historically been under the custodianship of Western Forest Products or the tree farm licence holder of the time. A very active volunteer base to maintain the canoe route was not something that historically was part of the equation.”
Prichard said those at PRESS believe a strong, positive, collaborative environment in the community is what is required to be able to care for amenities like this, which drive the tourism economy. Having funding assistance is also vital.
“We’re grateful for the partnership with our funders, and also with Sunshine Coast Tourism and Recreation Sites and Trails BC, which have been instrumental in helping us to do some very heavy lifting, giving the canoe route a broader scope as far as the capacity, enhancing the visitor experience.”
Prichard said that historically, over time, there has been a lot of investment in the route by the province from a maintenance perspective, and also from a special projects capacity. There are 14 kilometres of trails, dozens of bridges and boardwalks, and 26 remote campsites encompassing a vast area that have to be maintained, he added.
Prichard said with about $300,000 in funding from the Community Economic Recovery Infrastructure Program (CERIP) and another $100,000 from Island Coastal Economic Trust (ICET), the canoe route is almost connecting back to the way it was originally built through work-based and employment services training programs. Both funders recognized the importance of the route as one of the province’s first destination trail-paddling routes, said Prichard.
He said the focus for the funding continues for the next year or year and a half. Improvements in safety and visitor experience at five or six key campsites is part of the equation.
Cultural consultations
Prichard said the canoe route is in an area of overlapped territory of First Nations, and both Tla’amin and shíshálh (Sechelt) nations have been consulted to address concerns they might have. Matters such as maintaining the route in a sustainable and respectful manner for the cultural values of the land have been an important consideration, according to Prichard. He said an application has been made to change the name of the canoe route to something more inclusive and respectful of the Indigenous cultural continuity and inhabitants of the land.
Prichard said activities in the past year that have consumed work crews’ time include the rebuilding of a 37-metre boardwalk between Goat and Windsor lakes.
“I’ve been involved with managing the canoe route as project manager for more than 20 years,” said Prichard. “The original boardwalk was built by the BOMB [Bloody Old Men’s Brigade] Squad and it was particularly difficult to get rebuilt because it was in an old-growth management area, which required a lot of extensive permissions in order to proceed.
“It is an integral connecting piece of infrastructure on this portage on what we affectionately refer to as cardiac hill. It’s been on my books for nine years, so without the funding, we don’t think the canoe route would have been able to continue as a feature of our destination amenity landscape.”
Prichard said the expectation is the project will be completed in the next two years. At that point, PRESS will be leaning on partnerships in the community to come up with a sustainable way to maintain the route into the future. Developing a volunteer base similar to what is in place with the Sunshine Coast Trail is going to be important for sustainability, because the province is not going to be able to offer the same level of support on a continuing basis, he added.
“We need, as a community, to link together and collaborate in a positive way if we want these areas to continue to be aspects of our economic picture,” said Prichard. “We need to come up with enough boots on the ground to be able to cover this territory.
“It gets to a point where the canoe route needs an influx of capital to make the upgrades and what we are looking to do is create an ongoing continuum of funding or volunteerism to do some preventative maintenance and make the improvements we are doing now last much longer.”
Improvements along the route include new composting toilets, new fire rings to install in the upgraded campsites, canoe rest structures, as well as animal-safe food storage receptacles. There has also been trail resurfacing and rerouting.
Prichard said Windsor Lake is a very special place and some archaeological work is being done there, with the hope of adding some tent platforms, bringing the campsites up to standard.
“It will make our facility here in qathet top-notch and make it one of the premier destinations and trail systems in the province,” said Prichard. “We are kind of at a midpoint on the project. This past summer was our second full year. A total of 15 seasonal jobs were created.
“For myself, it has been a labour of love. I firmly believe in the value and power of wilderness-based travel and the experience of that. In the past we have done our best with the limited resources we’ve had and this will make a huge difference in the overall visitor experience. People should be really proud of the fact that we have this amazing amenity in our backyard.”
