Proponents of a wilderness camp at Haywire Bay on Powell Lake hope to have the facility operational by May.
School District 47 has leased land from Powell River Regional District at Haywire Bay, a regional campground, for the camp. It is one component of a larger project that encompasses the reconstruction of a barrier-free wilderness hiking trail around Inland Lake and improvements to the 180-kilometre Sunshine Coast Trail. Island Coastal Economic Trust (ICET) awarded a grant of about $1.4 million for the project.
Jay Yule, superintendent of schools, and Steve Hopkins, secretary-treasurer for the school district, attended the regional district’s committee-of-the-whole meeting on January 12 to provide an update about the Haywire Bay wilderness camp, which is designed for students and persons with disabilities and is called the Outdoor Learning Centre. It includes a large common hall and shower building, six sleeping cabins, three storage cabins, upgraded road access and improvements to the Sunshine Coast Trail.
Students from Vancouver Island University’s trades programs have been constructing the buildings, work that is considered in-kind and goes toward the school district’s responsibility for half of the costs. As well, the school district has received a $30,000 grant from the School Community Connections program, an initiative of UBCM (Union of BC Municipalities), to assist with the costs of planning, site surveys and consultants’ fees.
Three sleeping cabins, each of which can accommodate 12 students plus a counsellor, have been completed to the lock-up stage and construction on three more is underway. The main building, which is also constructed to lock-up, contains a large open space that will serve a variety of purposes, such as an eating area, a theatre or an instructional space. The kitchen is located in the building, as well as office space and showers. The septic system is being installed, a well is in the process of being drilled and electrical work in the buildings will start in the next few weeks.
The facility will be a base camp for all programs within the school district’s Ecological Education Department, such as Coast Mountain Academy, eco-adventure camps and Leadership Ecology Adventure Program. These programs have been running for a number of years from different locations in the community.
More and more research suggests that children need nature for the healthy development of their senses and therefore, for learning and creativity, pointed out Karin Westland, sustainability education coordinator. “But the reciprocal relationship is also true,” she said. “Today, more than ever before, nature needs children who care. The Outdoor Learning Centre will provide children and lifelong learners with opportunities to care deeply about the outdoors.”
The school district intends to partner with a variety of groups to offer community-based programs at the facility as well. This month, a program designed for struggling students, Jade Coast Discovery, is launching a pilot project. “The program will combine leading-edge outdoor education with changed-based counselling,” said Hugh Prichard, executive director of Terracentric Coastal Adventures Ltd., which is running the program in partnership with the school district. Eventually the program will be based at the wilderness camp. “The intention of the program is to connect students with potential back to the goal of graduation and helping them to come up with the protective factors that will allow them to be successful at school and in life,” said Prichard.
The school district has asked the regional district to apply to the provincial government for funds to upgrade the portion of the Sunshine Coast Trail that runs through the camp. The grant application is for 50 per cent of a total project cost of $134,227. If the application is successful, the school district will be responsible for the other half of the project total. Approval of the grant application is expected to be on the regional board agenda for the January 26 meeting.
