British Columbia Magazine - Winter 2023

SEA TO SKY GEOLOGY

BC’S BEST

DINERS, DRIVE-INS & CAR HOPS

POWDER HIGHWAY

WINTER/2023-24

A LANDSCAPE IN MOTION

SKI-FREE FUN

HOLIDAY

BC BOOKS ROUNDUP

NELSON A KOOTENAY WINTER WONDERLAND

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DESTINATION

WINTER

VOLUME 65 - ISSUE 04

Contents

20

80 64

44

76

14

34

F E AT U R E S

IN EVERY ISSUE 4 Editor’s Note 6 Mailbox 8 Due West 14 Destination Nelson 70 Book Excerpt Place for a Mission 76 Doukhobors in the Kootenays A short history on this controversial and storied BC community 82 Tales of BC Seashore Magic and the Summer of Love

20 Ski-Free Fun on the Powder Highway Discover the charms of Fernie, Kimberley and Panorama

44 A Landscape in Motion The changing face of Sea to Sky geology

28 Destination Diners, Drive-ins and Car Hops These classic restaurants offer dependable food, fun décor and nostalgia 34 The Future of Water From floods to heat waves, clear cuts and rising rivers, BC’s watersheds need help

52 Neighbourhood Emergency Preparedness How communities across BC are preparing for fire and other natural disasters 60 A Bundle of BC Books A selection of must-read books from 2023 64 Banking on Soup Kitchens Behind the scenes at Victoria’s food banks and soup kitchens

Cover Photo

Adobestock/Stephen

Downtown Nelson

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EDITOR’S NOTE

WINTER

Wintertime Funtime AS THE AIR crisps up in fall and win-

ter snow starts threatening to cover mountain tops, something inside me wakes up. It’s almost a primal feeling, and something deeply entrenched in my soul.

I grew up in a snowy climate, and this change in weather marked the start of winter sports (mostly skiing) and winter fun. It was the catalyst to bring my winter gear out of storage, try on my ski boots and walk around the house doing chores. It marks a time of anticipation of the adventures to come, and a chance to get ready for those adventures while thinking of glories past.

Now, life is a little different, my schedule is the same as my kids’, and with the prices that Whistler Blackcomb is charging these days that schedule doesn’t include a lot of skiing. But, within all that busyness we always find time for winter exploration and fun.

This month in her story on the Powder Highway, Diane Selkirk talks about reawakening a sense of joy and playfulness while walking on a slushy frozen lake. This resonated deeply with me, and brought back memories of similar experiences in the frozen winterscapes of my past. The irresistible urge to make a snowball and throw it at whoever you’re walking with, trying to catch a snowflake on your tongue and just falling over into a big pile of powder.

Summer has beaches, picnics, hiking and sun, but it also has crowds, and at least for our family, much tighter schedules. In wintertime, we don’t have as many social commitments and the places that are often overrun with people have mostly calmed down.

Our family has a ritual we do at least a few times a year, which is taking our Jeep into the snowy forest service roads 4 •BCMAG

around Squamish. It all started when we discovered this one spot on New Year’s Day when the kids were super little and begging to go sledding. Living in Vancouver, we were dreading the hassle of parking at Queen Elizabeth Park and dealing with the mayhem of the tobogganing hill with our little kids. So, I proposed we put our 4x4 to its purpose and find a spot where the kids could play and we could ring in the New Year in nature.

What we found on our drive was pristine snow-covered roads, epic views of the snowy Squamish Valley, crystal clear creeks and a forestry campground all to ourselves.

We bundled the kids up in their snow gear, got the sled out of the back and started sliding down every hill we could find.

It was quiet, sparkly and magical, and not at all like the toboggan hill raceways back in town.

We have been back to that spot in summer, and it’s not the same. The river is still beautiful and the forest magnificent, but that magical quality is gone. It’s also not as fun when you aren’t surrounded by endless snowballs and things to jump from and into deep snow.

I think the key to wintertime fun is its ability to turn anyone into a kid again.

We remember tuning into the radio after a big snowfall in anticipation of school being cancelled. We remember bundling up in our snowsuit, rushing out to meet friends and spending the day playing until we couldn’t feel our hands. It’s carefree and active, playful and a chance to break up the normal routine.

So as the weather shifts, the nights get darker, the air crisper and the weather colder, let your spirit discover the joy of finding some winter fun.

—Dale Miller

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EDITOR Dale Miller editor@bcmag.ca ART DIRECTOR Arran Yates ASSOCIATE EDITOR Sam Burkhart

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MAILBOX

WINTER

Mailbox

A PERSONAL CONNECTION TO HIGHWAY 8

I enjoyed reading the “History of Highway 8” by Murphy Shewchuk. It brought back memories of travelling the highway as a young kid in the 1970s. It was a scary road for a kid from Burnaby.

A few years ago, a friend of my brother was driving through Spence’s Bridge and snapped a photo of “Guzyk Frontage Road” for my Boulder, Colorado brother.

It was, no doubt, named after my uncle, John Guzyk who ran a service station back in the ’50s and ’60s. He had some help from my dad, Harry, as well.

It was ironic that it took an American from Colorado to show my family the road sign.

Last June, a high school student snapped a picture of the sign and emailed it to me.

Reading about Highway 8 was a lot easier than driving it.

And someday, I hope to take my family to see some local family history!

Rob Guzyk Chilliwack, BC MUIR’S STIKINE

HIKING LADIES

6

I have been reading your magazine since I was a kid. My dad subscribed and we loved to read about new places to discover and others that we have been to before. Still doing that over 50 years later. I was reading the summer 2023 issue when I came across a picture that I recognized on page 45 so I thought I would send you my version.

It was from my annual hiking trip with our ladies group last year. We have been gathering together each summer from Qualicum Beach, Kamloops and Grande Prairie to catch up and conquer some trails. We have done everything from the West Coast Trail, Cathedral Lakes, Assiniboine Mountain and the Illecilliwaet Trails, along with many others.

Thank you for the years of fantastic reading and eye candy enjoyment.

Brenda Boyd, Qualicum Beach, BC

6 •BCMAG

Your summer 2023 issue provided us with an engaging introduction to the wonders of the Stikine River, a watercourse few readers like me will have visited, much less paddled.

The reference to John Muir’s trip up the Stikine is however muddled by an anachronistic critique of Muir’s comparison of it to the Yosemite. The author says there are two exceptions to Muir’s Yosemite accolades ...

“There are no people here, and we’re not in any park.” When John Muir first wrote about the Yosemite about 1870, there were no people there either, and the area only became a park in 1890. We can’t fault Muir for writing about the American valley as pristine as it was when he saw it. We can however thank you for writing about the Stikine now, as few travellers have done, for our enlightenment.

Harry Gow, Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu, QC PG BLACK BEAR

Here in Prince George, we see more than our share of black bears. We had a good laugh when this one sat in our little garden

pond to cool off one very hot afternoon.

We let him stay, which he seemed very happy to do, no harm done.

David Yarmish Prince George, BC

ing wrong with the article itself but what is it doing in this magazine? I don’t consult BC Magazine to read about inflation, food security and how to build a garden.

If those were my interests, I could easily choose from several gardening magazines available at the newsstand.

Please continue doing what you do best by taking your readers to wonderful and often lesser-known areas and activities around BC. Philipe Filion

CORRECTION In “Pickleball Mania” in the fall 2023 issue, we erroneously stated that Walter Knech is the president of Vernon Pickleball Association.

Knech is in fact the president of BC Pickleball, while Richard Chambers is the president of the VPA. We regret the error.

EMAIL US Send email to mailbox@bcmag.ca or write to British Columbia Magazine, 1166 Alberni Street, Suite 802, Vancouver, BC, V6E 3Z3.

Thanks for the feedback Philipe. There are I’ve always enjoyed your magazine since many facets to the people, communities and I started planning to move to BC about locations of BC and we try to reflect that Letters must include your name and adeight or nine years ago. Since moving in the pages of BC Magazine. Sometimes dress, and may be edited and condensed here, it’s been a great guide to help me these stories will resonate and sometimes for publication. Please indicate “not for publication” if you do not wish to have discover our beautiful province. they won’t, but thankfully there is always your letter considered for our Mailbox.

I’m puzzled by the urban gardening aranother issue around the corner with someNHA_23-0176_2023-SPoNSoReD-PAckAgeS_RoAD TRiPS MAg - 1/2 PAge PRiNT AD DeSigN (WiNTeR iSSue) ticle the spring 2021 issue. There’s noththing new to read about. —Eds. 7” × 4.8125” 10/19/23 MISSED THE MARK

more More nature, more action, more shopping, more eateries, more space to yourself, more people like you, and more reasons to visit.

morenanaimo.com BCMAG•7 FILE NAME: NHA_23-0176_2023-Sponsored-Packages_Road Trips Mag - 1/2 Page Print Ad Design (Winter issue)

Due West

DUE WEST

Hollyburn Mountain’s First Lake Ski Jump, circa 1940.

8 •BCMAG

Clockwise from top right: Diane Selkirk X2; City of Vancouver Archives X2

HISTORY

Hollyburn Turns 100

BY RYA N S T U A R T

PETER TAPP HAS entertained

people from all over the world at his family’s cabin at West Vancouver’s Hollyburn Ridge.

“They’re always blown away with how magical it is up here,” he says.

There are the views from the forested slopes across Vancouver, the Lower Mainland and the Strait of Georgia. There are the trails that wander through old growth forests and mirrorstill ponds. There’s the lack of people, especially considering more than 2.5-million of them live within an hour of the cabin.

And there’s the skiing heritage.

Turning 100 years old this year, Hollyburn is arguably the oldest ski area in British Columbia.

Scandinavian immigrants were certainly shushing around the province before 1924.

Both Revelstoke and Rossland, in particular, have ski heritage going back to the 1890s.

But those early skiers focused mostly on jumping and using skis to get to and from their jobs.

Rudolph Verne was probably the first person to ski for fun on Vancouver’s North Shore. In May 1922 he and a friend hopped on the ferry to West Vancouver and followed old logging roads and paths nearly 3,000 feet straight up hill until they discovered “a winter fairyland.”

“We had discovered a veritable skier’s paradise, eclipsing anything I’d ever seen or mentioned,” he wrote in a promotional brochure a few years later.

By the next winter, Verne and

friends were regularly making the trip across Burrard Inlet and hiking up the forest slopes to explore the lakes, meadows and slopes of Hollyburn Mountain.

But he knew the nearly eightkilometre hike was more than most people would do before a day of skiing. So, in 1924 Verne hired four Scandinavian loggers to convert an old mill site into a ski camp, where visitors could get meals and a wooden bunk. That winter, Vancouver skiers started taking the 30-minute ferry to the village of West Vancouver, a bus to the edge of town and then hiked two hours to the ski camp where they spent the weekend skiing among the big trees and climbing Hollyburn Ridge. This was years before other ski areas opened in the province.

To find better snow, a few years later Verne moved the camp to First Lake and renamed it Hollyburn Pacific Ski Camp.

This is where Hollyburn Lodge sits today. Tapp’s parents met at one of the lodge’s legendary Saturday night dances. They eventually bought one of the 300 ski cabins spread through the woods nearby.

It’s not until 1948 that mechanized lifts arrived on Hollyburn, first a rope tow and then a chairlift. And it’s not until the 1970s that the government built a road up the mountain and the downhill skiing moved to Cypress Bowl.

Today Hollyburn Lodge is in the centre of the cross-country ski area. About 100 of the private cabins still stand. And heritage status protects the old ski jumps, chairlifts and other remains of 100 years of skiing history.

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DUE WEST

GEOGRAPHY

Snapshot: Canada’s Worst Wildfire Season Carbon Monoxide From Fires in Canada 2023 was one of the country’s worst fire seasons to date. These fires not only pose a serious threat to human life, wildlife, the environment and property, they also impact air quality. Using data from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P mission to use a satellite to perform atmospheric measurements, this image shows the average concentration of carbon monoxide for June 13 to August 1.

The extremely high concentrations, which are depicted in deep tones of orange, can be linked to active fires during that time. The image also shows how this air pollutant was carried as far as New York in the USA and over the Atlantic, but BC escaped the worst of the smoke.

Area Burned Estimated cumulative area burned during the 2023 wildfire season (hectares).

Source: The European Space Agency

Source: Canada Wildland Fire Information System

10 • B C M A G

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DUE WEST

CALL TO ACTION

ward: “Let’s Talk.” It’s a plea to the authorities to engage in meaningful dialogue and work towards a mutually beneficial solution.

But pursuing dialogue alone will no longer suffice in view of the threat of eviction by December 31, 2023. LMS has already incurred significant costs for legal advice and support. Legal proceedings are considered a last resort and will require The Ladysmith substantial funds to Maritime Society protect the rights to has been a mainoperate the Ladystay of the marine smith Community community for Marina until 2029. decades.

For this purpose, and to underscore the robust community backing on this crucial issue, a fundraising campaign has been launched.

This campaign’s sole aim is to establish a legal fund to support the Ladysmith Maritime Society’s fight for the Ladysmith Community Marina. It’s an opportunity to join forces, make a difference and highlight the rights of marina and boating communities throughout British Columbia.

Please share the fundraising campaign with your networks However, these efforts have and consider contributing. been met with a frustrating Together, we can ensure that silence, with most responses attempting to deny responsibilLadysmith’s maritime legacy ity and accountability for the lives on, and in doing so, set situation. LMS’s outreach and an example for all coastal commitment to reconciliation communities facing similar have been largely in vain. This challenges. Let’s support the is where you come in.

Ladysmith Maritime Society in The power of the people is their fight for the Ladysmith an unwavering force. LMS’s Community Marina—a symbol call for dialogue is echoed by for the spirit and resilience of over 15,000 boaters along the coastal communities everyBC coast, represented by more where. than 40 marinas and yacht The crowdfunding campaign clubs. This issue isn’t just website is located here: fnd.us/ about one marina; it’s about LadysmithCommunityMarina. preserving the rights of mariFor more information about time communities everywhere. the campaign and to get In May 2023, the “Friends involved, visit: lmsmarina.ca. of the Ladysmith Community —Richard Wiefelspuett, Marina” launched a petition Executive director, that garnered 3,000 signatures.

The message is straightforLadysmith Maritime Society

Battle for the Ladysmith Community Marina IN THE HEART of Vancou-

ver Island’s Ladysmith, a vital maritime institution faces a dire threat. The Ladysmith Maritime Society (LMS), a non-profit organization and registered charity with a rich maritime history dating back to 1985, stands at the precipice of losing not only its license but also of being evicted from the waterfront. Their fight for the Ladysmith Community Marina is more than a regional concern; it’s a precedent-setting battle that resonates with the wider boating community up and down the BC coast and demands our attention, support, and most importantly, dialogue.

For years, the Ladysmith Maritime Society has been the steward of the Ladysmith Community Marina, transforming it 12 • B C M A G

into an exceptional boating destination. But today, their rights to operate the marina are under threat. The Town of Ladysmith, their long-time partner, has issued an eviction notice and jeopardized their license, which, if not reversed by the end of this year, could mark the end of an era.

Over the past year, LMS has undertaken every avenue for resolution, seeking constructive dialogue with provincial Ministries, the Town of Ladysmith, the Coast Salish Development Corporation, and the elected Council of the Stz’uminus First Nation.

This endeavor is not solely about maintaining the status quo; it’s about recognizing the history, potential and importance of the Ladysmith Community Marina for the community.

Ladysmith Maritime Society

BUSINESS

Gear Makers get a Boost in the Kootenays

THERE’S MADE IN Canada

and Made in British Columbia.

Why not Made in the Kootenays? That’s the thinking behind a marketing campaign aimed at promoting the craft outdoor gear makers in the southeast part of the province.

“The Kootenays are a way of life,” says the campaign’s website. “And the Kootenay Approved campaign is the perfect way to recognize and promote that way of life.”

Kootenay Approved is a project of the Kootenay Outdoor Recreation Enterprise, an incubator for Kootenay-based outdoor gear makers and creatives. It includes product designers and companies that make skis, snowboards, backpacking gear, fishing accessories and more. When KORE started in 2019 it focused on networking and business development. Co-marketing was

with Kootenay Approved on the label everyone will be able to recognize it, he says. The campaign coincides with the launch of another outdoor gear maker program—the Basecamp Innovation Centre. The Squamish-lab space, managed by the Sea to Sky Outdoor Recreation Adventure Enterprise Society, will include expensive, specialized equipment for designing and prototyping outdoor gear.

“We’ve been listening closely to industry in the region to help identify barriers and opportunities,” says Hamish Elliott, the board chair of SOARE. “We heard loud and clear that a collaborative network, with access to tools, resources and space would help facilitate the development of the sector within the Sea to Sky corridor.”

Find out more at: soare.org and koreoutdoors.org

BY RYA N S T U A R T

an obvious next step, says Matt Mosteller, KORE’s board chair.

With funding from the Economic Trust of the Southern Interior, Kootenay Approved’s mission is to raise awareness of the KORE gear makers, increase sales of their products and encourage more outdoor gear making in the Kootenays. It will include retail store displays and digital and print ad campaigns that highlight Kootenay designed products.

There’s also a tourism promotion component. The gear designers and creators often tell Mosteller how important place is to what they do. Their Kootenay

backyards inspire what they make and the trails, rivers, lakes and mountains are ideal for testing and refining.

“The Kootenay region of British Columbia is a craft outdoor gear maker’s dreamland for testing,” Mosteller says. “It’s one of the most wild, naturally beautiful, incredibly diverse landscapes in North America, combined with some of the craziest conditions: we have raging rivers and vertical rock walls all mixed together with legendary mountain ranges that can get up to 70-feet of snow a season.”

Each ski, tent or fishing fly bottles a little bit of that up, and

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WINTER DONE RIGHT

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ADVENTURES

EXPLORING THE SELKIRK RANGE

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14 • B C M A G

X

D E S T I N AT I O N WINTER

DESTINATION NELSON Explore this winter wonderland and one of the Kootenay’s favourite destination towns

BY DESIREE MILLER

T The town of Nelson is one of the most beloved destinations in British Columbia’s Kootenay region. Despite its popularity, Nelson has retained the charm and heritage of a small mountain town, preserving the look and feel of its roots while also allowing for local business and culture to thrive and outdoor recreation to flourish. It is one of those unicorns that you can travel to and get a full experience while still feeling like you are in the middle of nowhere, and not overrun with tourists.

GETTING THERE A town of 10,000, Nelson is

located in the Selkirk Mountains on the West Arm of Kootenay Lake. No matter your starting point, a road trip to Nelson is part of the experience. This scenic drive through the diverse ecosystems of the province makes for an interesting and intriguing journey. With sharp changes in weather, landscape and vegetation, there is no shortage of natural pit stops and viewpoints to take in along the way.

Eight hours from Vancouver, six hours from Kamloops or four hours from Kelowna, the drive could lead you through coastal Joanne Dale/Adobe Stock

Kootenay Rockies Tourism/Phil Best

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D E S T I N AT I O N

rainforest, the Okanagan desert and into the dense forests and mountains of the Kootenays. The ancient old-growth forests of the Nelson and Kootenay Lake region showcase trees measuring five metres wide at their base. As part of the last-remaining inland temperate rainforest on earth, wildlife thrives here, including everything from southern mountain caribou, to rare lichens, black and grizzly bears and salmon, despite being hundreds of kilometres away from the ocean. This ecosystem, known as the “Kootenay Mix,” is a rainforest lover’s dream and a paradise for mountaineering, trail running, mountain biking, hiking, skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing.

The rise of Nelson came when rich mineral deposits of copper and silver were found at Toad Mountain and the boom of the mining industry began. In the late 1800s, the Silver King Mine brought hundreds of prospectors to the area, eventually leading to the incorporation of Nelson in 1897. As the industry continued to grow, the transformation of the town did too. From modest cottages and temporary structures, came stone and brick buildings, architecturally designed homes and commercial facilities. More than 350 of these buildings remain in use today with heritage sites recognized throughout the town.

By 1914, Nelson became an epicenter for the growing region with offices for the Canadian Pacific Railway, Canada Customs, Central Post Office and a Supreme Court. As well, opportunities were growing in many other industries including a city-owned hydroelectric plant on the Kootenay River at Bonnington, a waterfront sawmill, boat works, CPR shipyard and multiple HISTORY

16 • B C M A G

Oso Negro Cafe.

Pulpit Rock.

Top: Kootenay Rockies Tourism - Mitch Winton; Inset: David Gluns; Above Destination BC/Dave Heath

factories such as sash and door, mattress and box. By the 1960s, Nelson was home to numerous post-secondary educational institutions including Notre Dame College, Kootenay School of Art and the BC Vocational School (that became Selkirk College), and today includes a Chinese Medicine School, the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute and Kootenay Columbia College, to name a few.

BAKER STREET The prosperity that

Rotary Lakeside Park.

Baker Street.

Nelson was built on is part of its culture and roots today. Nelson’s downtown is a destination on its own. A collection of artisans, boutiques, cafes, restaurants, galleries and shops—all local and independent—is a refreshing reprieve from the chains and box stores that have taken over so many cities. While many of the buildings are heritage storefronts, the businesses inside have a modern and cosmopolitan feel. Often times, the buildings still feature the original signage, including the old newspaper and press shop that is now home to a funky vintage clothing store.

Baker Street is the lively centre of Nelson’s core. An awesome selection of cafes, restaurants and breweries line the street for whatever flavour or scene you are craving. Some patios remain open in winter, creating a perfect apres-ski stroll-through-town experience. There are many historical buildings and storefronts to admire, as well as sculptures, murals and other public artworks installed both along Baker Street and in the neighbouring alleys.

One ritual for many locals is the walk up Ward Street for a cup of coffee at the Oso Negro Café, which is located in a fun building and features a little rock garden utopia where you can zen-out while you sip an amazing cup of coffee.

Oso Negro opened in the 1990s and showcases dozens of local artists, reflecting the creative nature of the community and people.

ROTARY LAKESIDE PARK This iconic

beach park is a coveted hangout in summer months, but it’s a wonderland in Above: Main St. Diner

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Streetcar Number 23.

the winter season too. With stunning views across the lake and morning fog as a backdrop to bright white snow, this park looks like a Christmas card.

Located at the base of the landmark orange bridge, you can also enjoy a sandy beach, promenade, playground and picnic tables.

PULPIT ROCK Offering exercise with

A BLAST FROM THE PAST D E S T I N AT I O N

Take a ride back in time on the fully restored Streetcar Number 23, once part of the Nelson Street Railway that served the city from 1925 to 1949. Savour the views of the West Arm of Kootenay Lake as you meander along its shore to beautiful Lakeside Park, with stops at Hall Street and Chahko Mika Mall.

The streetcar typically operates from the May long weekend until Thanksgiving, depending on weather. Take the nostalgia a little deeper with the fiveminute walk up the hill from Lakeside Park to an original 1950s Dairy Queen window-operated ice cream stop.

a view, the infamous hike of Pulpit Rock is one of the most popular treks in town. Legend has it that this hike has had locals climbing for nearly a century. This is a 3.5-kilometre round trip that takes you up 325 metres for a gorgeous vista of the city and West Arm of Kootenay Lake. It’s a solid workout with switchbacks all the way up to the scenic lookout point. Keep going higher to the Flagpole, for a 5.8-kilometre roundtrip hike and an epic view of the river valley.

The trail has constant upkeep and maintenance, but it’s recommended to keep an eye on conditions and closures, especially in the off season.

WINTER SPORTS With terrain ris-

Whitewater Ski Resort.

18 • B C M A G

ing to over 3,000 metres and geologically older than the neighbouring Rocky Mountains, the mountains of the Kootenay region get over 18 metres of snowfall every year and are one of the best places for snow sports in the province.

Downhill, cross-country, cat and heli skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing, and indoor and outdoor skating are just some of the favourite pastimes in winter months. The Whitewater Ski Resort, just 25 minutes from downtown Nelson, is a world-class ski destination that still enjoys a laid-back reputation.

Nelson and its surrounding mountains are considered part of the “Powder Highway” (see the feature in this issue), which is a route through the Kootenay Rockies known for deep snow, adventure-packed ski resorts and funky towns.

With 12 metres of snow annually, a lodge base of 1,646 metres and 81 runs Top & Far right: Kootenay Rockies Tourism/FieldandForest.co; Bottom: Destination BC/Reuben Krabbe

IF YOU GO

to pick from, Whitewater is perfect for the powder connoisseur. Beyond the epic skiing, the resort also offers Nordic skiing, snowshowing and fat biking. There are tons of amenities and attractions including a full-service lodge, pub and cafes. Try and catch the Coldsmoke Powder Festival in midFebruary, which is a three-day celebration of ski and snowboard culture with clinics, competitions and arts and culture programming both in Nelson and at the resort.

DAYTRIP TO KASLO Only an hour’s

journey from Nelson is the community of Kaslo. Similar to Nelson, Kaslo was also a gold and silver mining hub in the late 1800s, and the community has preserved its historic charm, including the attraction of the world’s oldest intact sternwheeler, the SS Moyie.

The scenic route along the Kootenay Lake Road makes this an awesome day trip. You may even see the Kootenay Lake Ferry enroute to Balfour as you drive. Once in Kaslo, it’s a quaint wander around town to see shops and restaurants or use the time to explore the outdoor recreation, where Kaslo is known for its network of beautiful cross-country ski trails.

If you time your trip for the third weekend in February, Kaslo hosts the iconic Winter in the Forest Festival, which includes street hockey, crosscountry skiing (skis provided), snow painting, local musicians and entertainment, a woodsmen skills competition, human dogsled races and everyone’s favourite maple syrup on snow.

On the way back, warm up at the Ainsworth Hot Springs. The Ktunaxa First Nations discovered these hot springs and used the nupika wu’u for healing restoration after days of hunting, fishing and gathering. The Ainsworth Hot Springs opened in the 1930s and continues to be a popular place for rejuvenation. The waters at the Ainsworth Hot Spring are around 47ºC and are cooled to an average of 42ºC for the 150-foot horseshoe caves and 35ºC at the main lounging pool.

STAY Hume Hotel & Spa Where heritage meets hip in the heart of Nelson’s downtown core. humehotel.com

Cantina Del Latin American fare with a focus on Mexican cuisine and an extensive tequila and mezcal list. cantinadelcentro.ca

Prestige Lakeside Resort Waterfront location with a view of the lake and the Selkirk mountains, walking distance to downtown. prestigehotelsandresorts. com

Pitchfork Eatery Farm-to-table cuisine, plus cocktails, local beers & live music. pitchforkeatery.ca

Best Western Plus Baker St. Inn The only full-service hotel on Baker St. Prime location with all the amenities. bwbakerstreetinn.com Ainsworth Hotspring Resort Enjoy this historic site in luxury, includes complimentary access to the Hot Springs pool and cave. ainsworthhotsprings.com EAT & DRINK Main St. Diner A modern diner with Greek cuisine and iconic classics. mainstreetdiner.ca

Nelson Brewing Company Located in a heritage building by the firehall. nelsonbrewing.com Angry Hen Brewing Co Owned and operated by women in Kaslo, BC. angryhenbrewing.com Backroads Brewing Brewed in the heart of Nelson. backroadsbrewing.com Dominion Café Heritage café on Baker St. facebook.com/thedominioncafe Oso Negro Artisanal coffee and baked goods in a perennial garden. osonegrocoffee.com

PLAY Adventure Seekers For a roundup of all things adrenaline in the area visit nelsonkootenaylake. com.

Whitewater Ski Resort Legendary ski resort on the powder highway. skiwhitewater.com Number 23 Streetcar (seasonal) Find out rates, run times and schedules at Nelson.ca.

Shopping Boutiques, artisans, markets, galleries, and more. nelsonkootenaylake. com/things-to-do Kaslo Winter in the Forest Festival Family fun celebrating winter activities. nelsonkootenaylake.com Kokanee Creek Provincial Park Sandy beaches and campgrounds. bcparks.ca

Ainsworth Hotspring Resort.

Ski-free Fun on the POWDER HIGHWAY

YOU DON’T NEED TO BE AN ALPINE SKIER TO ENJOY THE CHARMS OF FERNIE, KIMBERLEY AND PANORAMA

BY

DIANE SELKIRK

20 • B C M A G

The Whiteway is a skating loop around Lake Windermere.

Diane Selkirk

BCMAG•21

Right: Stunningly beautiful Fernie Alpine Resort. Below: Fat bike tours are a great way to see the resort.

S Stepping out onto the world’s longest skating path on Lake Windermere, I squinted into the icy distance trying to see where the curving trail ended. Every year, the Toby Creek Nordic Ski Club in Invermere grooms a 30-kilometre-plus track around the lake. While I had been planning to don a pair of skates to check it out, the previous couple of days of unseasonably warm weather had made the surface of the Whiteway too slushy for skaters and skiers. But happily, the tracks were still open to walkers.

Framed by the Rockies to the east and the Purcells to the west, I felt the pull of adventure as I gingerly walked further onto the ice. Drawn toward a cluster of ice-fishing huts, I couldn’t help but stop and marvel at the white bubbles suspended in the clear, dark ice beneath my feet. They didn’t even move when a couple of us tried jumping up and down.

However, jumping did bring on an un22 • B C M A G

expected feeling of giddiness, as well as the sudden urge to challenge others in my group to a boot-skating race out to the furthest ice-fishing hut.

At some point in the past few years, between shoveling Vancouver’s soggy snowfalls and being embarrassed by my ongoing lack of cross-country skiing skills, winter lost some of its joy for me. I still liked spending time on our local ski and snowshoeing trails, but that carefree sense of play I had always associated with the season was missing. Getting out into the snow had become just another activity. I thought the change might have happened when my daughter became an adult (winter is for kids, right?) but as everyone in my group started slipping, sliding and taking silly photos on the Whiteway, I felt a happy lightness.

Research tells us that play is just as important for adults as it is for children.

Among the many benefits of goofy and spontaneous fun, it can boost your creativity, sharpen your sense of humour and help you cope better with stress.

But honestly, taking care of my men-

tal health wasn’t top of mind as I spun one last, lopsided pirouette—not caring how I looked. As we settled back into our van, I realized I’d missed the feeling that comes with doing something without judgment and simply because it’s fun. As we continued our journey along the Powder Highway, I wondered if maybe winter and I might be on track to get our groove back.

POPULAR WITH SKIERS and board-

ers, thanks to the incredible snowfall, remarkable mountains and unique character, the Powder Highway is a 1,000-kilometre-plus circular loop encompassing eight Kootenay region ski resorts. Our group was only doing a small section of the route, and as a cross-country skier in a group of experienced downhill skiers and riders, I was an anomaly on our road trip to Fernie Alpine Resort, Kimberley Alpine Resort and Panorama Mountain Resort. I was excited about checking out a few new (to me) mountain towns—but also wanted to test-drive the trip from a non-skier point of view.

Top: Kootenay Rockies Tourism/Mitch Winton; Right: Destination BC/@anatoletuzlak

First up on our five-day trip was Fernie, a pretty town of 6,300 that’s bookended by the striking Lizard Range. Established in the late 19th century as a coal mining settlement, Fernie’s historic downtown, with its wide streets and red-brick buildings, pays homage to its industry town heritage (don’t miss the excellent local museum for an in-depth perspective). Meanwhile, the presence of sports shops, cosy cafes and galleries featuring local artisans, offers a glimpse into its current-day art, food and outdoor adventure scene.

Located a short drive out of town, the ski-in ski-out (or in my case, trudgein trudge out) Lizard Creek Lodge at Fernie Alpine Resort was our destination for the night. After saying goodbye to the skiers, I set off with a guide to explore the snowy forests by snowshoe, while the rest of our group hit the slopes. A few hours later, we met back up and hopped on a few fat bikes with the plan of seeing the resort from another perspective. Tired legs and slushy 24 • B C M A G

Above: The Platzl in downtown Kimberley.

Below: Kimberley’s famous Moody Bee lip balm shop.

snow made my first ever fat bike ride a bit tricky—and crashing the heavy bike into a soft snowbank briefly made me self-conscious. Thankfully, a fine dinner at Lizard Creek’s Cirque restaurant, followed by a lively visit to the adjacent icebar, made my first full day in the mountains feel like a success.

DEPARTING FERNIE, we made the

hour and a half drive to Kimberley (population 8,000), another industry town turned recreation-hub. I’d long heard about the Bavarian-inspired Platzl; Kimberley’s downtown pedestrian strip. And while a yodeling, beerdrinking Happy Hans still emerges Top: Kootenay Rockies Tourism/Mitch Winton

Sliding down the snow chute after admiring frozen Marmot Falls.

from the square’s giant cuckoo clock, in recent years the town’s shifted away from its ’70s-era branding as Canada’s Bavarian City of the Rockies. While not completely giving up its oompah, the relaxed outdoor vibe that won Kimberly the title of best small town in BC, in a 2022 CBC poll, was evident Diane Selkirk

from the moment we checked in to the lovely new Larix Hotel to when we finished up a tasty dinner at the eclectic new Biscuit.

Kimberly’s other claim to fame is that it’s not much more than five minutes to everywhere fun, which meant there was plenty of time for me to explore

the little town (and pick up some of the famous lip balm from Moody Bee) and then ski a few nervous loops at the Kimberley Nordic Club before we continued on to Panorama.

While the trip up until our stop at Invermere’s Whiteway was great, that half-forgotten silliness I felt while BCMAG•25

boot skating on the ice made me realize I’d been sucking the fun out of being in the snow. This new point of view helped me push out of my comfort zone while skiing on Panorama’s gorgeous new Nordic trail system. But the Panorama portion of our trip also included a snowmobile tour. As I am more of a fan of self-propelled adventure, I was wary of hopping on one of Joseph-Armand Bombardier’s scary-looking inventions and hurtling through the winter forest.

Arriving at Toby Creek Adventures, located opposite the Panorama Ski Resort, owners Scott and Allison Barsby couldn’t have been nicer when I told them about my reservations about our four-hour tour. Eager to dispel some of the negative stereotypes of snowmobiling, they explained that their tours focus on giving people access to the gorgeous region—specifically the remnants of an early 1900s silver mining town. Starting slowly, Allison gave me plenty of tips and lots of training. Dividing our group into those who wanted thrills and those of us more interested in put-putting along while enjoying the spectacular views of Paradise Basin, there was no pressure to go fast—but somehow the fun got the best of me.

Soon speeding along the trail, I found myself giggling as snow spray flew beside me. When the time came to stop for a hike into frozen Marmot Falls, I was at the front of the line. I wanted to get ahead so I could toss a few snowballs at the rest of my group—we hadn’t done that yet. But when I caught sight of the falls, another feeling overcame me. Winter’s frozen landscape is like no other. When I first saw the vibrant ice-blue of the cascades through the dimness of the forest, it took my breath away, leaving me awed.

After taking a few photos of the falls in the fading light, it was time to make a snow angel and slide down the snow chute back to our snowmobiles and onward to more adventures.

26 • B C M A G

Above: Toby Creek’s alpine cabin is found at 8,000 feet above sea level. Right: Snowmobiling with panoramic views of Panorama Resort.

Below: Ski-in/ski-out access at Lizard Creek Lodge in Fernie Alpine Resort.

Top: Toby Creek Adventures; Right: Diane Selkirk

IF YOU GO Where to Stay Larix Hotel, Kimberley: This pretty boutique hotel is close to everything you need in the Platzl. thelarixhotel.com

Where to Play Lake Windermere’s Whiteway: Toby Creek Nordic Ski Club maintains a multi-use trail offering ice-skating as well as groomed skate and classic cross-country ski trails. Access is found at the Kinsmen beach in Invermere and Windermere Beach.

Lizard Creek Lodge: The cosy mountain lodge has ski-in/ski-out access at Fernie Alpine Resort. lizardcreek.com The Approach at Panorama Resort: The newly refurbished hotel has a variety of room configurations—making it family and group-friendly. panoramaresort.com

Kimberley Nordic Club: The volunteer run club offers rentals and 30 kilometres of groomed double track trails as well as a 3.3-kilometre loop lit for night. kimberleynordic.org

Where to Eat Cirque Restaurant & Bar (Lizard Creek Lodge): Elegant dining with mountain views and a diverse menu at Fernie Alpine Resort. Also has an ice-bar—so it’s handy if you are staying in the lodge. lizardcreek.com/cirquerestaurant-bar

Fatbike at Fernie Alpine Resort: Hop on a rental bike for a guided tour on groomed trails. skifernie.com/purchase/ winter-rentals/fat-bike-rentals/ Snowshoe at Fernie Alpine Resort: Explore the serene winter wonderland with a guided snowshoe adventure. ferniealpineresort.com/snowshoeing

Biscuit Supper Club: A cosy restaurant in Kimberley known for local fare and a welcoming ambiance. biscuitsupper.com

Panorama Nordic Centre: Explore scenic trails with a guide and enjoy the tranquility of cross-country skiing at Panorama Nordic Centre. panoramaresort.com/explore/nordic-centre

Alto Kitchen & Bar: One of Panorama’s finer dining options with a focus on seasonal ingredients. panoramaresort.com

0

40

Toby Creek Adventures: Experience the fun of snowmobiling through Paradise Basin with a guided tour. tobycreekadventures.com

80

Kilometres

Nelson

POWDER HIGHWAY LOOP

Kicking Horse Mountain Resort Revelstoke Mountain Resort

Revelstoke

Radium Hot Springs 31

Nakusp

Invermere

Panorama Mountain Resort

Lake Windermere

Kimberley Alpine Resort

93

Kimberley Nelson

RED Mountain Resort

Whitewater Ski Resort

Fernie Cranbrook

Fernie Alpine Resort

3

Rossland BCMAG•27

DINERS

DESTINATION

Diners, DRIVE-INS & Car Hops O N C E S E E N O N E V E RY H I G H WAY, T H E S E C L A S S I C R E STAU R A N T S O F F E R D E P E N DA B L E F O O D, F U N D ÉC O R A N D A TAST E O F N O STA LGI A BY

Desiree Miller

Diners and drive-ins are classic pit-stops for comfort food where you always know what you’re going to get. From a greasy spoon breakfast to home-style soup, this comfort cuisine is easy, affordable and familiar. Paired with knickknacks and nostalgia from years gone by, or references from pop-culture, movies and TV shows, it’s hard not to find something to talk about when you’re sitting in one of these vinyl diner booths.

Join us in this roundup of fun stops around the province that will pull on your heart and stomach strings.

28 • B C M A G

Slim Jims Cache Creek

Sitting at the historical junction of the Trans Canada Highway and Highway 97, Cache Creek is a natural stop for journeys in and out of the Cariboo region. Located on the Trans Canada, in the Sandman Inn, is Slim Jim’s retro-themed diner, with a collection of funky and eclectic décor and memorabilia. The walls are lined with memories, including cartoon characters dating back to the ’30s, retro cookie tins off of grandma’s shelf, vintage road signs, baby dolls from the ’50s and posters of iconic rock and movie stars—it’s a road trip into the past.

Slim Jims opened in 2019 as a sit-down food option while on the road, and a place to have a little fun. As soon as you take a step in, it’s as if you’ve gone back in time—even the servers dress-up to match the vibe.

Diners can enjoy the vibe along with home cooked meals and hearty portions.

Their Yorkshire dinner Fridays are a fun treat with roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes, veggies and au jus.

987 Trans-Canada Highway, Cache Creek

MP Studio

Tootsie’s Diner Penticton

In the industrial area of Penticton, BC, Tootsie’s is a little off the beaten path and started out mainly serving workers in the area. But soon it became known as a go-to for great burgers, music and fun.

When owners Wendy and Ken Rodocker first got the spot, the space was plain

and blasé so they decided to have fun with it.

“We’d get memorabilia from flea markets wherever we travelled to and just started decorating with it.” Funky booths donned by vintage signage and music from the ’50s and ’60s creates an entertaining atmosphere. “We have had people get up and just start dancing,” says Wendy.

Tootsie’s namesake itself is from the era and led to the

theme of the restaurant.

But at the end of the day, while the décor is fun, people show up for the food.

“The food is just really good,” says Wendy. “We make great burgers.” The Tootsie burger is one of the most popular items, along with the soups from scratch, piping hot fries and classic breakfasts.

103,1960 Barnes St., Penticton

BCMAG•29

DINERS

Rocko’s Diner Mission

Originally opened in 1956 under the name Nick’s Diner, this joint was renamed Rocko’s under a change in ownership in the ’80s. One of the few standalones left in the Mission area, Rocko’s is what you envision when you think “diner.” Open 24 hours, the team prides itself on delivering unmatched value and service while preserving the charm of its roots.

Main St. Diner Nelson

For more than 40 years, the Main St. Diner has been the go-to in the heart of downtown Nelson. This is a regular spot for locals and visitors alike because the food is so good. With a broad and modern menu, there 30 • B C M A G

This archetypical eatery has become a popular filming location for various productions including Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Hallmark movies

and a Killer Among Us. It was also used for the pilot of Riverdale, and future scenes were modelled after the look at Rocko’s. Fans can embrace the fandom

with milkshakes named after the characters and a burger named after Jughead.

32786 Lougheed Hwy., Mission

is fare the whole family can enjoy, including what many claim to be Nelson’s best fries. A fun addition is their weekend Greek menu. Some features are the freshly baked spiced leg of lamb, as a plate or served as a wrap with tzatziki, onions and tomatoes. Souvlaki varieties and steak are also available. As well, supporting

local breweries and BC wines, their craft beers on tap and wine list make for a lovely well-rounded dinner out. Cosy, classy and comfortable, the atmo-

sphere here matches the welcoming feel that diners have always provided, but with a more adventurous menu.

616 Baker St., Nelson

Hilltop Diner Café Langley Township

Another famous diner with character, Hilltop Diner Café has been in over a dozen movies, as well as featured on the TV show You Gotta Eat Here. Family owned and operated in Langley Township for over six decades, this diner has maintained all the charm and appeal of the ’40s.

Originally built in 1946 on Highway 1A, which is now the Fraser Highway, this used to be the “half way

mark” at a time when it would take nearly a full day to drive from Vancouver to Chilliwack.

Back then, with a motel on site, travellers would stay overnight and recharge at the Hilltop restaurant. The motel is no longer and there are multiple routes to travel through the lower mainland, yet Hilltop Diner has prevailed with its nostalgic feel and classic taste. Their pies are legendary, including a seasonal eggnog cream!

23904 Fraser Hwy, Langley Township

Ukee Dogs Ucluelet

This unassuming spot in Uclulet is the ultimate West Coast vibe. If you ask someone who has been to the area, they have likely had a Ukee Dog. Before trip advisor or the internet was exploding with information, Ukee Dogs was listed in the Lonely Planet as a local must.

Owner Zane Nilson says, “International customers from all over have said they’ve read about us.”

The menu is full of creative hot dog options, like the mac and cheese hot dog, for example.

There is also a selection of gourmet burritos, tacos and sliders. The yellowfin slider is worth a special mention.

Depending on the night, you might even catch an

open mic. Located in the town’s historical harbour, you can take advantage of the picnic tables outside or take your food to-go for a view of the rugged waterfront.

Zane says, “When other food stops in the area were seasonal, based on tourists, Ukee Dogs has always been locals driven.

Even during the pandemic or when unforeseen events occur like wildfires or the road closures, we were able to stay open for the tradesmen, surfers and locals in town.”

As a local staple, it’s important to continue to deliver options and atmosphere. “The hotdogs brought people here,” says Zane, “and the good food and vibe keeps them coming back.”

1576 Imperial Ln, Ucluelet BCMAG•31

DINERS

“TURN LIGHTS ON FOR SERVICE” White Spot Car Hops Anyone who has lived in or travelled to BC knows the iconic White Spot and their legendary burgers. Now a full-service restaurant with locations all over the province, they have continued the car hop service that started back in 1928 at specific locations.

“White Spot has always had a special place in the hearts of British Columbians,” says Kristy Eirikson, senior marketing manager at White Spot Restaurants. “It is our unique, legendary menu items, welcoming environment and family-friendly service that have kept our guests coming back for decades.”

As a classic and laid-back alternative to the drive-thru restaurants, White Spot’s car hops serve food on a long tray that clicks from the driver seat window and slides through to the passenger seat window, so you can eat with a little tabletop in front of you.

“Our iconic car hop service offers guests the same great tasting, memorable dining experience but in the comfort of their vehicles, bringing a sense of nostalgia and allowing them to be part of our history,” says Eirikson. It’s handy for people with kids, or guests who work in trades and prefer eating in their car in their uniforms. Some even make an event of it, watching movies on their phones while having dinner.”

32 • B C M A G

J&L Drive-In Port Alberni

White Spot Car Hop Locations:

Central City White Spot: 13580 102 Ave, Surrey Coquitlam White Spot: 500-3025 Lougheed Hwy Maple Ridge White Spot: 20855 Lougheed Hwy., Maple Ridge Guildford White Spot: 10181 152 St, Surrey Kitsilano White Spot: 2518 W Broadway, Vancouver Gilmore White Spot: 4129 Lougheed Hwy., Burnaby North Road White Spot: 4075 North Rd, Burnaby Park & Tilford White Spot: 333 Brooksbank Ave #1100, North Vancouver Scott Rd & 72nd White Spot: 7207 120 St, Delta

As one customer said: “The only thing missing are the roller skates and window trays.” One of the last remaining drive-ins on Vancouver Island, this Port Alberni burger joint is a cherished institution for locals and travellers alike.

It first opened in 1969 and has kept the charm and nostalgia of a time that was. It’s the pit-stop for those travelling through Port Alberni, not only for the ceremony of it all but food that is hot and delicious! For some it’s a memory of the old days, for the younger generations it’s an experience they’ve only heard about or seen in the movies. What to order?

Lots of options from fish & chips, chicken varieties, beef dip and hot dogs. But the burger, fries, onion rings and milkshakes make the iconic meal that goes with the experience.

4422 Gertrude St, Port Alberni Top right: Isla Miller X2

DINER

History Diners The concept of the diner can be traced back to the late 1800s when an American entrepreneur named Walter Scott repurposed a horsepulled wagon to sell easy to eat foods like coffee, pie, eggs and sandwiches. With windows on either side of the cart, it allowed for a convenient walk-up service. The reception was so overwhelming, Scott quit his day job and started selling food out of his wagon full time.

The popularity of this service took off and by the early 1900s, the idea had been patented, making “lunch wagons” a lucrative business. In the 1920s to 1940s, commercially mass-manufactured lunch cars were being made and delivered across the continent.

These prefabricated units were small, narrow and could fit on a rail car or truck for easy delivery. Once on site, the only thing the owners had to do was connect utilities, and they could be open for business.

As the world began to change after the Second World War and opportunity, décor and materials became more readily available, so did the model of these lunch cars. Formica countertops, porcelain tiles, leather booths, wood paneling and terrazzo floors were introduced. This look became more common and spread to the suburbs. Designs evolved even more to incorporate the now iconic stainless-steel exteriors, large windows, neon lights and colourful wall décor. By the 1950s, diners were popping up in neighbourhoods across the US and Canada and on popular highway routes.

Evolving from the simple

City of Vancouver Archives

take-and-go pies and sandwiches, diner cuisine still offers familiar and inexpensive foods on the griddle and grill, such as burgers, fries, eggs and bacon, as well as homestyle meals like soup, sandwiches, meatloaf and pie. Coffee is a staple. Today, just like a time capsule, many diners preserve this historical look and feel.

Drive-ins and Car Hops At the same time that diners became a neighbourhood hot spot, car hops and drive-ins were emerging as well. The first drive-in restaurant in Canada was the Vancouver White Spot at Granville and 67th, opened in 1928. The idea evolved just as the trend for car ownership was taking off, when proud car owners combined socialization with showing their cars, cruising the strip and meeting up with friends at popular spots. In Vancouver, this White Spot was the place to socialize and by the mid ’30s, guests would line up in their colourful Studebak-

ers hoping to get a prime spot in the back so they could watch people cruise on by.

Before opening as a restaurant, White Spot founder Nat Bailey had started to sell food out of his travelling lunch counter, stationed at the lookout in Stanley Park. In 1924, a guest once asked if he could “bring it out to me?” To which he agreed, and servers “hopped to it.” Car Hop is the name Nat coined for White Spot’s service.

He soon realized that he needed a delivery device to bring the food out, and so he created a painted white wooden plank for the servers to use as a tray. Although useful, they were very heavy for the car hops to handle, so they

moved to an aluminum tray in 1928. By 1960, his inventions had further evolved into custom fibreglass trays with adjustable sliding sides that would fit within window ledges and allow for varying car widths. It would also allow for windows to be closed so guests could be protected during Vancouver’s rainy season. This model is still used today.

The historical Car Hop uniform was a police-style cap, white dress shirt, tie and black dress pants—extending the premium dining room experience into the parking lot. Today, White Spot has nine car hops restaurants in BC, with the longest standing being the Kitsilano location that opened in 1955.

White Spot on Robson Street in 1972.

BCMAG•33

WATER The Future of

34 • B C M A G

F RO M F LO O D S TO H E AT WAV E S , C L E A R C U T S A N D R I S I N G R I V E R S , B R I T I S H C O LU M BI A’ S WAT E R S H E D S A R E I N N E E D O F S O M E S E R IO U S AT T E N T IO N BY ANDREW FINDL AY

A view over the intact temperate rainforests of Clayoquot Sound in Ahousaht territory on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

TJ Watt

BCMAG•35

The atmospheric river in November 2021 flooded the Fraser Valley, putting 320,000 lives at risk.

T

Tom Rutherford is a self-described “fish hugger:” And by extension, if you’re a fish hugger, then you’re a water hugger. On a sweltering summer morning, the air tinged blue with wildfire smoke haze, this retired Fisheries and Oceans Canada biologist and Cowichan Watershed board member bashes through a tangle of riparian vegetation to where the Koksilah River joins one of the main stems of the Cowichan River that brackets the sprawling estuary. Nearby a great blue heron perches regally on the branch of a Cottonwood, scanning the current for a snack.

“THE RIVER IDENTIFIES the Co-

wichan Valley, it runs through it,” Rutherford says thoughtfully, as he watches the languid, anemic-looking Koksilah River the way someone might observe an ailing grandparent.

By “runs through it,” he means both physically and metaphysically, even spiritually. For thousands of years before colonization, the ancestors of the Cowichan Tribes thrived on the seasonal abundance and return of salmon 36 • B C M A G

to the Koksilah, Cowichan and the many smaller watersheds that fit within the greater Cowichan Valley like Matryoshka dolls, those folkloric Russian dolls that nest one within another, and another, and another. But this salmonid abundance is increasingly a thing of the past. The Koksilah is subject to huge fluctuations in water flow and temperature, and that’s hard on fish.

Flows in the Cowichan River can be regulated artificially thanks to a weir that engineers built on Cowichan Lake back in the 1950s for water storage, but it too suffers.

“This year there was a huge die-off along a six-kilometre stretch of the Cowichan River. We’re talking about tens of thousands of adult and juvenile salmon,” Rutherford says.

He adds that it’s likely the largest single salmon mortality event in the Cowichan on record, the result of low summertime flows and a heat wave.

Research has shown that at water temperatures above roughly 20ºC, fish stop growing because they can’t get enough food to meet their metabolic needs.

IT WAS YET another canary in the

coal mine that says all is not well in the world of water, even in a place like British Columbia so blessed with

lakes, fresh-flowing rivers and streams.

Climate change is delivering a one-two punch. Rising temperatures and severe droughts are melting glaciers and triggering extreme wildfires, while at the same time starving creeks and rivers of water. In the cooler wet months, it’s delivering more intense rain events and storms.

Rutherford is not alone when he says that our relationship with water and the assumptions we make about it are long overdue for a reboot. Emerging global warming realities are shining a spotlight on human recklessness, like the decades of landscape-altering clearcut logging that have decimated

watershed ecosystems and hydrology from southern Vancouver Island to the upper Fraser River Basin. Management of water withdrawal licenses for agricultural, industrial and other purposes is weak and in some places, nonexistent. More precipitation falling as rain and less being stored in mountain snowpacks will have profound impacts on how we manage reservoirs and hydroelectricity operations. It’s a big topic of conversation as Canada and the United States negotiate a modern Columbia River Treaty that was first signed in 1961, when ecology was sacrificed in the name of power generation and flood control. Even the tyranny of Province of British Columbia Government

the perfectly green suburban lawn surrounded by thirsty landscaping is up for reconsideration. It’s happening elsewhere. The desert city of Scottsdale, Arizona recently banned grass lawns on new single-family homes.

In November of 2021, British Columbians watched with a mix of disbelief and horror as rivers swollen by an intense atmospheric river overwhelmed banks and manmade dikes, flooding homes, businesses and farms from the Fraser Valley to Princeton and Merrit.

Between November 13 and November 15, Hope was slammed with more than 250 millimetres of rain—more precipitation in 48 hours than it usually gets

for the entire month of November.

When this deluge fell on an early season mountain snow pack, the results were fierce and fast. In a statement the following spring, the Insurance Bureau of Canada called this storm the costliest weather event in BC history, with claims expected to top $675 million. But that number doesn’t reflect the cost to uninsured people or to the public purse. The price tag for repairing and climate-proofing the Trans Canada Highway in the Fraser Canyon, the Coquihalla and the severely damaged Highway 8—the Nicola highway between Merrit and Spences Bridge—is pegged at more than $1 billion.

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Logging debris clogs a stream after a landslide swept through an old-growth clearcut in this fisheries-sensitive watershed in Klanawa Valley on Vancouver Island.

There was also a human cost that dollar figures don’t capture. Five people died in a landslide on the Duffey Lake Road 42 kilometres south of Lillooet. Fraser Valley farmland was destroyed, livelihoods lost and thousands of livestock perished. All told, this mid-November storm was dubbed BC’s most expensive natural disaster.

BUT THE TERM “natural disaster” is

misleading, says Younes Alila, a University of British Columbia scientist in the Faculty of Forestry specializing in forest hydrology. Alila also closely watched the unfolding calamity in November 2021, an experience that he says prompted him to “come out of the closet” and start calling out the elephant in the room: that is, the devastating combination of decades of indus38 • B C M A G

trial clearcutting and climate change.

Alila doesn’t mince words.

“If you fly over BC in an airplane and throw your hat out the window, there’s a 90 percent chance it will land on a clearcut,” says Alila. “For years the public has been told that forestry in BC is science-based. In fact, it has never been, at least not in relation to hydrology and water. The so-called forest hydrology science that guided forestry for decades and counting remains a big scam.”

Alila notes that science has evolved and is portraying a much more nuanced understanding of forest hydrology and geomorphology. The problem is, he says, despite claims otherwise, that forestry in BC remains stuck in the 1960s. It all comes down to how industry looks and manages forests at the level of stands, which are essen-

tially just a group of trees next to each other, rather than as watersheds. Left intact, forests naturally control the flow of water. They intercept rain and shelter snow, meaning it melts slower and moderates spring run-off, which helps to prevent erosion and floods— doing for free what human-made dikes and reservoirs attempt to do at great public cost.

Intuitively, most people wouldn’t be surprised to learn that intense logging impacts the flow of water. Anyone with a keen eye and willingness to venture into a heavily logged valley will inevitably see landslides triggered where a logging road slashes across a steep clearcut, or sediment-choked streams that once teemed with fish. That in itself can be sobering. However, Alilia applies the rigour of scientific research to portray TJ Watt

“

“For years, the public has been told that forestry in BC is science-based. In fact, it has never been—at least not in relation to hydrology and water.” with hard numbers what this looks like on the ground. A paper published last spring in the Journal of Hydrology, in which Alila and a colleague studied the impact of clearcut logging in a 900 square kilometre watershed on the Thompson Plateau, received widespread media coverage. Their research showed that clearcutting 1/5th of the trees resulted in a 38 percent jump in flood size in the Deadman River watershed, and an 84 percent jump in the Joe Ross Creek watershed, which is nested within the Deadman region.

“The point is we need to look at cumulative effects of logging, not just individual stands of trees,” Alila says. “I see this as a now or never opportunity.”

as the Fraser River Basin can have cumulative effects hundreds of kilometres downstream. For decades, destabilization of watersheds due to logging has caused erosion and run-off with a heavy load of sediment, some of which eventually settles to the river bottom where the mighty Fraser meanders through the densely populated Lower Mainland.

A recent study by the Fraser Basin Council predicted that more than half of the river’s dikes would be overtopped in a repeat of the 1894 spring flood, a one in 500-year event and the largest Fraser River flood on record.

Back then, less than 20,000 people lived on Fraser River flood plain. Today, there are more than 320,000 citiTHIS IS NOT just a rural, hinterland zens at risk. concern. Clearcuts high up in remote, “In effect, the elevation of the river sub-watersheds within an area as vast bottom is rising and this could choke the capacity of the dikes,” Alila says.

Watersheds—and water—are certainly on the provincial agenda. In 2016, the provincial government passed the Water Sustainability Act, that was meant to bring unlicensed groundwater users into compliance, and promote watershed sustainability plans, among Five people died in a other initiatives. landslide on the Duffey So far the ground water Lake Road The slide was plan has been an abject failtriggered where a old ure.

Well users dating back logging road crossed a decades prior to 2016 had steep clearcut, 600 metres above the highway. until a 2019 deadline to apply, later extended to March 1, 2022. However, thousands remain out of compliance with new groundwater management rules.

Last March, Nathan Cullen, BC’s Minister Of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, announced $100 million for a new watershed security fund comanaged by the BC-First Nations Pemberton SAR

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40 • B C M A G

Decades of landscape-altering clearcut logging has decimated watershed ecosystems. Klanawa Valley, Vancouver Island.

TJ Watt

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Water Table, which includes members from the government and BC First Nations. The fund is set up as a trust, meaning only funds earned from interest goes toward watershed planning.

Aaron Hill, executive director of the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, calls it a good first step but says the fund needs to be “at least $1 billion.” Despite the Water Sustainability Act being seven years old, just one community, the Cowichan Valley, has made any significant progress toward developing a watershed sustainability plan. Government’s sluggishness on this file is the reason last July’s exhortation from Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Minister Bowinn Ma for people to take shorter showers and only do full laundry loads, in response to the third consecutive summer of drought conditions, was met with ridicule from the conservation community.

“Yes, we must all do what we can to conserve. But earnest appeals to “take

shorter showers” during severe drought conditions is simply too little, too late,” wrote Oliver Brandes, Rosie Simms and Tim Morris of the University of Victoria’s POLIS Water Sustainability Project, in a Vancouver Sun Op-Ed that also chastised provincial heal-dragging on water conservation.

Hill agrees.

“THE PROVINCE HAS been way too

slow in implementing water sustainability measures. So far, we have no plans approved and only one in development,” Hill says.

On the bright side, he says the Cowichan Valley is leading the way and blazing a path that others should follow. Last May, the Cowichan Tribes signed a first of its kind agreement with the Government of British Columbia that commits both parties to developing a long term plan for the Xwulqw’selu (Koksilah) Watershed.

“This watershed is integral to the

Koksilah River joins one of the main stems of the Cowichan River that brackets the sprawling estuary.

identity of our nation and our ongoing relationship with these lands and waters we call home,” said Larry George, the director of Lulumexun Lands and Self-Governance with Cowichan Tribes, at an information night in May around the time of the signing.

Tom Rutherford says the agreement follows three years of government-togovernment discussions.

“This will be the first crack at developing a watershed sustainability plan,” says Rutherford, who will serve an advisory role in the planning process.

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TJ Watt

The Cowichan Tribes signed a first of its kind agreement with the Government of British Columbia that commits both parties to developing a long-term plan for the Xwulqw’selu (Koksilah) Watershed.

“Everybody in the Cowichan Valley can see that we’re not in a good place right now. This process binds us all together, government, farmers, citizens, First Nations. But it’s one thing to make a plan, and another thing to implement it.”

In the big picture and in watershed terms, the Koksilah is small. Fed by five small creeks, the Fellows, Kelvin, Patrolas, Howie and Glenora, the watershed is roughly 300 square kilometres in size, barely larger than the City of Kamloops. And it is just one of thousands of watersheds in the province. In a perProvince of British Columbia Government

“I THINK WE can learn from the Co-

fect world, the Cowichan Valley will set a template for how we live, work and do business in a watershed. The status quo is a recipe for failure, but Rutherford believes people are ready to reexamine their relationship with water. Sometimes it takes an event that strikes viscerally to the heart of what it means to be a British Columbian to instigate change, like the sad sight of dead salmon floating to the surface of a river cooked by yet another heat wave.

wichan Tribes who have lived here for thousands of years. They don’t look at water as a resource. They look at it as a member of the family. That might sound weird to some people, but I believe there’s something in that sensibility,” Rutherford says.

There’s one inescapable fact that binds us all—everyone and everything lives in a watershed—and with that comes a shared responsibility. If we fail in that responsibility, it will be at our peril.

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A LANDSCAPE IN MOTION THE CHANGING FACE OF SEA TO SKY GEOLOGY

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Ring Mountain, a flat-topped tuya in the Mt. Cayley Volcanic Complex as seen from the hike to Ring Lake.

BY LESLIE ANTHONY

O

On a bluebird summer day a decade ago, I stood atop The Malamute, a rock whale breaching beside Howe Sound opposite the Stawamus Chief just south of Squamish. Participant in an adult-education course entitled “Dynamic Geology of the Sea-to-Sky Corridor,” our group was being led through a series of observations by geologist Steve Quane. We were first urged to size up the Chief— its height, sheer face, domed flanks and conspicuous dark-coloured dike cutting top-to-bottom; next, to consider the related rock of the Malamute, its composition, swarms of scratch-like striations and finely polished surface; and finally, to scan the northern horizon, where Squamish Valley was flanked to the east

Asta Kovanen

by the imposing pyramid of Nch’kay (Mt. Garibaldi), and to the west by the shark-fin summit of Mt. Alpha in the Tantalus Range.

Having gathered what observations we could, Quane stepped us through the process scientists would use to draw conclusions, helping deliver a likely geologic script. A glacier had, in fact, occupied this entire valley. A large one, it appeared, some two-kilometres thick, burying the Chief far beneath it. The rock on which we stood was granodiorite, formed by the slow cooling of magma (molten lava) 20 kilometres or more below the surface, and yet heavily eroded by both glacial ice and post-glacial meltwaters (cue the polishing and abundant striations pointing in the direction of glacial movement).

But if the Chief was originally gestated so deeply, how did it reach a height of 700 metres above sea level? Three possibilities all seemed in play: pushed up from below by the mountain-building compression of tectonic plates; further exposed by ice and water eroding material from above; and a little oomph from isostatic rebound—what land does

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once a glacier’s weight is removed.

That left only the peaks to the north to decipher. If the ice stood 2,000-metres high here, then the summits of both Alpha (2,302 metres) and Nch’kay (2,678 metres) must have risen above it, with the entire Sea-to-Sky region looking much like today’s Greenland. Alpha was, in fact, a classic nunatak—its angular prominence cut by ice flowing around it.

Nch’kay, however, was a different story; a massive stratovolcano, it had erupted through and onto the ice sheet, creating unstable, ice-buttressed lava flows that repeatedly collapsed into the valley over thousands of years as the ice waned.

Though unclear to what extent Nch’kay was still unstable, Squamish lay squarely in the path of whatever hazard remained, a cause for concern—and research.

THE SEA-TO-SKY, it turned out, is

Canada’s most geologically active area, a dynamic landscape of unique landforms found in few places on Earth. Here, ice, lava and water have flowed—often together—over millions of years, building up and breaking down. Even today, flooding, debris flows, landslides, earthquakes, volcanoes and other geological threats continue to define the area’s physical and human geography. As Quane summed it, the processes responsible comprise four geologic pillars acting alone and in concert: Mountain Building, Glaciation, Volcanism and Collapse.

What was divined that day not only supercharged my understanding—and thrall—for the area I’ve called home for 25 years, but underlies a wealth of ongoing geological research. What do we know and how is our understanding changing?

(slid) beneath, the much larger North American plate.

Each subduction generated heat deep within the Earth, metamorphosing surrounding rock and creating pockets of magma that “glued” the terranes, one-byone, onto the West Coast. Much of this magma cooled within the Earth’s crust to form one of the planet’s largest granitic bodies (the Chief/Malamute are part of this), while some was released via volcanoes erupting atop the older rocks (we’ll get to this). Mountain building here began around 100 million years ago (mya), when the Juan de Fuca Plate dove beneath the North American Plate causing uplift and classic subduction-related volcanism.

The complex results of this ancient story can be seen in a place familiar to many—Whistler Blackcomb. Here, the two peaks conjoined by lifts in the world-renowned resort couldn’t be more different. The igneous rocks that make up Blackcomb originated with magma extruded into the Earth’s crust approximately 150 mya, while the rocks that would become Whistler included sediments (hence the run “Shale Slope”) deposited atop the Blackcomb rocks in a shallow marine basin within a volcanic arc (think Hawaii) around 80 mya. Delivered by plate tectonics to their present positions 50 mya, the two mountains were then uplifted on either side of the Fitzsimmons Fault, which visitors cross while riding the Peak-to-Peak Gondola.

Jimmy Fitzsimmons was a prospec-

tor who worked small silver and copper claims on the eponymous creek that follows the fault. Other mineral deposits in the area are better known: the copper mine at Britannia Beach, now a worldclass museum, was once the largest in the British empire; ditto gold-mining operations in the Bralorne/Gold Bridge area.

Flowing but 10 kilometres from its glacial source to Green Lake, Fitzsimmons Creek is a good example of the hazards posed in mountains located so close to the Pacific. The heavy precipitation that cascades down these steep slopes can be useful—like the run-of-river hydroelectric project along the creek that supplies electricity to Whistler Blackcomb—but also catastrophic, reason for erecting a precautionary debris-flow barrier to protect the town of Whistler.

Research shows the Coast Mountains continue to rise two to three millimetres each year in the Sea-to-Sky Corridor.

Though approximately equal to the rate of downward erosion from water, ice and landslides, the situation is far from static.

As Quane put it, “These mountains are still very much a work in progress.”

And the main process in the recent past has been glaciation.

BEGINNING ABOUT 2.5 MYA, multiple

continental glaciations advanced and retreated across the Coast Mountains. The Cordilleran Ice Sheet gouged out Howe Sound, North America’s southernmost fjord, during its last advance ploughing

RUNNING 1,600 KILOMETRES from

southern Alaska and the Yukon through all of BC, the Coast Mountains represent a particularly complex geologic puzzle.

In part, their various igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary basement rocks comprise exotic terranes—land transported over hundreds of millions of years from different parts of the globe, Rubik’s Cube-style, on oceanic plates that ultimately collided with, then subducted 46 • B C M A G

A tectonic cross-section of present-day coastal BC and Washington State including offshore Pacific and Juan de Fuca Plates. As the latter subducted beneath the North American Plate it gave rise to the Cascadia Volcanic Arc, whose northernmost manifestation, the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt, includes the Mt. Garibaldi (Nch’Kay) and Mt. Meager stratovolcanoes.

USGS

as far south as Porteau Cove, where a terminal moraine—the Porteau Cove Sill, much prized by sport divers—sits 30 metres beneath the surface. The ice began its final retreat only 11,000 years ago, leaving the Coast Mountains with hundreds of remnant glaciers and the world’s largest temperate-zone icefields.

Impressive as they are, with rising summer temperatures and increasing drought, icecaps and glaciers in the Seato-Sky are retreating at an unprecedented rate: in 2019, accelerated melt of Whistler Blackcomb’s Horstman Glacier required removal of an entire ski lift; 60 percent of ice loss on the Wedgemount Glacier north of Whistler occurred in the past decade—with fully a third disappearing over the period 2018–2021; at a scenic highway pullout overlooking the heavily glaciated Tantalus Range, the remaining ice is now overshadowed by the bare rock left by glacial retreat.

Although these losses match global trends, they reveal something else—geological instabilities once safely encased in ice are now bona fide hazards. In 2010, Canada’s largest ever landslide occurred on the southern flank of the Mt. Meager volcano north of Pemberton. A combiSteve Quane

The Fitzsimmons Valley from the air. Fitzsimmons Creek flows down the centre in the Fitzsimmons Fault between Blackcomb Mountain (left) and Whistler Mountain (right).

nation of recent retreat of the Capricorn Glacier and rock made unstable by volcanic heat, the slide was triggered when hot weather caused the rapid melting of snow and ice supporting the slope. A similar rapid-melt scenario was behind the twin collapse of Joffre Peak in May, 2019. No one died in either event—the Meager slide briefly dammed the Lillooet River and put Pemberton on evacuation alert, while the Joffre slide came within a halfkilometre of Highway 99—but both were reminders of the restless nature of the landscape and how climate change is increasing the hazards.

Melanie Kelman, a volcanologist with the Geological Survey of Canada, whose work involves assessing threats from Canadian volcanoes, points to the difficulty of reading slope stability on Nch’Kay, where aerial photography shows a substantial but unquantified loss of ice over the past 50 years. “Repeated cycles of glaciation and deglaciation make the

read harder,” she notes. “But we know the disappearance of ice supporting unstable slopes makes them more vulnerable to collapse and landslides.”

Which is a perfect segue to pillar number three: volcanism.

REMEMBER THE GOOD ol’ Juan de

Fuca Plate? Well, you can thank its pushiness for the Sea-to-Sky’s volcanic complexes—Meager, Cayley and Nch’Kay— mainstays of the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt (GVB), the northernmost subgroup of the Cascade Volcanic Arc that stretches all the way to California. As previously noted, these are built atop the bedrock of the Coast Mountains, and, relative to famous American counterparts like Mt. Hood or Mt. Shasta, have been seriously ravaged by rapid uplift, continental glaciation and subsequent erosion. The most recent eruption within the GVB was from Mt. Meager, around 2,500 years ago, which sent an ash plume as far as Alberta and destructive mudflows into the Lillooet River Valley. In addition to their large stratovolcanoes, these complexes have left abundant evidence of activity in interglacial times in the form of lava flows and cinder cones, as well BCMAG•47

as eruptions under, against and on top of ice during periods of glaciation; this lava-meets-ice-and-sometimes-meltwater created many unique glaciovolcanic deposits and landforms—as well as many unique hazards.

The most obvious and familiar glaciovolcanic formations are flat-topped tuyas—the Table, Ring Mountain and Little Ring Mountain—formed from eruptions under glacial ice that, classically, eventually melt through the surface.

Recently, origins of the Table have been revisited, along with those of the corridor’s most iconic landmark—Black Tusk, once thought to be the core of an extinct stratovolcano whose slopes were subsequently eroded away by glaciers. The use of 3D-photogrammetry and geochemical analyses to understand surface cooling patterns has led scientists like Quane to a different conclusion about both.

“Rather than lava flows beneath the ice, we’re reinterpreting the Table and Black Tusk as lava dikes injected into the ice, which then grew and expanded not from the outside, but from within the dike,” says Quane. “Textures on the outside of these formations show primary interaction with ice that you wouldn’t have with a bigger cone around them.”

These aren’t the only glaciovolcanic features being looked at.

Frequent drivers of Highway 99 are likely familiar with the several areas of hexagonal columns between Daisy Lake and Whistler—the Cheakamus Basalts, originating from the Mt. Cayley volcanic complex. These can be seen up close along the Sea-to-Sky Trail, including underfoot column tops polished paving-stone-like by glaciers. Just north of the Cal-Cheak BC rec site, walkers traversing an area colloquially known as the BC Rail Quarry will notice odd columnar basalts, twisting and curving horizontally in a way that clearly differs from lava that spreads unimpeded across the land to cool in the direction of heat loss—vertically beneath the air. Here, sinuous, steep-sided ridges wind across the land north to south, the direction of heat loss clearly not up. Preeminent BC geologist Bill Mathews, a doyen of glaciovolcanology, hypothesised these ridges were formed by lava infilling preexisting channels beneath glaciers—like 48 • B C M A G

the sediment-built eskers that typically form in sub-glacial channels.

“It’s a charismatic idea,” says Annie Borch, a doctoral candidate in geology at UBC, “but the concept of equifinality—in which different processes create a similar end result—makes you wonder if you could get these same formations in another way, such as combinations of meltwater, ice or flooding. Are these ridges primary features or did they occur via subsequent erosion?”

To find out, Borch is looking into multiple compounding processes that can result in the same landform. Anyone who marvels at the numerous stacked flows of Cheakamus Basalts at either Brandywine or Alexander Falls understands these clearly occurred in different phases.

For Borch, the key is how far apart these phases were. Using both field and analytical evidence, as well as paleomagnetic data, Borch found the flows occurred within a single paleomagnetic moment—at most a spread of 2,000 years.

“This was the first red flag that the original hypothesis might not work because it requires ice-free then glacial conditions too close together,” she says. “Given the age of the lava and the timing of the last glaciation, you’d need at least 10,000

years between phases.”

Instead, Borch imagines an ice-free river valley. “What would happen if you filled that valley with lava?” she poses.

“The lava would likely dam the river with a quickly cooling obstruction; the reservoir behind it could then build up to a point that it would overtop the lava dam.

And we see that. There is river sediment between lava flows.”

Meaning that a big outburst flood may or may not have contributed its erosional power to the odd lava formations of the BC Rail Quarry. Like the oscillating glaciations that repeatedly scraped the land clean, a big flood would take a lot of evidence with it. But not all. Brandywine Falls flows over a small V-notch into a large lava punchbowl, but high volumes of water clearly once poured over all sides and chunks of water-worn basalt resting in the woods are at least suggestive of a large, prolonged flood event.

“The outburst flood story—the last portion of this stacking of processes—is unfinished, so I’ve just been referring to it as post-glacial flooding and erosion until we figure out size and timing,” sums Borch.

Given enough time, that which geology creates is always washed away.

Nch’Kay (Mt. Garibaldi) from the north. The Table lava tuya is in the middle distance, and the ice-covered shores of Garibaldi Lake are in the lower left corner.

AND WHAT OF COLLAPSE? Well,

we’ve already seen it. As glaciers and ice sheets melt and retreat, they expose inherently unstable materials. Continued mountain uplift and isostatic rebound creates steep-sided mountains that continually shed these materials, which are then carried to the sea by the region’s abundant waterways. These all interact with Pacific storm systems that include high precipitation and freeze-thaw cycles at altitude to further destabilize rock.

“The mountains in the Sea to Sky are unstable. They fall down,” says Glyn Williams-Jones, co-director of the Centre for Natural Hazard Research (CNHR) at Simon Fraser University. “Largely because of climate—high rates of precipitation and glaciation, and now heat. But when you add in the volcanic aspect the hazard is even more complex.”

In 2005, the CNHR was established with a mandate to conduct innovative research on geophysical processes that threaten lives and economic infrastructure. A wide range of collaborators conduct not only scientific investigation, but public policy research on how to effectively transfer results to communities and stakeholders, ultimately making Canada more resilient to natural disasAbove: Leslie Anthony; Left: Steve Quane

Sugar Cube Hill, a formation of the Cheakamus Basalts in the BC Rail Quarry near Whistler that shows cooling effects influenced by the presence of ice or water.

ters. The CNHR also curates a Natural Hazards Digital Photo Archive, runs a one-stop knowledge portal for natural hazards, works with partners to develop and deploy natural hazards monitoring technology, and delves deep into natural hazards education and engagement.

CNHR researchers study everything from avalanche forecasting to paleoearthquakes and tsunamis, permafrost to volcanic slope stability, landslides and public communication. As an example of the latter, in 2023, Simon Fraser doctoral candidate YuYen Pan conducted an online Volcanic Hazards Awareness and Knowledge survey of British Columbians, a critical piece of public participation in the designing of risk reduction and education. Sea-to-Sky residents had more awareness of hazards than expected—knowledge that can be leveraged to plot next steps in crafting risk management communications and strategies.

“What you produce with hazard and risk assessment has to be useful, comprehensible and trustworthy, so everyone in a community needs to be involved in

developing it,” notes Melanie Kelman, whose GSC collaborated in Pan’s study.

“You have to talk to emergency managers, First Nations, anyone with concerns.

The measure of success is when people use information from hazard maps and risk assessments to make land use and development decisions.”

In the Sea-to-Sky, there’s no shortage of places relevant to such scenarios, but four are worth a final look—Mt. Meager, Nch’Kay, the Barrier and the Chief.

Even without a new eruption, considerable hazard remains at Mt. Meager given its combination of failing rock, climate, dramatic freeze-thaw cycles and volcanic seismicity. In addition to discovering several large fumaroles steaming through the Job Glacier in 2016, geologists identified some 20 weak areas, including an aptly named “Slope of Concern” currently moving downward at around three centimetres per year. Should this slope release, the estimated volume of material could be up to 10 times that of the 2010 slide, posing considerable risk to Pemberton.

Williams-Jones, who studies everything from Meager’s deep-earth plumbing to its gassy fumaroles is leading efforts to expand the monitoring network for both seismic and unstable-slope activity.

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“We currently have two remote cameras installed thanks to a public-private partnership, a couple of seismometers and a nascent satellite monitoring system.”

The system in question is InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar), which maps ground deformation using radar images of the Earth’s surface collected from orbiting satellites. Radar penetrates most weather clouds and is equally effective in darkness, two big advantages during a volcanic crisis. More importantly, InSAR can produce maps of ground deformation over a large spatial area with centimetre-scale accuracy—especially useful at remote, difficultto-access volcanoes and locations where hazardous conditions prevent or limit ground-based volcano monitoring—the case with some of Kelman’s work on Nch’Kay. The large landslide hazard associated with Nch’Kay has been known for a while, as seen in the many debris slides comprising the Cheekeye Fan (you climb steadily up the fan for several kilometres as you leave Brackendale heading north on Highway 99), and recent modelling

by Kelman and co-workers shows the 50 • B C M A G

Steam fumaroles appeared on Mt. Meager’s Job Glacier in 2016. Scientists are studying these to try to understand the volcano's deep plumbing and potential threats posed by heat-melted ice and slope instability.

expected hazards posed by mud, lava and pyroclastic flows off Nch’Kay most likely to impact the larger valleys in line with Squamish. “There’s lots of rockfall up top, which is common at big stratovolcanoes, but we’ve also discovered some pyroclastic deposits we think represent hundreds of dome collapses. There’s definitely more to learn but it’s hard to access; you can’t land a helicopter on it and even rock climbers can’t get to it because of rockfall.”

AND WHILE INSAR and other remote-

sensing technologies can help that, rampant technological advance has also created some more blue-collar solutions—low-cost sensors known as Raspberry Shakes, which, at less than $1,000 each, open up research avenues that wouldn’t otherwise be viable. “My pie-inthe-sky idea is to deploy a range of these in all areas of high risk,” says WilliamsJones. “For example, for each $50,000 high-end seismometer you deploy 10 to

20 of these cheaper, less-sensitive units and it starts to densify your monitoring network. There’s a citizen science aspect, too, because people putting these out in many places generates a lot of data.”

One use is for low-cost sensors continually streaming data in real time that can be correlated with weather phenomena—such as the thermal expansion on large granitic domes during extreme heat events that might have led to huge rockfall events on the Chief which, almost miraculously given the number of climbers in the area, caused no fatalities.

“When you have people in the community like climbers who are interested, if we see increased risk during high-temperature events, then we can maybe manage risk in specific areas,” says WilliamsJones. “We couldn’t stop the event but could mitigate impact.”

Mitigating impact is key when it comes to the Barrier. Some 9,000 to 11,000 years ago, with the Cheakamus Valley still occupied by waning Pleistocene glaciers, lava flows from Clinker Peak were halted by the ice, cooling hard against it. When the ice retreated, the lava remained, a 300-metre cliff behind which a Steve Quane

kilometre-thick flow now acted as a dam behind which meltwater pooled to form Garibaldi Lake. Fed primarily by glaciers, the lake’s outflow is mostly subterranean seepage along the contact where lava dam meets bedrock, reappearing as a handful of springs at the base to coalesce into Rubble Creek. Rock tumbles continuously from the face and evidence of larger-volume rockfall is everywhere— including 1855-1856 landslides in which some 30,000,000 m3 of rock peeled off to form the boulder field for which Rubble Creek is named. Inherent instability and further risks from volcanic, tectonic, or rainfall activity prompted the province to relocate a small village below the Barrier in 1981. Should it collapse to bring Garibaldi Lake down with it, damage would be catastrophic. Released in its entirety, the lake’s 1.29 billion m3 volume would see a 120-metre-high wall of water descend from 1,470 metres with 200 times the energy of the Hiroshima bomb to obliterate Squamish, creating an

impact-wave in Howe Sound. Numbers like this are good reason to get a handle on the lake’s hydrology, something Steve Quane spent years investigating, conducting bathymetric mapping of the lake bottom and logging water levels as they correlated with seasons and precipitation events. “Gravitational failure of the unstable Barrier caused by earthquakes or landslides anywhere in the corridor are possible,” he told me, “but climatechange effects that load the water system quicker—like earlier and higher melt rates, or extreme rain events—might also increase pressure at the rock interfaces.”

Though the probability of it happening in our lifetime is low, collapse of the BarGoogle Earth view of The Barrier, an ice-impounded lava dam holding back the 1.29 billion cubic metres of water in Garibaldi Lake. On the right can be seen The Table, a flat-topped lava tuya that grew endogenously within the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, and Clinker Peak, the source of lava flows comprising The Barrier.

Garibaldi Lake

Clinker Peak

rier is a geological certainty. This might seem scary but it’s also interesting—a true teaching moment for those who drive and hike past it every day. To this end, there is an initiative to establish a UNESCO Global GeoRegion in the Sea-to-Sky to connect the area’s geological story, as well as more broadly educate on the geotourism the community is already engaged in—a bridge between ivory tower science, private sector commercial elements and the public to get people both excited about where they live and cognizant of its hazards.

We know a lot about Sea-to-Sky geology and hazards, with more learned every day. And in the end, what we do with that knowledge is important. “There are many things people can do to take charge of their own safety with respect to natural hazards preparedness,” says WilliamsJones. “It starts with being informed.

And if you’re willing to have a Raspberry Shake in your basement to contribute to what we know, even better.”

The Table

Mount Garibaldi

Lava flow

Lesser Garibaldi Lake The Barrier

Barrier Lake

Rubble Creek

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NEIGHBOURHOOD Emergency Preparedness HOW COMMUNITIES ACROSS BRITISH COLUMBIA ARE BANDING TOGETHER TO P R E PA R E F O R N AT U R A L DI SAST E R S BY

BY JANE MUNDY

52 • B C M A G

West Kelowna photographer Shawn Talbot captured this image as he was evacuating. He expected his house to be gone by morning but the wind shifted and it was spared. Many others in West Kelowna were not as lucky.

www.shawntalbot.com

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H

so that made me nervous, but we made who never considered themselves at risk sure everyone had support and a plan, from climate change are now waking up including where we should meet if a fire to fires and floods. separated us.”

“We have an urgent climate crisis that’s A few years ago, Babcock put together here to stay, so we need systems in place two emergency totes with food—includin advance,” said BC Ombudsperson, ing dog kibble, gallons of water and two Jay Chalke, on a recent CBC radio intersuitcases filled with personal items and view. “Emergency management legisladocuments. She packed sensible, not sention is outdated; it needs to modernize, timental. “I heard Albertans talk about but that takes time. The province’s disasweird things they grabbed when they ter relief program was designed to help had to evacuate—one lady took steer people during small-scale emergencies, horns from her wall—she must have affecting a few people for a short time. been in shock. Who knows what you’d However, the one-size-fits-all approach grab with just a few minutes notice.” to emergency relief is not the way to go.”

On August 17, the fast-growing McHave you ever woken up in the middle One way to go is by contacting your loDougall Creek wildfire surrounded the of the night with a sudden desire to cal FireSmart representative. Along with Findlay’s beloved Broken Rail Ranch. gather all your important documents the obvious things like having a plan in Miraculously, all their rescue horses were into one place with a solar-powered place and an updated emergency kit, saved but Wilbour, the pig, couldn’t esphone charger, some granola bars and FireSmart demonstrates that the best cape the flames. “We had an emergency a few gallons of water? Do you know way to defend against any emergency is plan for the animals but I still had a mowhere your flashlight is? Most of us at to work with your neighbours—to rement of panic as the fire loomed behind some point in our lives will have had a duce risks, respond effectively and supus,” says Crystal Findlay. “The horses YOUR MAKING THE BEGINNING YOUR MAKING THE brush BEGINNING with a wildfire, flood or storm. port one another. aren’t used to trailers but thanks to our IRESMART JOURNEY FIRESMART JOURNEY MOST OF YOUR TIME MOST OF YOUR TIME Yet despite watching news coverage of “This year when the Kelowna fires amazing neighbours, we loaded all 20 in home evacuations last summer and a were so close, we constantly checked in two hours—that was incredible.” fierce wind knocking out my electricity with our neighbours, ” says Liz Babcock.

Findlaycostly says everyone stayed calm durHome renovations and upgrades Home canrenovations be costly and and time-consuming. upgrades can beFireSmart and time-consuming. FireSmart ach section of this manual will Each help section you tooffocus this manual on changes will help that you to focus on changes that focuses on what is realistic forfocuses you to achieve, on whatin is order realistic to for limit you the torisk achieve, oforder in order limit the risk of “Alerts hapan help protect your from can wildfire. helphours, protect Startyour from your from wildfire. and have Start from and forhome several I home stillhome didn’t anyour home“Embers were flying across Okanagan ing the totoevacuate. wildfire to your home. Integrate wildfire FireSmart to your intohome. your long-term Integrate FireSmart renovations intoand your long-term renovations and work your way outwards. Changes work made your way to the outwards. area closest Changes to your made to the area closest to your emergency preparedness plan.

Lake we are regular surrounded by woods pen toso frequently we from almost yard clean-ups incorporate to reduce regular youryard risk of clean-ups damage from reduce wildfire. your risk of damage wildfire. become ome and your home itself have home theand greatest your impact home itself on reducing have thethe greatest impact on reducing the and incorporate

sk of wildfire damage.

PEOPLE ALL OVER British Columbia

risk of wildfire damage.

IMPACT TO REDUCE RISK IMPACT FROM TOWILDFIRE REDUCE RISK FROM WILDFIRE

HOME

HOME YARD

NON-COMBUSTIBLE ZONENON-COMBUSTIBLE ZONE 1 ZONE – 1.5 METRES 0 – 1.5 METRES 1.5 – 10 METRES

minimum 1.5 metre nonombustible surface should xtend around the entire ome and any attachments, uch as decks.

A minimum This 1.5 should metre a fire-resistant A minimum 1.5benonmetre combustible zone, surface free ofshould all materials non-combustible surface extend around that could the entire easily ignite from should around home andaextend any wildfire. attachments, such as decks. the entire home and any attachments, such as decks.

8 54 • B C MAG

OUTER YARD YARD

OUTER YARD

LARGE YARD OR NEIGHBOURHOOD LARGE YARD OR NEIGHBOURHOOD

ZONE 1 1.5 – 10 METRES

ZONE 2 10 – 30 METRES

This should be a fireresistant zone, free of all materials that could easily ignite from a wildfire.

Thin and prune evergreen Thin Look and prune for opportunities evergreen Thin and prune evergreen trees trees to reduce hazard treesto tocreate reducea hazard fire break by to reduce hazard in this area. in this area. Regularly in this creating area. Regularly space between Regularly clean up accumulations clean up accumulations cleantrees up accumulations and other potentially of fallen branches, dry of fallen flammable branches, vegetation. dry of fallen branches, dry grass and grass and needles from on grassThinning and needles and from pruning on is needles from on the ground to tohere the ground to eliminate the ground effective eliminate as well. These potential surface fuels. potential actions surface will help fuels. reduce the eliminate potential surface fuels.

This should be a fire-resistant zone, free of all materials that could easily ignite from a wildfire.

ZONE ZONE 2 3 10 –30 30–METRES 100 METRES

intensity of a wildfire.

ZONE 3 30 – 100 METRES

Look for opportunities to create a fire break by creating space between trees and other potentially flammable vegetation. Thinning and pruning is effective here as well. These actions will help reduce the intensity of a wildfire.

Look for opportunities to create a fire break by creating space between trees and other potentially flammable vegetation.

Thinning and pruning is effective here as well. These actions will help reduce the intensity of a wildfire.

9

Courtesy of FireSmart9BC

complacent; we trust our government officials and local fire department that everything will be OK, but we were OK mainly because of our community.”

DECIDING WHAT TO grab and leave

behind is stressful, even though the general rule is “don’t bring anything you can replace.” Findlay packed family photo albums, passports, birth certificates and some jewelry. “My daughter grabbed my cowboy hat and boots and I took one full outfit and my five bottles of wine,” Findlay says, laughing. They were packed and ready to go in 15 minutes.

Left behind were videos of the kids growing up, all childhood memorabilia and her great grandmother’s beautiful

lamp—items they already miss.

A few weeks after the fire, around 40 neighbours showed up to help rebuild their horse shelters. They gave time and materials and fundraised for the horses.

“We’ve forgotten about past rifts and issues—our community is tighter now,” says Findlay.

WHILE SMALL COMMUNITIES have a

history of banding together in emergencies and helping each other out, towns and cities with larger populations, like Kelowna, can provide a much bigger logistical challenge. Imagine 26,000 people trying to find a hotel. But Kelowna’s deputy fire chief Sandra Follack says that increasingly neighbourhoods are reach-

ing out to the fire department, wanting to FireSmart their community.

“We have learned from this past summer to be prepared—to take care of yourself for the first 72 hours. And prepare now because you never know when you have to leave,” advises Follack.

“One community had significant property loss but one FireSmart home was completely untouched—it had Hardie Board siding and all the bark mulch and shrubbery near the house was removed,” Follack says. “The majority of homes we lost were up against a hillside and trees fell on their houses.

And if embers land on bark mulch near your home that could level your property. Ember casting [embers are ‘cast’ BCMAG•55

BEFORE

downwind from the fire and create ‘spot fires’] started the fire in Kelowna that came from West Kelowna—the embers flew across the lake.” No wonder Babcock was nervous.

Elaina Konoby is an emergency management project manager and nurse advocate trained in disaster emergency management. She says that Emergency Management BC provides guides and checklists for all kinds of disasters but developing a checklist for your family and neighbourhood is key.

“Carry out neighbourhood drills: if someone has a cardiac issue, who can put them on oxygen immediately? If there are health issues, address them now,” Konoby says. “Can the pharmacist give you extra meds? Where is your water main and electrical panel? How do you turn off the gas? Take responsibility because the gas company doesn’t own your house, nor does the doctor own your body.

Konoby suggests that you can start an emergency preparedness plan by knocking on doors and introducing yourself.

56 • B C M A G

AFTER

Changes within the 10 metre zone of your home will have the biggest impact. Above, the trees touching the house have been removed.

Discuss skills and knowledge you can share. It’s important to do a risk assessment and learn what you need and how you can obtain any missing knowledge by doing, for example, first aid training or CPR. Smoke inhalation is a concern; think about having your community invest in an oxygen concentrator (like those in hospital), or a generator in case the power goes out.

“These recent fires have brought awareness and let’s hope that action follows,” says Konoby. “I want neighbourhoods to gather and have a dialogue about their worst-case scenario. With preparation, we are less fearful when an event happens and we will have less chaos. For instance, Fort McMurry sent fuel tankers on the highway—people were stalled driving south. Always have your gas tank at least half full.”

We all know that emergency rooms are experiencing staffing challenges, and their waiting times are long. In a major

emergency, all response teams—fire, ambulance, police—and emergency rooms will be overloaded. Does your neighbourhood have a nurse, a paramedic or a doctor that can teach basic first aid for the whole neighbourhood?

Or consider taking a certified course.

“It is critical that neighbours know each other and what they can count on,” adds Konoby. Share with neighbours your name, phone, email and home address, including the skills and resources that you can share in an emergency.

THE

FEDERAL

GOVERNMENT’S

FireSmart Neighbourhood Recognition Program (NRP) provides free neighbourhood assessments for groups interested in enhancing their community’s resilience to wildfire threats.

Neighbourhood assessments identify evacuation concerns such as access/ egress points, population demographics and generalized wildfire risks. The NRP provides $1,000 annually to recognized FireSmart Committees which can spend the funds in a number of ways, such as a Courtesy of FireSmart BC

barbecue to promote neighbourhood resiliency, a contractor with a chipper to remove wood debris or build a neighbourhood evacuation plan through community organizing events.

At a recent FireSmart presentation in a North Cowichan home, representatives Sarah Jackman and Todd Carnahan explained to homeowner Derek and five neighbours how to make their home and property survive an ember storm.

(However, the first question this evening concerned fire insurance—whether insurance companies would obtain these assessments and increase home premiums or not insure them at all. Jackman assured everyone that FireSmart is funded by the federal government and they are forbidden to disclose any information about home assessments.)

“Most of us have properties surrounded by forest and in one afternoon three fires started. Several nearby homes could have been lost if the firetrucks

were putting out fires elsewhere,” says Derek. “Trying to be proactive, our local firehall connected me with FireSmart.

Last May we held a barbecue featuring a FireSmart presentation and 80 percent of the community showed up! That event created enough interest to get on board with their NRP.” To make your home and property more fire-resilient, the best plan is to get to know your neighbours and help protect your community together. For instance, elderly neighbours may not be able to remove leaves from their gutters and could use some help.

“We must work together because any home that ignites can cause others to burn,” says Jackman. “Think of your home from an ember ignition perspective: 1.5 metres is the critical zone

Thin and prune trees in the 10 to 30 metre zone around your house. Remove lower branches so grass fires don't ignite the trees.

around your home where drifts of embers could land.” Make that area—including around the deck and outbuildings—a non-combustible zone. As for the roof, vents and walls, choose noncombustible materials—cedar shake is not great.”

Jackman says that maintenance is also important to survive a wildfire ember storm. Embers, which cause 90 percent of home ignitions, can smolder in bark mulch for many hours and ignite the home after firefighters have moved on. Clean gutters regularly, cut grass to less than 10 centimetres, and avoid storing combustible materials beside your home. Check your vents for threemillimetre metal fire screens and ensure that dryer vent dampers are functioning properly. FireSmart landscaping means avoiding the use of plants in the 1.5-metre zone around the home and excluding conifers in the 10-metre zone around the home. Some plants are better choices,

BEFORE

AFTER

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such as native groundcovers (salal, Oregon grape, ferns) and many varieties of cultivated broadleaf evergreens (Laurel, Pieris, Privet and Boxwood).

AFTER THE FIRESMART presenta-

tion in the North Cowichan, Carnahan and Jackman assessed homes and drove around the neighbourhood. Their report noted that in a community of 60 dwellings and 100 residents, flammable conifers surround most homes. Invasive plants like broom and tall grasses in ditches needed be removed. That’s all

very well, but who is responsible to mitigate these risks?

Jackman noted that adjacent lands managed by industrial and institutional owners are outside their scope but there were many activities that the community could pursue immediately. “Limbing up conifers, mowing a disabled residents’ grass and working together on our private properties are ways we can address risks that are under our control,” says Carnahan.

FireSmart makes it clear that homeowners need to take collective responsi-

bility for their neighbourhoods. It can identify and prioritize actions for mitigating local risks on private lands, but the program is not designed to address issues outside the scope of the community assessment. “We have immediate work as a neighbourhood such as clearing debris from properties and enhancing house construction details. We can also contact the municipality and BC Hydro with concerns about risks we have identified, so that their maintenance regime fits with our long-term plans,” adds Derek.

But what do you do if some of your

Fifty percent of home fires caused by wildfires are started by sparks and embers. Regular maintenance and cleaning the corners and crevices of your home and yard (where needles and debris build up) will leave nothing for embers to ignite.

Remember to remove any windblown leaves from under decks, as well as any flammable debris on balconies and patios.

58 • B C M A G

Courtesy of FireSmart BC

neighbours are not on board with your FireSmart program? Derek believes that once they learn about their peers taking proactive steps, they too will step up, and hopefully it won’t be too late. It’s an unwritten rule that firefighters won’t save a home that is completely over-

grown. If firemen are faced with three homes to save, they will look for those with some fire preparedness. They can’t afford to spend time on the overgrown home first. “Don’t expect government handouts and not everything is put on a silver platter,” says Derek.

The firesmartbc.ca website provides tips to FireSmart your home, how to contact your local FireSmart representative and much more.

DIY GO BAG

THERE ARE MANY online sites providing emergency preparedness checklists. However, packing your own DIY kit means you can control the quality of the items included, like choosing a solar-powered phone charger instead of a onetime charger. Liz Babcock advises to check your emergency tote every year.

“It’s so helpful to have a list, and don’t pack too much of one thing. I imagine trying to get out of town by trading granola bars for gas (keep the gas tank at least half-full). Apocalyptic.

Here is the checklist from the BC government on what to include in a small emergency kit in case you need to evacuate on short notice.

•Food (ready to eat) and water •Phone charger and battery bank •Small battery-powered or hand-crank radio •Battery-powered or hand-crank flashlight •Extra batteries •Small first-aid kit and personal medications •Personal toiletries and items, such as an extra pair of glasses or contact lenses

•Copy of your emergency plan •Cash in small bills •Local map with your family meeting place identified •Seasonal clothing and an emergency blanket •Pen and notepad •Whistle

BCMAG•59

A BUNDLE OF BC BOOKS J U ST I N T I M E F O R T H E H O L I DAYS , H E R E IS A SELECTION OF MUST-READ BOOKS BY MARIANNE SCOTT

In 2023, BC publishers have once again produced a wide-ranging bundle of books for us to cherish and share. These books are as diverse as our readers, with topics such as foraged foods, local legends and iconic locations. Read on to learn more.

THE INDEFATIGABLE COLLIN Var-

ner, who has penned several books on the flora and fauna in BC, in Stanley Park, as well as on invasive species, has updated and expanded his Edible and Medicinal Flora of the West Coast British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest (Heritage House, $26.95) by adding new species and data. Interest in the art and science of foraging is ever growing. As in his other volumes, Varner is the main photographer and for every entry, a clear image illustrates a plant we can eat or use medicinally.

The text is divided into six sections (plus some recipes), with each section’s listings presented in alphabetical order. The colour-coded pages are easy to find, with the longest chapter focusing on flowering plants; the oth60 • B C M A G

ers describe berries, ferns, trees, shrubs, fungi and marine plants. Each entry depicts the plant and then provides the etymology, habitat, growth season, traditional uses and edibility.

This book has changed the way I look at plants as I walk neighbourhood streets and woods. I didn’t know that the abundant California poppy makes edible, colourful additions to salads. Although brittle prickly-pear cactuses don’t grow nearby, I learned the spines were once used to pierce earlobes, and that without spines the flesh has been used by people wherever the cactus grows. Those pesky horsetails that can quickly conquer a yard through their deep rhizomes can be eaten when young. Nodding onion, of the lily family, gave its name

Norwell is introspective. Besides describing the joys of foraging seaweed, he muses on love and its relationship to the brain’s serotonins and dopamine.

He wonders about happiness and life’s struggles, asks if we need discomfort to grow, and decides that, “I’m here to poke holes in myself and see what remains.” Meanwhile, his tidepool soup recipe includes limpets, kelp, crab, sculpins, mussels and gooseneck barnacles.

He finally reaches Gustavus, a hamlet flanking Glacier Bay National Park, after paddling 92 days and covering 928 nautical miles using muscle and a bit of wind.

to Lillooet, which is Salish for “place of many onions.” Springback clover’s rhizomes were an important vegetable for Indigenous people and were stored for winter meals. I’ve always been leery about collecting mushrooms (will they poison us?) but with photos in hand and heeding Varner’s warnings about alcohol inky (don’t mix with booze), I might collect prince mushrooms that pop up under cedars after a rainfall. I’ve collected huckle, salmon and thimble berries over the years, but was unaware that our ubiquitous blackberries originated in Armenia and Iran.

This Varner volume is catnip for people who like to forage and find healthy, unprocessed foods. He does, however, warn us not to overharvest and to gather with environmental sensitivity.

“Tides are teachers,” writes David Norwell in his delightful book, A Complex Coast (Harbour, 29.95) in which he describes his solo kayaking trips from Victoria to Gustavus, Alaska. He learns directly about those tides at 2:00 am when forced to drag his tent and contents into the forest after dense fog had MP Studio

obscured the high tideline.

Norwell had chosen a kayak—named Bell Pepper—as his mode of transportation into solitude. His voyages, taking place over two summers, were more than discovering BC’s 5,000 islands and testing his physical mettle in the back eddies—he sought purpose and hoped to gain perspective on his white, male privilege.

In June 2024, at age 23, Norwell set off on his first leg from Victoria to Bella Bella. In his journal, he muses on his joys, insecurities and fears while also describing the practical aspects of kayaking. His sometimes-humourous text is illuminated by 700 impressionistic watercolours of his gear, critters, plants, land/seascapes and charts. It’s not a graphic novel, but it suggests one.

Finding suitable beaches to camp every night is a chore. Upon arrival, despite fatigue, the tasks include pulling the kayak above the high tideline, setting up tent and tarps, finding and cooking food, cleaning up, updating the journal, and then doing the reverse upon departure—sometimes at 3:00 am to catch the tide. He drags his 20-kilogram bookbag into his tent every night—books prevent loneliness.

E.J. Hughes, a shy and reclusive artist, befriended Victoria-based painter/ writer Robert Amos. After Hughes’ death in 2007, the heirs asked Amos to serve as Hughes’ official biographer, giving him access to Hughes’ estate, amassed first by Hughes’ wife, Fern, and later by friend and neighbour Pat Salmon. E.J. Hughes—Life at the Lake (Touchwood Editions, $25) is Amos’ fifth volume detailing Hughes’ life and artistic production. Previous books have featured his paintings of British Columbia, Vancouver Island, Salish Sea boats and the Second World War. His life at Vancouver Island’s Shawnigan Lake concludes the series.

These beautifully produced chronicles provided a significant account of Hughes’ life and work, ensuring he will remain in the pantheon of Canada’s eminent artists.

In this latest book, we learn that postSecond World War, in which Hughes served as official war artist, Hughes and Fern needed a place to live that

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could also provide him with a painting studio. Hughes judged their Victoria house too noisy for him to concentrate.

He found an older house on Shawnigan Lake in 1950, and the couple thoroughly enjoyed its quiet atmosphere and waterfront location. Although recognition of Hughes’ paintings was growing, the couple was always short of funds. What changed their lives was Montreal art dealer Max Stern, who was scouting BC artists to feature in his Dominion Gallery’s 1951 fall exhibition and saw two Hughes paintings loaned to UBC—one of which was Steamer Arriving in Nanaimo. Stern immediately went to visit Shawnigan Lake and bought all of Hughes’ paintings, drawings and prints on hand. He became Hughes’ exclusive dealer and promoted his paintings to museums and collectors, thus ensuring Hughes’ artistic reputation and providing him with adequate income.

Hughes wrote to his sister Zoe that his paintings were “plugging along in my old realistic manner, out of style with the times.” But he prized the natural environment and continued painting in his own style until his death in January 2007 at age 93. One of those “realistic” works, Fishboats, Rivers Inlet, fetched over $2 million at a recent auction.

wants to return rhubarb to its earlier popularity by providing both sweet and savoury recipes. To me, the recipes are novel and outside my culinary experience. Various rhubarb compotes are incorporated into breakfasts and cheesecake. Rhubarb chutney can top baked brie or be spread on a burger.

You can learn to make rhubarb gin and quaff a distinctive G&T. Rhubarb is a book that can diversify your tastes and culinary derring-do.

ment birch leaves into a savory sauce.

Summer foraging leads to sea lettuce breadsticks and bull-kelp ginger pickles, while autumn brings us wild mushroom pâté. Winter foraging is best at the seaside, especially when Kort adds Laphroaig to the clam chowder. She also includes fresh evergreen tips to her sherry smoked blue mussels. The book concludes with seasonal foraging charts that help you plan your search for fresh foods that nature provides.

Touchwood Editions has developed a line of food- and drink-related books (my Craft Distilleries of Vancouver Island included) and added these three new ones in 2023. Rhubarb ($25)

by Danish chef/photographer Søren Staun Petersen, reveals that this vegetable, originating in Central Asia and belonging to the buckwheat family, has more than 70 varieties, and has uses way beyond our usual strawberry-rhubarb pie. In past times, rhubarb prevented scurvy and served as a cough remedy.

It’s the harbinger of spring, at one time highly sought after in Denmark, but its red stems lost favour when other foods that were internationally grown became available year around. Petersen

Many among us urbanites have lost the ability to find wild food or know how to cook any we forage. Chef Robin Kort seeks to remedy that lack in The Coastal Forager’s Cookbook ($40), with the goal of “revealing delicious secrets from the forest to sea.” She’s inspired by the seasons, each providing their best foraging ingredients.

Remembering my allergic reactions to stinging nettles, I avoid them, but the recipes that pair them with zucchini or pasta may lead me to gather them, carefully gloved. Fermenting young, green Scots pine or Douglas fir cones with brown sugar for four weeks creates a syrup that sweetens popovers, or adds zing to a whisky sour. You can also fer-

Heaven on the Half Shell, the Story of the Oyster in the Pacific Northwest ($29.95) by David George Gordon, Samantha Larson and Maryann Barron Wagner, not only provides oyster lovers with many ways of savouring this mollusc, it also offers a history of the bivalve culture ranging from Alaska to California, sometimes called the “Oyster Coast.” The slogan “Shuck, Slurp, Repeat” was coined in our region along the book’s main title, penned by oyster aficionado Mark Twain while residing in San Francisco.

Only one, the Olympia oyster, is native. The large Pacific oyster we usually find on the coast is an import from Japan. As is obvious from many shell

62 • B C M A G

middens, Indigenous people harvested Olympic oysters along waterways.

They also created shallow bay oyster and clam gardens by building rock walls, allowing these bivalves to feed on their favourite phytoplankton at high tide.

When settlers first arrived on the Pacific coast, oysters were abundant and prized, often seen as “symbols of wealth.” But pollution, shoreline development, and perhaps competition from the Pacific oyster (introduced in the 1920s) mostly wiped out the much smaller Olympic oyster.

This book contains much history on the oyster farmers—Indigenous, settler, Japanese and Chinese—who worked to reintroduce oysters by cultivating them. The industry switched from being an extractive one to a planting one, and then, a harvesting one. The farmers adopted various growing methods, including adapting Japanese oyster culture that had evolved to rafts and longline cultivation.

This is an extensive history of oysters and their role on the north Pacific coast. It is accompanied by such recipes as savory Japanese pancakes, oyster and artichoke pot pie, and of course, raw on the half-shell.

There’s something about lounging in hot water that soothes the body and soul. The newest edition of Hot Springs of Western Canada (Harbour $26.95) by father-and-son geologists Glenn Woodsworth and David Woodsworth is a welcome addition for those seeking such solace. The authors have included 23 maps outlining hot springs sites, so you might find some in your region or plan a road trip incorporating many relaxing breaks—although reaching some springs requires considerable effort. The guide includes the locations of warm springs (20–32°C) and hot springs (32°C and above) in northwestern Washington, all of BC and parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and Yukon.

Of about 120 such springs in Canada, most are found in BC—they’re part of the “ring of fire” circling the Pacific Ocean with its shifting tectonic plates, earthquakes and volcanoes.

Hot springs have been used as “balneotherapy” (hot water cure) for millennia. BC’s Indigenous people used hot springs both for healing and in rituals.

Several, like Harrison Hot Springs Resort, have been developed commercially.

The Woodsworths include photos and

provide a description of each spring, precise directions on how to get there, ease of access, facilities, history and future outlook. To access some springs requires extensive hikes or high-clearance vehicles on logging or gravel roads. If you have a boat, or want to charter, you might try the springs on Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii.

This guide is comprehensive and detailed, offering fascinating environmental information on one of nature’s most delightful gifts.

BC A U TH ORS•BC TOP IC S

Visit Our Bookstore For More Great Reading! thebookshack.ca

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BANKING ON SOUP K I TC H E N S B E H I N D T H E S C E N E S AT V IC TO R I A’ S F O O D BANKS AND SOUP KITCHENS BY

BY JANE MUNDY

64 • B C M A G

MP Studio

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By 7:00 am, the lineup outside The Mustard Seed Street Church and Food Bank stretches down Queens Avenue in Victoria.

The doors don’t open until 9:00 am but everyone waits because sometimes it’s slim pickings—the market might run out of high-demand items like meat, cheese or ice cream. A volunteer offers coffee, bottles of water and greetings until customers holding their grocery bags are let inside, 10 at a time.

They first check-in with volunteer Jill, who asks if anything has changed regarding their health and if they need anything extra. Jill then hands them a ticket indicating household size, which is their passport to shop at the market.

“These people are tough but some break down—they are having a moment—and that is hard,” says Jill, whose daughter recently passed away due to mental health issues. “When people sit down to eat, sometimes they open up, and being able to provide a service for them also helps me.”

Charlene checks in for the second time this month. Her three children are listed on the computer and her shopping bags are topped with baby formula.

“Sometimes we turn people away if they come here more than twice a month,” says Jill. “If unhoused, they can shop four times a month because there’s nowhere for them to store or cook food.”

The Mustard Seed Market used to have shopping carts but some clients took hours to shop, reading every ingredient on every package. Now, there’s a streamlined setup: volunteers behind the counter tell shoppers what’s available.

“How about apple pie, whole wheat or white bread? You need carrots? These strawberries are perfectly ripened,” says Jeff. Cereal and a dozen kinds of fruit 66 • B C M A G

pies are flying off the shelves. There are even gluten-free bins to sort through.

Other volunteers fill shopping bags with marshmallows, stove top stuffing, instant rice and ground coffee. Granola bars are popular. “What kind of lentils would you like, red or yellow?” Jeff asks a woman who is new to Canada, with kids in tow. She has never seen marshmallows or stove-top stuffing and has no idea how to cook it, but Jeff talks her into accepting a pumpkin pie. “Cilantro or parsley, iceberg lettuce or bok choy?” he asks the next in line.

IT’S 8:00 AM at the Food Distribution

Centre’s commercial kitchen (operated

by Mustard Seed). Chef Chris Hammer has cooked breakfast for 20 volunteers and is on to tomorrow’s lunch—pork butts and onions are in the oven for about 200 pulled pork sandwiches that will be served in Mustard Seed’s dining room and St. Vincent’s soup kitchen.

He already sent 150 portions of mac ‘n cheese and a vat of ham and lentil soup to Mustard Seed for today’s lunch.

Tony is in the enormous warehouse sorting boxes of nectarines and squashes: bruised fruit is sliced, bagged and frozen by the ‘fruit team foursome’ in the kitchen; two more volunteers are putting together ‘no-cook hampers’ for people who are unhoused or live in a single room without a fridge or stove: Cans of fruit and soup with pop-tops (that don’t require a can opener); protein and granola bars; apple sauce, crackers and bananas. “I’m checking everything for expiry dates and if a product is opened, it goes to the compost pile. We try to

recycle as much as possible and the rest is landfill,” says Tony. It’s a win-win situation as grocery stores can have zero waste.

“One of our goals at Mustard Seed is to provide culturally appropriate choices,” says Treska Watson, director of operations. “For instance, we got a shipment of whole artichokes that our Syrian clients love, but some Canadians maybe aren’t as familiar with. If you don’t know what to do with say, an eggplant, you probably won’t use it and that’s why clients choosing the items they want is crucial. Food that is familiar is so important because it gives people comfort.”

OVER AT OUR PLACE on Pandora

Street, John Lubberts, age 74 and a retired cabinet maker, clears tables and greets guests by name as they sit down for lunch—croissant, tater tots and omelet. He has been volunteering here for 20 years. “Needless to say, I’ve seen a lot of people come through, mostly homeless single men and women, but lately people on fixed incomes are showing up for lunch and dinner,” says Lubberts.

“We don’t turn anyone away.” Years ago, sandwiches were served outside to a few hundred people in a line that stretched down the chaotic 900-block of Pandora Avenue—where much of Victoria’s unhoused population have pitched tents.

“We have an obligation to look after people who may have gone down the wrong path and some are not able to get off the street,” says Lubberts, adding that most everyone is respectful and leave the table for someone else when their meal is finished. Granted, a few nod out and some individuals are not allowed in the building—and they know it—so volunteers deliver take-out meals and the Outreach team will talk to them about coming back inside. The dining room’s back wall is adorned with painted portraits of guests and volunteers—some of whom passed away. Lubberts knows them all, as does kitchen manager

1. Volunteers help guests shopping at the Mustard Seed Market. 2. Kitchen manager and chef Brian Cox checking farm-fresh vegetables. 3. Portraits of guests and volunteers decorate the Our Place Dining Room.

1

2

3 Top Right & Above: Jane Mundy

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Brian Cox, who has been full-time at Our Place since 1989!

Cox checks a delivery of produce from Gatton Farms where owner Jason Austin donates fresh produce from his fiveacre farm in Saanich. On tomorrow’s menu will be “Farm to Food Bank” roast carrots, turnips, leeks and beets, maybe with perogies and sour cream. And the greenest cabbages.

“My cooks arm-wrestle to ride shotgun with me on a gorgeous sunny day to Newman Farm,” says Cox. “They also grow veggies for us, and their pollination project involves several acres of sunflowers and plants for bees, so imagine driving through those fields.” Cox loads his van with 500 to 1,000 pounds of vegetables, or 25 banana boxes of anything that can grow efficiently.

Back in his office, Cox spends a good part of the day looking for sales at major grocery stores. Food wholesalers provide ‘hotsheets’ that may advertise a restaurant closure with 200 pounds of chicken wings in the freezer—maybe half price or free to a good home. And a lot of groceries comes from the Food Distribution Centre, which recovers fresh food from grocery stores and redistributes it to local agencies serving individuals and families in need, such as Our Place. For instance, every evening

they pick-up many loaves of bread from Cobbs Bakery because preservatives aren’t added to their bread.

keep in mind more fibre, but again it has to be recognizable.” Cox slips ground veggies into sloppy joes, grated carrots and dark green veggies to the spaghetti sauce. “I don’t write on the menu ‘banana squash soup,’ because someone will say they’ve never eaten squash before,” says Cox. “I just turn my head and smile and everyone will eat squash in ‘veggie bean soup.’”

Cox is known as the leftover king.

“Now winter is here and soup is on, you can be really creative with leftovers and nothing gets thrown out. We serve more vegetarian meals—lots more than 30 years ago when it was meat and potatoes. I’m not pro-vegetarian but glad to serve less red meat over the years.

Chicken noodle soup will have lentils and squash—sometimes writing the menu is tricky,” he says, laughing. “We have a white board with a seven-day plan that is constantly changing. Say Thrifty’s donates 100 pounds of chicken breast and 100 pounds squash with best before date tomorrow. We have an understanding that the next meal is the most urgent and triage the food—what needs to be served now and how we can fit this in the week’s menu.”

ONE COOK IS thawing pre-made sau-

sage rolls but they try to serve mostly scratch-made food. Even though it means more preparation, 75 percent of the cooks are Red Seal certified and they take pride in serving fresh, local food. First and foremost is budget, but Our Place has buying power. “Sales reps come by with items they have to move, maybe a few hundred pounds of chicken thighs and we don’t have a set menu,” he explains. “Of course, all food has to be recognizable. French snails or a confit of rabbit could incite riots while comfort food like stews, pasta and chili are hits.”

Cox says that years ago, about half their food was donated, the other half they had to purchase: 50/50. Today it’s 10/90, with 10 percent donated. No wonder the rising cost of food is concerning. Cox says he has to be more creative with portion sizes and different styles of delivery, meaning less to-go containers (one case of styrofoam cups is $40), and more ground beef, beans and lentils to satisfy protein requirements.

“Guests have been asking ‘where’s the beef ’ since we opened, so we do our best with variety and comfy food and always

AT 8:00 AM, the Soup Kitchen in the

basement of St. Andrew’s Cathedral is

BC FOOD BANK & FOOD SECURITY TIMELINE 1982: After watching two men searching for food in a restaurant dumpster, the late Murray Black and his wife Edna opened the Soup Kitchen.

1985: The Mustard Seed Food Bank turned away single men because they ran out of food and single males were best able to fend for themselves, reported CBC News.

68 • B C M A G

1986: There were 31 food banks in the province—feeding 8,300.

2016: Food bank use reached an all-time high of 103,400 people, 32 percent of whom were minors. 2016 was the third year in a row that food bank use in BC increased.

2013: The Victoria Foundation began giving grants to the Mustard Seed to explore a food distribution network to address food security in the Capital Region.

2017: The Food Security Distribution Centre, operated by Mustard Seed, opened.

already buzzing. Volunteers serve 100 to 200 bowls of soup for breakfast and a steady stream of guests leave with brownbag meals comprising a sandwich and other items they request, such as cookies made by volunteer Jan. Most guests decline peanut butter and they all only take what they need. “There are days when some regulars don’t say a word, they grunt and point,” says team leader Sheila as she pours coffee and a regular says hello as he places a brown bag in his green garbage bag. “I’ll take one of everything and two socks, the white ones,” says another customer. “Cookies and a banana would be nice too, thanks dear,” he says to Sheila. Everyone takes yogurt, all the socks are gone and everyone says thanks as they leave.

“In the past few months, we’ve been seeing a lot of young people with mental issues and addictions. But the majority of our customers are seniors, 15 percent low income and some days tons of unhoused people,” says Sheila, as a young woman fills her pack with toiletries.

Sheila suggests she pack deodorant in her pocket and not with the ham and cheese sandwich. She says socks and toothpaste would be great, so Sheila runs in the back and brings out more socks. Next in line, a man in a wheelchair scoops a travel book, socks and a cotton shirt.

2019: The Mustard Seed purchased the warehouse with funding from the Province of BC, Vancity Credit Union and Victoria Foundation.

Matt, age 37, is a new Soup Kitchen volunteer and does all the heavy lifting.

“We’ve been lucky in our lives and this is a small way to give back to our community,” says Matt. “It’s a fine line, a paycheck away from needing organizations like this.” Fred has been a regular for about a decade. “I like sitting down for soup and take a brown bag sandwich that will be supper outside,” he says.

“Then I’ll walk a few blocks to Our Place for coffee and lunch weekends. I can’t remember names, but everyone is so helpful and friendly.”

“Everyone is struggling with the price of food so our demographics have changed,” says Treska Watson. “We are seeing an increase in seniors, singleparent families, newcomers to Canada, and especially international students who can’t make ends meet. A huge spike in double-income families is very upsetting. When you have to choose between paying the rent and groceries, they reach out to food banks and soup kitchens.”

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Treska Watson and Brian Cox say that financial donations are the most useful because they can harness wholesale buying power—stretch that money further at grocery stores. “Food rescue is unpre-

2021: Fourteen percent of children in Greater Victoria were living in poverty, according to the 2021 BC Child Poverty Report Card. Food Banks register new client families where the parents have been skipping meals so their children can eat. Vancouver still had the highest poverty rate in the country—11.2 percent.

2020: the South Island FarmHub launched by CRFAIR to purchase local, organic food from farms and processors and redistribute back into the community.

dictable from day-to-day and we don’t know what is coming in because stores are trying to reduce waste so they want us to take what they cannot sell and that changes,” Watson explains. For instance, there could be many days without dairy, so they buy yogurt and milk.

“We might get six pallets of squash and we are grateful to our farmers that donate but now everyone has squash fatigue,” she adds, laughing.

If you don’t have money, any donation is helpful. And if you don’t have the means to donate, maybe you can volunteer. Or simply spread the word.

“People sharing information reduces the fear of using our services,” says Watson. “I talk about my food bank work in a social setting and someone will pour their heart out—they had to use the food bank last year. We don’t want people to be scared or ashamed, we are here for you.”

“Some of our guests aren’t doing well, but these folks are someone’s mother, aunt or son. We are doing our best to help them and recognize they are folks just like us,” says Cox. “We are trying to do one thing that can impact someone’s life. And we try to be as dignified as possible in a nice clean building and try to have fun. How can you make a life decision on an empty stomach?”

2023: The Mustard Seed has 32 grocery partners helping rescue between eight and 12,000 pounds of food daily, an increase from 11 Thrifty Foods stores rescuing about 4,000 pounds of food per day.

2022: The Living Wage jumped 20 percent in Victoria and food prices rose 25.7 percent from the year before. Across Canada, the Hunger Count report showed visits to food banks have risen by 35 percent in the past year two years.

BCMAG•69

BOOK EXCERPT

WINTER

Excerpt from Lines on a Map: Unparalleled Adventures in Modern Exploration

BY FRANK WOLF (Rocky Mountain Books, 2018)

70 • B C M A G

Place or FA n o i s Mis PHOTOS: FRANK WOLF COLLECTION

EXCERPT

A 280-KILOMETRE PACK RAFTING AND HIKING JOURNEY THROUGH ONE OF BRITISH C O LU M BI A’ S M O ST T H R E AT E N E D P L AC E S

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BOOK EXCERPT

W “Why is he here?” I wonder to myself.

I’m thinking about Shawn, who is sitting beside me, driving his Matrix 130 kilometres an hour northward on the Cassiar Highway, hell-bent on getting to the start of our journey. It’s late in the afternoon, middle of August, and only a couple of weeks earlier Shawn said yes to this excursion.

By evening (and after two days of driving from Vancouver), we’ll be at the McEwan trailhead beside the Klappan River, our entrance to the Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness. The mission: a 280-kilometre hiking and pack-rafting loop that will bring us through the protected heart of one of the world’s ecological gems—the Sacred Headwaters.

We are taunted all the way up the Cassiar by the gleaming towers of the 344-kilometre-long Northwest Transmission Line (NTL) — a $716 million white elephant constructed by the provincial government to encourage a rush of resource extraction in the North that threatens to forever alter the landscape.

Industrialization is what we came here to escape, not see more of… but back to Shawn, and the “why.” Why does a guy drop everything to take on a challenging wilderness mission with someone he barely knows. Why do I for that matter… Why does anyone? Is it an escape?

Is it a sense of accomplishment? Or is it simply the experience itself ? Perhaps the answer lies somewhere up on that splendorous plateau…

SHAWN IS CROTCH-DEEP in the

swamp, about halfway through the first 60-kilometre hiking section to Cold Fish Lake from the Klappan River. The map to the area describes the zone we’re passing through simply as “Muskeg-Bog.” Churning his way out 72 • B C M A G

of the black, foot-sucking quagmire, he emerges with a wide smile—more mud than man. Our 70-pound packs, loaded with 12 days of food, pack rafts and camping gear, make moving through the sludge that much tougher—turning a pair of 170-pound guys into 240-pound monsters.

I falsely assumed that record drought conditions throughout the province this summer would have dried everything out—that the footing would be firm and the rivers low. Up here, though, it’s exactly the opposite—it seems to have its own weather system—drought be damned.

Two weeks of steady, torrential rain preceded us, absolutely saturating the grounds and turning trails into creeks.

This is completely unpredictable ter-

rain, where I have to watch every step in the muck so I don’t break one of my overloaded legs in the matrix of roots and rocks that lie hidden beneath.

Though it’s a seemingly miserable experience, I find great joy in this.

I’ve discovered that Shawn, like me, also revels in the punishment. As I said earlier, we don’t know each other that well, our main acquaintance having been made when we were part of a larger group at a backcountry ski cabin a few years earlier. He let me know that if I ever needed a trip mate, he’d be keen—so when my original partner fell through a short time ago, Shawn stepped into the void.

After 20 years of undertaking extended wilderness missions with vari-

“

I’ve discovered that most humans seem to revel in moving under their own power. In fact, people are made to move—and ideally in nature ous partners, I’ve discovered that most humans seem to revel in the difficulty of moving under their own power. Like bears, wolves or elk, people are made to move all day, every day—and ideally, we move in unspoiled nature. It’s hardwired into our million-year DNA. Only in the past century have we bought into the marketed idea that retiring to a rocking chair on a porch is the holy grail we should aspire to.

In the sprawling terrain of the Spatsizi, the routine of “nine to five” and Netflix is replaced by a world where all our senses are wholly alive. In the wild, especially areas unfamiliar to us, every stride or paddle-stroke reveals something we’ve never seen before, thrusting us into the moment.

Conversely, civilization leans toward the predictable. Every surprise is accounted for. I’m as duped as anyone, for as I write this at my home in North Vancouver, my lizard brain feels the urge to check my Instagram account… which is reason enough to go rambling in the Spatsizi, where the closest thing to Instagram is thousand-year-old stone petroglyphs.

The local Tahltan First Nation name for this area is Klabona (Sacred Headwaters), which refers to the source of the four salmon-bearing river systems here: the Klappan and Spatsizi (which run north into the Stikine), and the Nass and Skeena.

Just west of the park boundary, Todagin Mountain looks across the Klappan

Valley to the plateau. The flank of that peak is currently being eviscerated by the Red Chris Mine, which was recently approved and is currently the sole beneficiary of the aforementioned NTL. If not for the foresight of an earlier generation, the vast protected area Shawn and I are travelling through would have also been staked by industrial interests. Even with parks status, though, people interested in the preservation of this unique ecosystem have to be ever vigilant: that protection is now under threat, with the current provincial government’s passing of Bill 4. The bill allows feasibility studies that could lead to the construction of pipelines, power lines and roads through BC’s sacred parks.

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BOOK EXCERPT

ON OUR SECOND evening, a pair of

mountain goats scurry away as we descend a scree slope down to Cullivan Creek. Usually a wade, the creek is high and humming, with grey flood waters that will surely sweep us away if we try to ford it. This is where our pack rafts come into play for the first time. Within minutes, we have the five-pound rafts inflated and four-piece kayak paddles assembled. We ferry across the torrent without incident, but a thought creeps into my mind that this water level could make things interesting in a few days when we reach the big rivers.

Breaking from the clutches of the muskeg a day later, we amble in meadows surrounded by rust-coloured peaks that break in a line from the emerald forest below. The clanking of cowbells alert us to… a pair of horses. The collared duo is wandering freely and we stop to say hello. A little farther on, we 74 • B C M A G

“

I spot a grizzly a few moments before it bolts.

It reminds me we are just part of the food chain here find a dozen more horses in a corral but no sign of their keepers. They are beasts of burden at rest. We’re beasts of burden too, but our rest lies a couple of kilometres ahead, at Cold Fish Lake.

The deep blue lake is nestled in a broad cirque. Alongside its western shore, we come upon a cluster of cabins maintained by BC Parks that are typically accessed by float plane. No one is there except Patricia and Eric—a middle-aged couple who volunteer as park hosts.

Confirming my suspicions about the water level, Eric tells us, “The bush pilot that brings in hikers and supplies was in a few days ago and he says he’s never seen the Stikine River as high as it is right now, ever — and he’s flown this area for 30 years.”

We stay the night in one of the cabins, taking advantage of the luxury of the wood stove to dry out our wet gear. The next morning, Pat sends us off with a care package of chocolate chip cookies and a side of bacon. We inflate the rafts, wave goodbye to her and Eric, and paddle the eight kilometres across Cold Fish Lake, where we pick up the trail again.

The path becomes overgrown, strewn with logs and then washed out when it reaches Mink Creek. We bushwhack for a couple of kilometres through forest, meadows and beaver ponds until the Spatsizi River reveals itself.

The river looks fast but inviting—ap-

parently our days of hiking with only an occasional rain burst here and there have given the waters time to settle down from peak flood. We camp in a thicket of Jack pine along the banks of the river, and the bright smells of the forest, water and mountain air combine into a freshness I wish I could bottle and reapply every day for the rest of my life. In the shadow of Mount Skady, Shawn and I talk in the waning light beside our fire, savouring this moment in the geographical heart of the Spatsizi Wilderness.

For 40 kilometres the next day, we paddle the twists and turns of the Spatsizi Valley through light wave trains before being spit out into the mighty Stikine River. We camp at the confluence.

A rain shower moves through, followed by a rainbow and gorgeous sunset.

Shawn and I play a best-of-three round of bocce with the portable set we have carried with us to this point. The game becomes our post-dinner ritual for the rest of the trip.

NEMETCHEK. THE NAME rolls abra-

sively off the tongue, sounding rough and hard as sandpaper. And Ron Nemetcheck personifies that sound. We’re sitting in the living room of his two-story log house alongside the Stikine River.

His wife, Maria, waved us in for coffee as we drifted by. I’m five cups deep and getting to know all about Ron’s world.

Him and Maria own North River Outfitting, and their clientele is the richest of the world’s rich, who come to hunt big game in the region, with Ron’s guidance. He’s as gregarious and outrageous a man as you’ll ever meet, with one-liners flowing out of him like water from a spring: “Don’t piss on my back and tell me it’s raining” (said to a haughty client who spoke down to him), or “You may have met better men, but not one as sincere” (his favourite pickup line).

Like the Sacred Headwaters region— a bastion of wilderness bordered by transmission lines and mines—Ron is full of contrasts. On one hand, he wants the surrounding area to maintain its pristine quality so it can support trophy animals like the grizzly bears that his clients come to hunt. On the other, when

I mention the ugliness of the NTL, he simply shrugs and says, “People got to work.”

Though Ron is a sort of conservationist, he pokes fun at Wade Davis, the famed ethnobotanist who has been highly critical of the Red Chris Mine.

Noting that Davis’s residence faces the mountain, Ron quips, “Ha! He’s just a rich guy who’s pissed that his view is ruined.”

Ron has his opinions, but what shines through about the man is his generosity—him and Maria would have fed and housed us for as long as we wished.

No matter your politics in the North, people here are friendly and will go the extra mile to help out a stranger.

We part the outpost with our bellies full of moose stew, coffee and our heads full of enough Ron Nemetchek stories to last us the rest of the trip.

OUR RUN THROUGH Jewel Rapids the

next day is invigorating as we manoeuvre around the large holes and collapsing

Get your copy from our online bookstor: thebookshack.ca

waves driven by the higher-than-usual water levels. I lead the way and Shawn follows behind, hooting with joy.

As we exit the rapid, I spot a grizzly on the shore for a few moments before it bolts back into the forest. It reminds me that we are just part of the food chain here, utterly irrelevant except in our own hubris. My anonymous insignificance in this landscape is comforting.

We camp in a sandy site beside an old burn, have an excellent best-of-three bocce session, and then drop away to sleep beside the hissing Stikine under a star-blanketed night sky.

A couple of mornings later, we arrive at our final transition point at the mouth of the Klappan River, where we pack up our rafts and hike out the remaining 20 kilometres to the vehicle via an abandoned rail grade. After nine days in this paradise, our mission is nearing completion as we return full circle to our starting point. Shawn and I are good friends now — bonded through the experience of working together to accomplish our route. We’ve already planned another big one for next summer.

As we walk side by side during our final few hours along the over- grown grade, I mention how much I appreciate him joining me on this venture.

“How could I say no?” he replies “This is what life is all about. Cool journeys in the wilderness are what I live for.”

It’s true. It’s why he’s here. It’s why I’m here. Shawn is searching in life, I’m searching in life—and I think to a great degree most people are. When we’re in the midst of an immersive mission, though, the search is over—we’ve found “it.” In areas like the Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness, the noise of society disappears into a landscape unchanged for millennia. We are at peace here. We are home.

Towns and cities produce few of these life-affirming missions — it’s mostly dinner dates, meetings and smartphone-tapping. Intrusive projects like the NTL and Red Chris Mine bring these comfortably numbing elements of modernity to the wilderness—an intrinsically strong argument for these schemes having no place up here.

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ECHOES

WINTER

X

DOUKHOBORS IN THE KOOTENAYS A short history on this controversial and storied BC community

BY JANE MUNDY

I If you didn’t live in the Kootenays in the not-too-distant past, you may find it hard to believe that Doukhobor leader Peter Verigin was assassinated near Farron, BC—between Castlegar and Christina Lake—by a bomb in his train carriage. Some Doukhobors were convinced that Verigin was murdered at the behest of the Canadian government.

And some of the group he was travelling with, a Doukhobor faction called the Sons of Freedom, used to light their own houses and public buildings on fire, then take off their clothes and watch the flames, naked, as a form of protest.

ESCAPING PERSECUTION IN Russia

for their religious beliefs emphasizing peace and equality, and rejecting materialism, the Doukhobor people immigrated to BC between 1899 and 1914, with 6,000 reported as settling near Grand Forks in 1908. Their self-sufficient communities with orchards, brickyards and a bourgeoning jam factory flourished.

To this day, Doukhobors are known for 76 their religious pacifism, communal liv76 • B C M A G

Funeral procession for Peter Verigin at Brilliant, in 1924.

Left: Sons of Freedom members light one of their houses on fire and strip down in protest. Inset: Doukhobor leader Peter Verigin.

ing, agrarian traditions and vegetarianism. And the majority of Doukhobors, many of whom famously sing in church choirs, want nothing to do with the Sons of Freedom.

Verigin and eight other train passengers were killed in 1924—an unresolved mystery. The last reported arsonist from a member of the Sons of Freedom was an 81-year-old woman named Mary Braun. In 2001, she was handed a sixyear sentence (her 15th arson conviction) for setting fire to Selkirk College in Castlegar, causing $350,000 in damage. Mary protested by disrobing in the courtroom. Terry Severyn, age 70, remembers buying vegetables from “Doukhobor Mary” until she was sent to the slammer.

“For something to do, us kids went to the courthouse—my Ukrainian dad got us in. He was the local policeman and he understood the Doukhobor’s language,” says Severyn. “The Sons of Freedom would also watch the court proceedings and if they didn’t like the outcome, women would pull a cord on their dresses and their clothes would immediately fall off.

Sometimes, the sect walked down Nelson’s main street naked and it was not a turn-on,” he says, laughing. “But it wasn’t fun seeing them hosed down by the fire department and then sent to jail.”

TERRY GREW UP in Nelson in the

1960s. He remembers going to funerals with his dad, fascinated by the “tremendous choirs, the best vocalists in the world” and he remembers eating delicious food. He also remembers when two Sons of Freedom leaders blew up the bus depot. “At night the cops went around town checking doors to make sure they were locked. My dad checked Royal BC Museum and Archives - C-07803w

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ECHOES

the Greyhound bus depot door and it blew up. Miraculously, they weren’t good at building bombs and, amazingly, dad never spoke badly about them.”

Severyn went to school with Sons of Freedom kids and sometimes went to their homes, which had tar-paper exteriors. Since they were anti-government, they often didn’t finish building their houses to avoid paying taxes. They left tar paper on the outside so the government deemed the house incomplete. If a neighbour finished building their home it would be ‘sanctified,’ AKA torched.

“In Gilpin, there was a row of unfinished houses all with tar paper but for one with stucco—obviously that family didn’t know the rules.” Terry doesn’t remember for how long the stucco house stood.

DOROTHY DERGOUSOFF REMEMBERS growing up in Grand Forks with

her Doukhobor grandparents. “I connected to a lot of spirituality with them, but my aunt in Gilpin had strong ties to the Sons of Freedom,” says Dergousoff.

Her aunt participated in the Sons of Freedom trek to Nelson from Thrums to protest Peter P. Verigan’s arrest—he was the son of murdered Verigin. The group was stopped by the provincial police who sprayed them with itching powder, and as a result—you know what happened next—they got naked.

Fifty women and 54 men were arrested and sentenced to six months in prison for indecent exposure. The remaining 537 people (124 families) were taken to a Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood property—a Doukhobor organization—near Salmo where they wintered with little provisions and many nearly starved. Today, Dorothy lives in Castlegar where she is a member of the United Spiritual Communities of Christ (USCC). She sings in the choir and is chairperson of the Doukhobor Discovery Centre board.

“The Doukhobors were instrumental in Castlegar’s economic wellbeing,” she adds. “Today, many of them are teachers, lawyers and accountants, and most of us are gardeners. My upbringing reflects the Doukhobor lifestyle— 78 • B C M A G

Right: The Doukhobor Discovery Centre, Castlegar.

Below: Brilliant Suspension Bridge.

gardening is an absolute must and my entire family is vegetarian.”

AMONG 1,600 DONATED artifacts,

the Doukhobor Discovery Centre in Castlegar has the remains of the clothes Verigin was wearing when he was blown up, along with a statue of Leo Tolstoy (yes, the author of War and Peace). The Russian writer helped the Doukhobors by donating royalties from his book, Resurrection, to help finance their emigration to Canada. “The centre also features a replica of a typical village with 10 historical buildings on 10 acres of land, including the banya (bath house), an authentic blacksmith shop moved here from a nearby village and a house built for Peter Verigan,” says museum director Ryan Dutchak.

“One Doukhobor board member told me that growing up they often weren’t allowed to go to Grandma’s house because you never knew when she might light her materialistic house on fire.”

Ryan wants to emphasize that despite

100 burnings and bombings in the Kootenay area, the Sons of Freedom were the smallest group, but they created a huge negative impact in the 20th century due to sensationalist media coverage of nudity and arson.

“Now the law-abiding Doukhobor community is changing that image.

Choirs are a big part of culture and religion and they sing hymns to promote a more correct understanding.”

DOUKHOBOR TOUR

Start at the Doukhobor Discovery Centre in Castlegar. It features audio/visual galleries and interactive displays to illustrate and demonstrate Doukhobor culture and heritage. It is well worth spending a few hours there.

Download the app called “On this Spot” and type Castlegar. The tour begins at the Brilliant Suspension Bridge, built in 1913, and one of the few Doukhobor sites still standing. It continues across the Kootenay River to where the jam factory once stood. Verigan’s tomb is on

OTHER FACTOIDS

• Today, almost 4,000 Canadians self-identify as Doukhobor, and though they may not maintain all the traditions of their forefathers, their history and passion lives on.

• Doukhobors are also known for their cappella songs born of their faith and suffering, skilled bread-baking and their textiles.

• The Doukhobor religious faith was likely born during a period of turmoil and unrest in 17th Century Russia.

They came to believe that the Russian Orthodox Church was corrupt and that God did not live within the walls of the church but in each person themselves.

• They were first labeled “Ikonabors” for their rejection of icons. The name Doukhobors, meaning spirit wrestlers, comes from Doukho-bortsi, coined by Archbishop Ambrosius (1785) to identify this peasant group as heretics to the Orthodox faithful. The name meant, in the Church’s opinion, that these people were doing war against the Holy Spirit.

• Their love of simplicity is summarized in their motto, Toil and Peaceful Life.

BCMAG•79

ECHOES

A Doukhobor choir in the rotunda of the Legislative Building in 1975.

Hume Hotel, Nelson.

Robson Road—the same road you park on to get to the suspension bridge. Verigan Memorial Park is on Google Maps.

The app doesn’t include the Doukhobor cemetery, which is well worth the hike. From Castlegar there’s a subdivision called Ootischenia, on the Columbia River. Follow signs to the Ootischenia landfill and keep going, past a few deserted Doukhobor farms and a gravel pit. You aren’t allowed to stop because the gravel pit is private property so keep driving past to the Trans-Canada Trail that starts on the other side of the gravel pit. There’s a fairly rough downhill road, about two kilometres to the gate, which is driveable with a heavy SUV that has good clearance as the road 80 • B C M A G

isn’t maintained. Or you can walk. Park at the gate and about a half kilometre along the trail there’s a fork in the road with a sign: Trans-Canada Trail to the left and the old Doukhobor settlement to the right. The BC Trails Recreation Site is called Champion Creek.

Here is a pretty field with picnic tables

and the cemetery is straight ahead. Most of the headstones are in Cyrillic script— the Russian alphabet. Walk down a gentle slope to a little beach and a lovely swimming hole. End the day at the Hume Hotel in Nelson with a bowl of excellent Doukhobor-style homemade borscht (vegetarian, of course).

NEW DENVER RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL Did you know that between 1953 and 1959, about 200 Doukhobor children were taken from their homes and confined to an institution in New Denver, complete with chain-link fence? They were taken because their Sons of Freedom parents, opposed to government

institutions, refused to send them to school or were in prison because of radical protests including arsons, bombings and nude parades. The government has still not formally apologized for the mental, physical and emotional abuse it caused to Doukhobor

families, although BC’s ombudsperson says he’s heartened to hear the BC government plans to apologize. According to MyKootenayNow news in July 2023, Attorney General Niki Sharma said government is “prepared to issue an apology this fall.”

Royal BC Museum and Archives-I-51627

TA L E S O F B C

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fire. At night, we could hear the sound of mouse traps as we tried to capture the pesky critters that were after our food!

Local fishermen anchored offshore willingly shared their catch with the beach residents in return for a few good laughs at their expense. Several intrepid young “sailors” attempted to row out to the fishermen, while furiously bailing water out of the rickety abandoned dinghy they had found on the beach.

We met a number of American draft resisters at Wreck Bay; they were reluctant to fight in some place called Vietnam. Time would prove these kids were on the right side of history. Strangely, there were almost as many Canadians who enlisted in the US army in that war as there were Americans who fled north to Canada. These 30,000 Canadians were treated like US recruits and given social security numbers. Exact figures aren’t known, but it is estimated that between 20-30,000 draft-eligible American men came to Canada as immigrants during the Vietnam era.

One night as we sat around the campfire in our swimsuits, singing, telling stories and enjoying each other’s company, the clouds passed and we saw millions of stars blanketing the sky. Suddenly, we witnessed a lunar eclipse occurring over the ocean. It took our breath away. It was pure magic.

During those tumultuous ’60s, young people looked for imaginary homes if only for the summer in a place that would exist outside of time. I wonder how many people who enjoy Pacific Rim National Park today know its illustrious, slightly outrageous, charmingly naïve history.

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Have a funny or interesting BC story? Tales of BC is a reader-submitted column and we are always looking for another good yarn. Send your 600-word story and supporting images if available to editor@bcmag.ca and it might be featured in the next issue!

BCMAG•81

TA L E S O F B C

WINTER

X

Dudes! Something‘s eating the moon!

SEASHORE MAGIC & THE SUMMER OF LOVE

BY R . M I L A N A DAV I E S

B Before the internet, the connecting power of Facebook and the other online communication tools we now take for granted, word-of-mouth brought young North Americans together to a unique summer community on Canada’s rugged West Coast near Tofino—Florencia Bay, known by us all as Wreck Bay. You could say the Summer of Love officially began in Canada’s Centennial of 1967. We were still experiencing the afterglow of Montreal’s wildly successful 82 • B C M A G

Expo 67. In BC, the Summer of Love brought about its own revolution, with hippie smoke-ins, anti-war protests, love-ins and, of course, rock ‘n’ roll.

We read books like The Teachings of Don Juan, by Carlos Castaneda. We wanted to expand consciousness and break down the concept of linear time.

I can’t tell you exactly how many summer nomads came to Vancouver Island’s west coast to set up camp on the beach.

By 1970, I estimate there were several hundred of us living there, including me. It was as if someone had lifted up the country, shaken it, and everyone who wasn’t rooted rolled merrily down to Lotus Land.

There were also many folks from eastern USA, California, Oregon and Washington. I remember three robust Californian brothers who kept yelling

“Garbanzo!” just because they seemed to like the sound of the word. One crazy guy, who evidently thought he was Tarzan, used a long rope to swing down to the beach from the surrounding cliffs.

We lived in handmade shacks framed with stray logs that washed up on the beach. We creatively covered these “houses” with thick plastic sheeting to keep out the rain. Did it rain that summer? It must have. I don’t remember.

Nothing dampened our days! All I remember were endless days of sunshine and the surf crashing on the beach while surfers carved a path through the waves.

We were young, healthy, happy and free. Life was simple. We lived on peanut butter, brown rice, oatmeal and fish.

One of our daytime activities was digging for clams and foraging for mussels to pop in a frying pan over an open Continued on Page 81

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