New Sign Unveiled at Ancient Forest
Photos 250News
Prince George, B.C. – About $1 million in government upgrades are almost complete at the Ancient Forest.
To celebrate, dozens of people were on hand for the unveiling of a new sign at the park’s entrance just off of Highway 16 halfway between Prince George and McBride today.
“It’s been a labour of love for the people who have been a part of that,” said Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond. “It is spectacular.”
Prince George-Valemount Liberal MLA Shirley Bond spoke at today’s ceremony
The Lheidli T’enneh First Nation provided part of the name for the park – Ancient Forest/Chun T’oh Whudujut meaning “oldest trees.” The First Nation band is represented on the park sign since it lies within its traditional territory.
“This is a big event for us and for the Lheidli T’enneh and for the recognition of the territory,” said Chief Dominick Frederick. “We thank everyone for being here and for what’s happening here and for giving us the opportunity to name the park in the language so that it’s there and it’ll be there for good and for future generations.”
In addition to the sign, parking lot upgrades are almost complete. The new parking lot will allow space for up to 100 vehicles along with highway turning lanes.
Parking lot improvements are almost complete. Will allow room for up to 100 vehicles
“It sounds cliché really but it’s just overwhelming,” said Nowell Senior, president of the Caledonia Ramblers Hiking Society, the organization behind the development of the park. “I mean we came here 11 years ago and put little tiny trails through the bush not imagining we’d get something like this.”
The park, which is home to some of the largest old-growth cedars in the area, was named a Class A Provincial Park in March.
Lheidli T’enneh Chief Dominick Frederick, Caledonia Ramblers Hiking Society president Nowell Senior, and Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond
Senior says the next step is to have the park designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“We’re in the process right now of getting on to that tentative list of candidates for that designation. So it’s a real special place.”
Comments
Oh, oh, this news story has some native content, with the name of the park and the chief of the local First Nation, in it… and queue the racist comments.
Come on, lets not disappoint.
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Way to be a race baiter jgalt… This is a good news story about a special place developed by the hard work of local pioneers, and then the first thing you think to comment on is to race bait.
What a sad life some people must have.
And I can’t believe you haven’t taken a shot at Bond today.
Racebait alert..
How about FIRST letting people make their comments and then, only THEN make a reply if there is, in your perception, any racist element?
The site moderator may also delete anything racist and remind people that racist comments are not allowed here and in Canadian and B.C. law! Racist comments about a identifiable group of people are against the law and could lead to being prosecuted. This anti-racism B.C. law was enacted during Mike Harcourts’ term in office if my memory serves me right.
.cbc.ca/newsblogs/community/editorsblog/2015/11/uncivil-dialogue-commenting-and-stories-about-indigenous-people.html
I think 250news should follow CBC’s example and preemptively close comments to all stories with Aboriginal content. The maturity, and intelligence, level is just not there for a number of people who post racist comments on this site!
Those people make this news blog site look bad, and will negatively affect it’s reputation, IMO.
No insult – considering the VOR source!
Preemptively closing comments to all stories with Aboriginal content is an excellent idea!
Eagleone – what JGalt is trying to say is any story that has “native” issues no matter what they pertain to – gets negative comments on it. How did you not get that? Moderators have closed comments down regularely and routinely because of that sad fact.
A practical and reality based comment, thank you Medeon, we don’t get enough of those on this site.
Agreed :-)
She is not saying that at all, what she is alluding to is that she thinks those who post on this site are unintelligent and immature. The one making this “blog” look bad is the one doing the race baiting.
Ohhh they snuck this past us and had the Official Opening already. Hope they pave the parking lot before they open it to the public.
Maybe the Queen will come next year and declare it as a Historic Park
I really hope they ban you from Opinion 250. That was a disgusting comment.
Very pleased to see this taking place.
The town of McBride must be so proud to see their number one tourist attraction finally get the upgrades it deserves.
I get what you’re saying, but the McBride area has some pretty spectacular attractions that include inland rain forests (Rausch Valley), unbelievable alpine (Blueberry/Bess Pass), great glaciated terrain (Eagle Valley, Rausch Valley, Small Creek) to name a few (a very few). Not to take away what has been accomplished at The Ancient Forests, the volunteers have done an incredible job. At one time McBride had it’s own tourist liaison in it’s forestry office to deal with the huge amount of interest from European back country enthusiasts. Sadly that office was shut down years ago, but the interest in the region is still high. Again, great job with the Ancient Forest, kudos to the volunteers who donated thousands of hours & dollars,with local biologist’s discovering rare plant species hopefully it will get World Hertage Site protection status.
McBride’s number 1 tourist attraction? How so? That Park is no where even close to McBride. All those trees should be dead and the place full of garbage in a decade, now that they have improved tourist access. Did they use one of those trees to make that sign?
Uh…The Ancient Forest is closer to McBride than it is to PG.
LOL nice catch . :-)
So awesome to see a park in my old Hood. Still own some property in Penny and intend on retiring there one day.
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