By Maria Osipova, an Individual Member of the FMCBC. She’s an avid hiker, outdoor enthusiast, and co-founder of TrailQwest, helping to share the stories behind British Columbia’s trails.

There are places where time moves differently. Where the air tastes of cedar and earth, where moss grows thick as carpet on trunks wider than a man is tall.

Ancient Forest/Chun T’oh Whudujut Provincial Park—one of the world’s last stands of inland temperate rainforest, a jewel along Highway 16 in Northern BC’s Great Wilderness—is such a place.

Twenty years ago, few people knew this forest existed. Today, tens of thousands of visitors walk its trails each year.

They stay in Prince George. They eat in McBride. They fuel up in Dome Creek. They continue on to Mount Robson, part of the network of experiences that make Northern BC’s Great Wilderness Route one of the province’s most remarkable multi-day journeys.

The forest that once stood quietly beside the highway now draws visitors who fuel the regional economy.

How does an unknown place become a destination? How does a stand of ancient trees become a story that travelers carry home?

The answer isn’t what you’d expect. It starts with volunteers carrying lumber on their backs. It starts with someone who simply begins.

2005: A Forest Between Logging and Stewardship

Two trail proposals, one logging permit, and the discovery of something irreplaceable

In 2005, two groups applied to build trails in the same forest within days of each other. Neither group was aware of the other’s application.

• Mike Nash, Nowell Senior, Dave King and members from the Caledonia Ramblers Hiking Club had been exploring, hiking, skiing and snowshoeing through the ancient cedar forest of Driscoll Ridge for years. They wanted to build a proper trail into the high country.
• Save The Cedar League was fighting to save the wet belt cedar forest from chainsaws. They hoped a nature trail might offer protection.

Both requests were consolidated into a single request under Caledonia Ramblers’ proposal. At the time a logging company wanted those same trees to be approved for logging.

Discovery

In the early 2000s, UNBC’s Dr. Darwyn Coxson. and researchers began studying the ancient forest ecosystem. Dave Radies, studying lichen biodiversity, stumbled upon cedars of staggering size – trunks five meters across, trees that had been growing since the Middle Ages.

Biodiversity

Dr. Curtis Björk came to count plants. In his first afternoon near the waterfall, he documented 400 species of ferns, lichens and other plants. Over time, he found over 2,400 species. Some new to science. Some never seen in North America before.

This wasn’t just old forest. This deserved protection.

From rough trail to accessibility vision – making the forest for everyone

Caledonia Rambler volunteers started opening trails in 2006 and building boardwalks in 2009. Not with machines. With volunteers carrying planks on their backs, hand tools, week after week.

People started hiking the partial trail. They brought friends. Word spread quietly at first, then louder: something extraordinary existed here, hidden in plain sight

The market for cedar shingles collapsed around 2005 – insurance companies stopped covering cedar roofs after a major fire. The economic pressure to log these ancient trees eased. Time. They’d bought themselves time.

Accessibility Barriers

A Caledonia Club Member, Nowell Senior brought students who faced physical challenges to the Ancient Forest. They couldn’t navigate the rough trail. Standing there, watching their frustration, an idea took root.

A Vision Forms

What if everyone could walk among these giants? What if accessibility wasn’t an afterthought but the foundation? They knew this forest was transformative and they knew with effort and patience anything was possible.

Planning Begins

In 2008, Dave King and Nowell Senior began planning a boardwalk. Not a simple path. A multi-use trail to protect the shallow roots of ancient cedars while welcoming wheelchairs, strollers, anyone who wanted to stand beneath these trees.

2009–2011: The Boardwalk Years

450 meters, carried board by board, that made a world of difference

Four hundred and fifty meters. Doesn’t sound like much. But every board was carried in by hand. Every support beam positioned to avoid roots.

Volunteers showed up. Day after day. Workdays. Holidays. Early mornings before work. They carried lumber until their shoulders ached, then carried more. Nowell Senior alone made over 700 trips to build the Ancient Forest boardwalk.

Visitors Notice

People noticed. Visitors increased. Shirley Bond was their local MLA. She opposed the park idea at first. But as the cedar mills closed, as the economy shifted, she went to see for herself.

A Change of Heart

She stood among trees. She watched families – walk together through the forest on the new boardwalk. She asked how she could help. They needed lumber. She found the money.

Cultural Connection

Around the same time, the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation held a ceremony in the forest. On their traditional territory. Chun T’oh Whudujut – “the oldest trees” in their Dakelh language. Dave was there. That ceremony created something beyond partnership. It created commitment.

Completion

By 2011, the boardwalk was done. Traffic increased so much they built more plankway just to protect the forest floor from the footsteps of people who’d come to love it.

2015–Today: From Threatened Forest to Destination BC Crown Jewel

How volunteer persistence created permanent protection and regional impact

“It does not happen overnight,” Dave King, Trail Coordinator at Caledonia Ramblers says. He’s talking about the years between that first trail application and what came next. Years of work most people never saw.

In 2016, Ancient Forest/Chun T’oh Whudujut became a Class A Provincial Park. Eleven thousand hectares protected. One of the only inland temperate rainforests on Earth, secured.

But the volunteers didn’t stop. They kept maintaining trails, removing deadfall, ensuring safe passage. The Caledonia Ramblers kept working and building partnerships.

The Model That Works, And Needs Support

What the Ancient Forest proves about volunteer stewardship and economic transformation

Walk the Ancient Forest boardwalk today and you’re walking through more than trees. You’re walking through proof. The Ancient Forest didn’t save itself. Volunteers saved it. People who built a boardwalk board by board because they understood something simple: access creates advocates. Advocates drive protection. Protection leads to opportunities.

Volunteer Effort

Over 200 people contributed over 16,000 hours to build an accessible boardwalk board by board.

Sponsors

Businesses, suppliers, donors, students, visitors and communities contributed over $400,000 in donations, grants, services and in-kind donations.

Partnerships

Recreation Sites & Trails BC, BC Parks, TrailsBC, Lheidli T’enneh, McBride Community Forest & others helped advance protection and stewardship.

Regional Economy

Visitors sustain communities.

Iconic Trails & Parks

Draw visitors from across the globe.

Iconic Trails Waiting to be Discovered

Other trails are waiting for the same volunteer-driven transformation

The Viking Trail that Dave King laid out and built with volunteers in the 1980s helped create another provincial park, Sugarbowl-Grizzly Den Park. Over the last four years, volunteers added 2,000 feet of plankwood over wet meadows. The Grizzly Den cabin, updated and in use. Four hundred feet of new plankway this summer. Another 400 next year.

Volunteer-built trails aren’t charity projects. They’re how rural communities survive and thrive. These trails build community. They create opportunities. They bring visitors. Visitors stay longer, explore deeper. Visitors support communities that once depended on mills and logging trucks.

However, without infrastructure, without access, many such opportunities are lost.

• Dore River Forest Service Road needs a bridge–not industrial grade, just solid enough to allow visitor access. Without it, access to stunning hikes is lost: the Ozalenka trail to West Twin Park, the Avalanche Valley Trail, the Eagle Valley trails, Kristi Glacier Trail.
• Kakwa Park, a jewel in BC’s park system, showcases ice-clad mountains, alpine meadows and a section of the Continental Divide. Access from BC is difficult. The 75km Walker Creek Forest Service Road used to access the park is in poor condition after 40 km. From the end of the road (Bastille Creek), visitors must hike another 25km and cross Buchanan Creek–challenging at best and impossible under high water conditions – to enter the park. This BC park is now easier to access from Alberta than BC.