From fire-scarred ponderosa pine-bunchgrass to towering larch, subalpine spruce to cedar hemlock rainforest, the Columbia Basin supports diverse, rare and endangered old growth forests, including the globally unique Inland Temperate Rainforest. Many of these old growth forests are in our backyard.
Come join Wildsight as we take a journey into an old growth forest in your backyard. We’ll talk about the history, perspective, and current state of old growth in BC. The hikes will be led by Eddie Petryshen, Wildsight’s Conservation Specialist or Jenna Schulhof, Wildsight’s Columbia Valley Conservation Coordinator.
Join us to explore the magical and under-appreciated old growth in our backyard.
Register for your community event:
- Golden June 10 – a 2 kilometre hike with some elevation gain to an older fir forest.
- Creston June 10 – this event will take place in the Ka-Papa Cedars trail towards Kootenay Pass. The old growth forest loop is approximately 3 kilometres of on-trail walking through an ancient cedar-hemlock stand.
- Invermere June 11 – This event has been POSTPONED until later this summer or early fall.
- Nelson June 11 – A 2-3 kilometre walk through an old and ancient cedar-hemlock forest. There may be portions of off trail and steep walking. It’s recommended that you wear pants as devils club is a spiny and prickly plant that makes up the understory in these forests.
- Kimberley-Cranbrook June 17 – the event will be a more strenuous hike roughly 3-4 kilometres with some elevation gain through open forest and an old growth Douglas fir/ponderosa pine stand.
- Fernie June 18 – This event will be in an old growth patch up the Gorby trail.
- Revelstoke June 25 – this walk will take place near Downie Creek north of Revelstoke. It will involve a 1-2 kilometre walk through a valley bottom ancient cedar-hemlock forest. It’s recommended that you wear pants as devils club is a spiny prickly plant that makes up the understory in these forests.
*Please note, Nelson and Wycliffe (Kimberley-Cranbrook) locations will require high-clearance vehicles. We anticipate that we will car pool particularly in areas where high clearance vehicles are required so it’s likely that seats will be available if you don’t have a high clearance vehicle.
Kids are welcome but be advised that some hikes are longer and more strenuous than others. In addition some of the forests will require approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour drive times. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with further questions to eddie@wildsight.ca
We recommend not bringing dogs to the events.
All events will start with a meet up location at 10 am local time and then we will drive to the old growth locations and trails from there. Once you sign up we will follow up with further details and a detailed itinerary closer to the date.
Want to learn more about old growth? Watch our webinar featuring Wildsight conservation specialist Eddie Petryshen: