NEW KOKANEE GLACIER PROVINCIAL PARK TOPOGRAHIC MAP CELEBRATES PARK’S 90TH ANNIVERSARY
By Contributor
Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park users are getting a much needed update to the topographic maps which have served them for decades.
This summer, Friends of the West Kootenay Parks (FWKP) and Mighty Bighorn Maps are collaborating to create a map which reflects the community’s deep attachment to the park, the park’s history, and its future.
Over the next few months park enthusiasts will delve into historical archives,
head out to the park to survey trails and climbing routes, and collect detailed photographs and measurements of Kokanee Glacier.
Created in 1923, Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park has played an important role for area mountaineers, backcountry skiers, and nature lovers.
To fully represent the public’s intimate knowledge of the Park, FWKP
has chosen a community-based model to research the material for the map’s content.
A map committee has been convened by the FWKP and is actively pursuing research for the maps content.
Member of the public are being encouraged to join the map committee, to contribute to content, and share park photographs.
Trevor Campbell, owner of Kootenay based Mighty Bighorn Maps, is leading the survey of park trails and climbing routes.
Along with trails and climbing routes, Campbell plans to conduct a glacier survey in September that will provide measurement data of Kokanee Glacier.
It is hoped that glacier measurements and photographs can be used in the future to monitor the glacier’s retreat.
The park survey is an arduous task that requires lots of planning and support- volunteers are being sought to accompany surveyors and act as basecamp support.
The Friends of the West Kootenay Parks Society is a registered non-profit society formed in 1988. Among the purposes of the FWKP is to support protection and preservation of West Kootenay Provincial Parks.
Mighty Bighorn Maps was founded in 2011 and has published backcountry ski maps in the West Kootenays.
Photo caption: Trevor Campbell is leading the survey of park trails and climbing routes.
