HISTORY
The Kimberley Nature Park Society (KNPS) was established and registered in 1987 as the Kimberley Wildlife Sanctum Society. For a number of years members of a local environmental group, Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC), had been lobbying for the creation of some kind of nature preserve using land that had been incorporated into the city limits in the 1970s. The new society took up that cause and worked to improve the trail network and signage, learn about the ecology of the area, and lobby local government to create a park on the west side of town.
In 1994 the Wildlife Sanctum Society name was changed to Kimberley Nature Park Society, but it was not until the end of the 1990s, after the creation of the Trickle Creek Golf Course and after land for the Forest Crowne residential development had been set aside, that the boundaries of the park could be established. The City of Kimberley officially endorsed the park in its official community plan and in 2001 applied to the province for a License of Occupation on more than 800 hectares of land to be used as a community nature park.
One of the requirements of the license was the creation of a detailed management plan. That work fell to the KNPS, and over an 18-month period with much community consultation the first Kimberley Nature Park Management Plan was created. Since that time the society has continued to protect, promote and enhance the park. The trail network has been expanded, signage has been improved, detailed trail maps have been created, information kiosks have been installed, the management plan has been updated, and the inventory of flora and fauna has been further developed.
Historical Land Use
The land that comprises the Kimberley Nature Park was shaped by ice and water at the end of the last glaciation period almost 15,000 years ago. The earliest human use of the park area was by the Ktunaxa people, who have lived in this valley since shortly after the ice age ended. We don't know a lot about their use of the area, and we hope to learn more in the years ahead. We know that they picked berries on North Star Mountain and may have hunted in the area. At least one archaeological site – a chert quarry for spear-point material – exists in the park, and more may be discovered.
Early European settlement brought exploration for minerals; many trails in the park are remnants of old mineral exploration roads. Some of the earliest productive mine workings in Kimberley were on North Star Mountain, and a number of sites in the park have exploratory shafts that were dug and abandoned when no high-quality ore was found.
Logging also took place in the early part of the 20th century. Some of the trails we now use for hiking and biking were built by loggers to access stands of trees. Old stumps with notches for their springboards can be seen in parts of the park, and it is interesting to note just how big some of those trees were in comparison to the trees currently on those sites.
Ski jumping became popular in Kimberley at the beginning of the 1930s and a large ski jump was constructed on the hill above Lower Blarchmont. The top of the jump was located on what is currently Ponderosa Trail, and the run-out at the bottom was where the Overwaitea grocery store is now located. Until 1938 the facility was well-used by jumpers from across western Canada, and by some Europeans. About that time the first downhill skiing facility was constructed on Myrtle Mountain, and a ski lodge was built at the base (at what we now call Myrtle Junction) by the Kimberley Ski Club. The log building included a large stone fireplace to warm tired skiers. There was no tow at the Myrtle Mountain ski hill – skiers hiked up and skied down. A generator supplied electricity for lighting, and even then there was some night skiing. The hill was used during the war years in the late 1930s and early ‘40s, but after the war the increasing popularity of the sport required a move to the much-larger North Star Mountain where the current resort is located. The old lodge remained at the site until the 1960s when it was dismantled and moved to Meadowbrook, just outside Kimberley.
Reorganization of the military at the end of the Second World War saw the establishment of the 8 Field Engineer Regiment, which had five squadrons across Canada. One of these, the 17 Field Squadron, was located in Kimberley and it created the Army Road in part to access a rifle range just past Myrtle Junction. Remnants of the range, including a number of berms that were built as shooting platforms and the concrete footings of the target frames, can still be seen although they are now largely overgrown with vegetation.
A detailed discussion of the geology and topography of the park can be found on our Geology page.
