Wells Gray World Heritage Year

In October 2013, Thompson Rivers University (TRU) will see the grand opening of the TRU Wilderness Centre on the edge of Wells Gray Park. An exceptional building that will serve as a research centre in the Upper Clearwater Valley that will further outdoor learning and research of the wilds of the Clearwater Valley Wildlife Corridor.

The Wilderness Centre has been a long time vision of Tom Dickinson, Dean of Science at TRU. To celebrate this milestone event, Dr. Dickinson and Trevor Goward at Edgewood Blue are teaming up to host a yearlong series

of guided tours, hikes, field courses, lectures, and children’s events – all on the theme of wilderness research and learning in the Clearwater Valley and Wells Gray Provincial Park. Wells Gray World Heritage Year will run from May through October 2013 – in celebration of the discovery of Helmcken Falls in 1913.

The Clearwater Valley serves as a tremendous backdrop for learning and research and is considered a deep well of potential discoveries for wildlife biologists, botanists, geologists and students who will come from all over the world to learn. The centre and the theme of the Wells Gray World Heritage Year will be focused on learning from our outdoor places and the importance of wilderness in a contemporary society.

Wells Gray World Heritage year is really a celebration of all wild places wherever they’re found. This summer, Dr. Dickinson and Trevor Goward hope to bring British Columbians and all of our international visitors up to speed on the tremendous treasures that lie within the area especially as it relates to ecological and wilderness values.

From Trevor Goward, Naturalist and Spokesperson – “How many Canadians know that Wells Gray Park is Canada’s Valley of Fire and Ice: a place where two millions years of volcanic eruptions and Pleistocene glaciers have bequeathed landforms otherwise seen only in Iceland and a few remote corners of the world? Or who would have guessed that a mid-latitude protected area like Wells Gray preserves, in some biological groups, the highest levels of biodiversity anywhere on Earth?

Wells Gray World Heritage Year is a great opportunity to get the message out. It’s time the North Thompson Valley gets the word out that our backyard is exceptional! The Wells Gray Summer Events Series hopes to engage locals and visitors in a variety of learning opportunities. Did we mention the Treasure Hunt?……..

Follow our event series on the Wells Gray Information Centre Facebook Page

[btn href=”https://wellsgraypark.info/?p=854″ color=”orange” size=”large” target=”_blank”]Excerpts from The Treasure Hunt Press Release[/btn]