Part of the afternoon during Wells Gray Day on Sept. 10 was spent at Thompson Rivers University’s research facility, which is located in the former schoolhouse and teacherage just north of Upper Clearwater Hall.
The historic buildings (in which some of the guests had gone to school as children some 40 years or more ago) provided a concrete link between the past and the present.
First to speak was Dr. Tom Dickinson, a long time naturalist and birder who is currently the Dean of Science at TRU in Kamloops. He expanded on the theme of education and research that had been the emphasis during the morning sessions. Dickinson spoke with great respect for the work members of The Friends of Wells Gray did in support of keeping Wells Gray Park the pristine wilderness it is today. In a historic recap of Cariboo College’s and now TRU’s involvement in research in Wells Gray Park, he spoke of the transfer in 1985 of the old school to the Wells Gray Education and Research Society and in 1992 to Cariboo College. The first students from the College studied there in 1994. To date there have been 9,000 user days for that site.
The Girl Guides of Canada (Tum Tum District) also regularly use the buildings.
A number of years ago Helen Knight and Trevor Goward donated 10 acres of land adjacent to the current research site to Cariboo College.
Recently TRU has been working with the TNRD to rezone that area as school use. As well, an engineering project involving water for the property is underway. Blake St. Edwards, a TRU student in the faculty of Architecture and Engineering Technology recently won a competition to design a new research facility to be built on the site. The heritage of the old buildings and the valley will be honored in the new design and it is expected that the TRU Construction Trades program will be instrumental in building the new facility using state of the art technology and local materials.
Dickinson commented that there is a small area of Crown land between the TRU property and Wells Gray Park and that will ensure an open wildlife corridor. The presentation concluded with folks examining the model of the new facility and speculating on the future as well as touring the old buildings and telling stories about the past.
– Sandra Holmes