Upper Seymour River Rainforest Park now nearly 25 years old, yet remains inaccessible

*Author* standing next to the Seymour Giant in 2012, photo by Cathy Hopland

Nearly a quarter of a century has passed since the BC government created the Upper Seymour River Provincial Park to protect a unique, antique rainforest with giant trees and a coastal-like ecosystem. This is home to the legendary “Seymour Giant,” a thousand-year-old plus cedar that is 12 feet in diameter and yet no one has been able to see it in over a decade because the road into the park is impassable due to thick alder now growing in the roadbed.

*The old road into the park is now overgrown. We made it this far *in 2024 f* after two hours of hacking our way in. Photo by Jim Cooperman*

As the alder growth increases, so too does the public demand for opening the road so the most famous tree in the Shuswap can be seen again. Although BC Parks has yet to prepare a management plan for the park, there is a Management Direction Statement dated March 2003 available online. It recognizes the need to develop recreational opportunities; however, it calls for “all pre-existing roads within the park” to be closed off and rehabilitated. [you can download this document here.]

*A section of a Fall, 1995 orthophoto showing the boundaries of the park in green and the newly made road that goes deep into the park with three landings.* *Note the new cutblocks at the entrance to the valley of the park. In order to protect the upper valley, we had to allow 2 of the four planned Evans Forest Compnay cutblocks to be logged.*

The Statement claims that “Existing roads to the park allow reasonable access for viewing of giant cedar trees” even though the only way to see the trees would be to use the road that is now overgrown. I last saw the Seymour Giant in 2012, when we rode bikes down the old logging road along a narrow path between the alders. We also camped along the river near the bridge, so we had time the following day to canoe from where the river emerges from the steep canyon through the oxbows to the bridge. That bridge was removed a few years later and the road into this area is now also overgrown.

*Cathy Hopland and Jim McClelland paddling down the Seymour River in 2012, photo by Jim Cooperman*

Also, the Statement speaks to the potential to develop river access for canoeing, as well as trails to the old growth, however it repeats the caveat that recreational development is low priority within the Thompson Region because the park is so remote, the terrain is difficult and there is too much heavy underbrush.

*Aerial photo of the valley taken in July 1995 shows the logging roads, photo by Myron Kozak*

Efforts to protect the Upper Seymour began in 1994, when I was able to convince the then forest service regional manager to issue a moratorium on logging development and an agreement was reached with the logging company to allow them to log 2 cutblocks and leave two for interim protection. They had already built the roads into the upper valley, along with landings for the logs. Land use planning began two years later that culminated in the year 2000 with the protection of this rare ecosystem and thus the roads remained. The Seymour Giant is close to the first landing.

The first time we saw the Seymour Giant on May 23, 1995, This photo was presented to the then Ministry of Forest regional manager, Fred Baxter, who later issued a moratorium on logging the upper valley, photo by Jim Cooperman

A similar park that also protects and ancient interior rainforest, Ancient Forest/Chun T’oh Whudujut Park, is located midway between McBride and Prince George. Thanks to significant financial support, there are good trails, boardwalks and soon there will be a new interpretive centre. The major difference of course, is that this park is located next to a major highway and is thus easily accessible.

It would be wonderful if BC Parks could work cooperatively with residents who would like to be able to hike into the Upper Seymour and paddle the river. Ideally, the old logging road could be opened again by volunteers and a parking lot built so visitors could have the opportunity to view the giant trees, explore the area and experience this rare interior rainforest. The old clearing near where the old bridge was located could be developed into a small campground and an access trail could be built to the river to allow for canoeing and kayaking.

*The Seymour River oxbows are within the park and are perfect for paddling either in a canoe or in kayaks, photo by Jim Cooperman*

Improving both the Upper Seymour River and Anstey Hunakwa Parks would provide an economic boost for Seymour Arm and the North Shuswap, as adventure tourism is growing in popularity. There would be minimal impacts on the ecosystem, as the number of visitors would be limited and typically, those who are keen to experience the wilderness are very respectful of natural values and tread lightly. Besides, any crushing of underbrush by visitors would never match all the trampling done by the grizzly bears every fall, as I once observed.

POSTSCRIPT

I only know of two people who have hiked deep into the park. In the late 1990s, Yuill and Laird Herbert managed to hike up the valley to where the cedar forest transitioned into semi-alpine. They had to navigate through thick Devil’s club, ferns and climb over giant cedar trees that had fallen until they reached a wall of impenetrable alder. There were also some giant hemlock trees to appreciate. The farthest I had ever gone into the park was to the top landing and then to the river, where we crossed over by walking on a fallen log. There are many waterfalls along the steep hillside to the west, and it is possible there could one or more trees that are larger than the 12 foot diameter, Seymour Giant. This is true wilderness, as it has likely never been explored and thus is a true ecological gem in the Shuswap.

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