Construction of Ancient Forest interpretive centre to begin this summer

By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG

Long standing plans for the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation’s interpretive centre at the Ancient Forest/Chun T’oh Whudujut Provincial Park are coming to fruition. The First Nation released a request for proposals on March 7th inviting small businesses and local contractors interested in helping build the centre.

The over 4,000 square foot space will be powered with solar energy generators and include accommodations for staff, as well as accommodations that can be rented to tourists. The First Nation also plans to have a local gift shop at the building, according to project coordinator Sultanur Ashikin.

“The idea is we will hire or we will encourage our local small businesses [and] community members to participate in a program where we will be running this Indigenous gift shop,” Ashikin said.

The interpretive centre will also cater to the community’s needs with an area in the middle of the building where elders can sit by a fire to give talks to younger generations, he added.

Alongside building the interpretive centre, the First Nation will also replace the boardwalk in the park with a wider boardwalk including guardrails, stair handrails, and timber framing.

According to Ashikin, construction on the building and new boardwalk will start by mid-May, with the project deadline coming at the end of 2027. He expects most of the construction work to be finished this summer, with any remaining work to be completed in the summer of 2026.

Construction will not prevent visitors from going to the park, Ashikin added.

“For the construction of the boardwalk, we have identified five different segments of the boardwalk. Once the construction in one segment is going on, we’ll make sure the rest of the segment is still accessible,” he said. “We will try to minimize the impact of construction as much as possible.”

The project received funding from Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada back in 2020, but COVID-19-related difficulties and the deaths of the project coordinator and project manager caused significant delays in getting the project off the ground, said Ashikin. 

When Ashikin was hired in early 2024, he hired a contractor to help him complete market analysis and found that funds for the project would fall short – while the funds were sufficient in 2020, inflation increased the price of materials over the following four years. He tweaked the project design with the help of a contact in the provincial government, eliminating a proposed trail and campground, bringing the project back to a reasonable budget.

Now that the project is back on track, Ashikin says he looks forward to having the project completed.

“It’s a culturally very important place for the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation community. We have always wanted to have some activities or programs running up at the Ancient Forest,” Ashikin said. “This was our vision in the beginning when this was identified as a provincial park back in 2016.”

Community Involvement

The Ancient Forest Enhancement Project has focused on meeting community needs since its inception, Ashikin said. The First Nation formed a working group with Lheidli T’enneh First Nation members, representatives from the Prince George-based Caledonia Ramblers – who helped build the original boardwalk in the park – and representatives from the Village of McBride, he said.

“Working group members are always guiding us. Whatever decision we make, we reach out to them, discuss with them, and we make the decision,” Ashikin said.

In the vein of community involvement, project leads are doing their best to hire as many local contractors as possible, according to Ashikin.

“Usually what happens is a general contractor takes the project and he hires subcontractors,” Ashikin said. “We scoped the whole project into many different scopes… So a local business or contractor who doesn’t really have the capacity to bid for the whole project, but has the capacity for, let’s say, painting – even he can participate in the request for proposals process.”

McBride Chamber of Commerce member Russ Purvis told The Goat he is pleased to see the emphasis on supporting local businesses through the project. As the Chamber’s liaison with Lheidli T’enneh First Nation, Purvis has seen the project take shape firsthand.

“There’s folks, particularly in the cedar end of the business, that were involved in offering some consultation when [Lheidli T’enneh First Nation] put a bid together for the project. So that’s real firm support from McBride on the project,” Purvis said.

While the project managers may not hire from McBride exclusively – for instance certain parts of the project may involve work outside the expertise of local contractors – Purvis is cautiously optimistic that the community will see business from the project.

“It’s going to be a big change for the Ancient Forest Park and everybody around that’s involved with it,” Purvis said. “From the standpoint of having a Lheidli T’enneh presence in the park – they’ve got the interpretive centre, they’re going to be having events there – that stuff is a big change, which I think is really positive. I think we’re all going to look forward to it.”