Spruce City vs. The Kakwa Gate

British Columbia's Kakwa Recreation Area lies in the Rocky Mountains on the Alberta border and is a five-hour drive east of Prince George. Albertan snowmobilers are the predominant recreational users in the Kakwa.

In September 1996, the Prince George District of B.C. Parks erected a gate at the Bastille Creek Bridge blocking access onto the Wishaw Quarry Road, a newly reconstructed mining road running 20 kilometers and climbing 520 meters to the Wishaw Quarry, an active quartzite quarry at Wishaw Lake within the Kakwa Recreation Area.The actual Kakwa Recreation Area boundary on the Wishaw Quarry Road was approximately 16 km beyond Bastille Creek.This first Kakwa Gate location forced the summer season recreational public wishing to access Kakwa Lake to trek 25 km & climb 535 meters (snowmobilers were not affected).

Fighting for the public right of motorized access on active industrial roads, the Spruce City Wildlife Association began making formal inquiries to the Ministry of Environment, Lands, & Parks in May 1997 as to the legality of the Kakwa Gate and related issues, as well as offering to relocate the gate to the end of the Wishaw Quarry Road.

Regrettably, despite our inquiries and objections, the Kakawa Gate remained at Bastille Creek during the summer and autumn of 1997.In November 1997, the District Manager of the Prince George Forest District, after advertising publicly and reviewing B.C. Park and public submissions, determined that the Wishaw Quarry Road would be gated further back at Buchanan Creek by authority of Section 105(l)(b) of the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act (again - snowmobilers were not affected).

Consequently, for the upcoming 1998 summer season,the recreational public will have a reduced hike to Kakwa Lake of 15 km with a 520 meter climb; unfortunately, the first 10 km of the hike will still be on the active Wishaw Quarry Road.

In January 1998, the District Manager of Prince George District of B.C. Parks agreed to answer some of Spruce City�s questions and to act on our suggestion that an interim management plan be developed for the Kakwa Recreation Area.

On February 25th, 1998, our Kakwa Committee, headed by Garnet Fraser, met with B.C. Park officials & representatives of other outdoor organizations and agreed that for Kakwa's 1998 summer season:

Spruce City will be allowed to leave a canoe at Kakwa Lake
Construct a shelter for it;
Store the canoe there over the winter;
The 22nd Nechako Scouts will be permitted to transport their gear by motorized vehicle to the end of the Wishaw Quarry Road.

B.C. Parks even gave us written answers to some of our Kakwa related questions. Assert your rights!Get involved!Attend the Spruce City Wildlife Association�s general meetings held on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at our local fish hatchery.