A look into the past may help determine the future of Kinbasket Lake in the BC Rockies. Words :: Hannah Griffin.
After canoeing 1,300 kilometres of the Columbia River in the summer of 2023, writer Hannah Griffin found she couldn’t stop thinking about Kinbasket Reservoir. Created by the Mica Dam in 1973, this enormous turquoise lake between Golden and Valemount is 22 kilometres wide in some places, with multiple 3,000-metre peaks towering above. How has this gorgeous body of water just off the Trans-Canada Highway not been outfitted with more recreation sites and campgrounds? Can we—and should we—rehab an ecosystem that has been adversely affected by humans?
Writer Robin Cody canoed the Columbia River from source to sea in 1990. In his memoir, Voyage of a Summer Sun, Cody explained that, prior to paddling the Kinbasket Reservoir, concepts related to environmental damage were concerning to him but abstract. They existed as broad, vague ideas that were hard to wrap his head around. As he paddled the Kinbasket and observed the effects of the Mica Dam flooding, these abstract environmental concepts felt real for the first time. “On Kinbasket Lake,” he wrote, “the big stuff reached out and grabbed me by the throat.”
I canoed the Kinbasket 33 summers after Cody. I read his words as I sat on a steep shoreline near Windy Arm, where I had barely managed to eke out a tent spot amongst the enormous, ghost-like stumps with tangled roots. Despite the decades between our trips, Cody’s words described how I felt experiencing the Kinbasket for the first time.
Even with efforts to clean up the Kinbasket, this 216-km-long reservoir remains a visible example of the irreversible effects of flooding and extreme water-level changes on an ecosystem. It’s also gorgeous, with some of the most dramatic scenery in the province: Breathtaking peaks flank its shores and water glimmers turquoise under the sun.
The Kinbasket sees little use compared to other Columbia reservoirs. Away from its southern and northern ends, access is difficult and recreational use sparse. I want to know what the future looks like for this massive reservoir. What factors have limited recreation and tourism in the past, and is there potential for more people to experience the reservoir in the future?
For millennia, the Columbia snaked through the Inland Temperate Rainforest and the Rocky Mountain Trench. The resource-rich area is part of the traditional and ancestral territories of multiple Indigenous nations, including the Sinixt, Ktunaxa, Secwépemc and Syilx. When Canada signed the Columbia River Treaty with the United States in 1961, it committed to building three dams for flood control and hydroelectricity, including the Mica Dam. Located at the Big Bend section of the river, Mica was completed in 1973. The resulting flooding formed the Kinbasket Reservoir, stretching from close to Donald to Valemount, BC. Before flooding, just a small percentage was logged and a vast forest left behind, consigned to an underwater fate.
With the construction of dams on the Columbia, the province promised basin residents that the reservoirs would bring recreational opportunities and benefits like waterfront, beaches and tourism. On the Kinbasket, issues with access, debris, erosion and water levels means the projected benefits were never fully realized.
The Kinbasket’s water level fluctuates between 754 metres and 707 metres—a dramatic 47-metre range, though each year varies. To provide storage for power generation, natural seasonal water levels have been reversed: In the spring and early summer the Kinbasket is at its lowest, exposing mud flats and stumps, and it reaches its highest levels in the late summer and fall. These factors present challenges for recreation and tourism, the obvious being there often isn’t enough water for typical water-related activities during peak summer months.
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That’s not to say there is no recreation or tourism on the Kinbasket; many locals have been recreating on and around it for decades. BC Hydro built boat ramps and Recreation Sites and Trails BC has six sites on the Kinbasket; Chatter Creek and other backcountry lodges like those owned by Golden Alpine Holidays operate in the mountains above the reservoir. There are also trails, but they tend to be closer to Valemount and Donald—areas like Bush Arm, Sprague Bay and Potlatch Creek can be busy on summer weekends and holidays. And, while generally quiet in the winter, people do ice fish, hunt and snowmobile on the Kinbasket.
Much of the future of recreation and increased use of the Kinbasket depends on three factors: access, water levels and debris.
“The thing about the Kinbasket is you have to be a bit of a soldier to get up there,” says Barry Klassen, a former conservation officer who lives in Golden and has fished the Kinbasket for decades. Forest Service Roads (FSRs) along the Kinbasket open up some access, but they are only maintained during periods of active logging—FSRs like the B Road up to Bush Arm can be rough on vehicles. While the B Road sees lots of use, the average BC road tripper is likely not keen to take their vehicle on a 4×4 adventure without a radio.
Away from Donald, Mica and Valemount, an enormous swath of the Kinbasket is inaccessible. It’s hard to build new trail networks or make a case for any kind of recreational infrastructure when you can only access the terrain in question by boat.
What would it take to have a paved road from the Trans-Canada to the Kinbasket? The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure would need to take over jurisdiction of an existing logging road, at which point it could become part of the public highway system linking the Trans-Canada to the Kinbasket. It would be a lengthy process with intensive consultation and studies—and a hefty price tag.
Detritus has been a decades-long issue. Klassen describes the surface of the water in the ‘80s as “a mat of debris.” At Surprise Rapids, a narrows by Bear Island, the debris could be so thick a boat couldn’t pass through. The Columbia River Water Use Plan, approved in 2007, covers a large number of projects on the Columbia, including debris removal. Since 2007, BC Hydro has spent $10.5 million on debris removal across Arrow Lakes and Kinbasket Reservoirs, and cites this effort as an important part of improving recreational opportunities. But new debris enters the reservoir via tributaries each spring, as well as during natural events like landslides and avalanches.
The debris situation has gotten significantly better, although it can be jarring at certain times of year to see log-strewn shores and choked tributary mouths, and logs and stumps remain boating hazards. Valemount Mayor Owen Torgerson recalls speaking with a local boater who told him, “You better have five grand in your jeans if you hit a log.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake, another reservoir on the Columbia in the state of Washington, lies 160 km south of the border. Created by the Grand Coulee Dam, it’s an excellent example of the recreation hub a reservoir can become when it has much smaller fluctuations in water levels and excellent road access. It’s also located closer to larger cities and towns, is a designated National Recreational Area and boasts 35 campgrounds. A US National Park Service report showed that more than 1.2 million visitors spent more than $56 million USD in 2018 in communities near the Lake Roosevelt Recreation Area.
Another way to examine the growth of recreation on the Kinbasket is not by asking could it happen, but should it happen. While some locals are enthusiastic about having more people experience the area, those who focus on ecosystems, conservation and wildlife approach the idea with understandable wariness. More people and roads in an area that already experienced substantial habitat loss could be viewed as questionable.
Rachel Darvill is a longtime biologist in the Columbia Valley who is passionate about biodiversity conservation. She emphasizes the importance of recognizing what was lost when the river valley was flooded. “We can’t really restore the Kinbasket to what it was, so we need to protect some of the significant ecological values that are still present,” she says.
While some locals are enthusiastic about having more people experience the area, those who focus on ecosystems, conservation and wildlife approach the idea with understandable wariness.
Darvill also mentions the ancient trees around the Kinbasket. Stand With Us, a group advocating for the protection of old-growth forests, has identified a giant cedar 60 kms past the Kinbasket Lake Resort. Nominated by the group for the BC Big Tree Registry and officially verified in 2022, the Western red cedar now registered as #1177 stands 46.2 m tall with a diameter of 3.4 m. Stand With Us believes it might be the mother tree—the critical central hub that communicates with the younger trees surrounding it. It’s in a provincially designated old growth deferral area, which means for the time being it can’t be logged. But the deferrals are temporary. The red cedar sits close to the FSR, and just across the road the forest is clear-cut.
Darvill says her colleagues have discussed the balance of people getting to see these old growth trees in person, including the potential of an old growth patch set aside with a trail people could access for viewing. “Maybe it would help people understand the tremendous biodiversity we have around the Kinbasket Reservoir,” she says.
Another strike against increased recreational infrastructure and tourism comes in the form of a purported tsunami risk. A 1980 study undertaken for BC Hydro stated there was a risk of a massive landslide that could create a tsunami if the reservoir levels were high enough. This revelation has brought about limitations on development in what is considered the tsunami risk zone on the reservoir.
In fact what is now the Kinbasket was once almost entirely protected. Created in 1941, Hamber Provincial Park was one of the country’s biggest protected wilderness areas. At more than 1 million hectares in size, Hamber was a Class A Provincial Park, spanning pristine Selkirk and Rockies wilderness. In the early 1960s, the BC government shrunk Hamber by 98% to satisfy the demands of the forestry industry and planned hydroelectric development. Today, Hamber is just 25,000 hectares, tucked against the west boundary of Jasper National Park.
Businesses on the Kinbasket’s shores are few and far between, but the people drawn to operating them are enamoured with the area—and passionate about sharing it with others.
Sharif Islam bought the Kinbasket Lake Resort in 2023, and thinks the landscape rivals places like Lake Louise in beauty. Located at the junction of the Beaver River and the Columbia, the resort is uniquely positioned just 5 km down an FSR from the Trans-Canada. Many of Islam’s visitors are international tourists, but he also sees BC residents experiencing the Kinbasket’s beauty for the first time. In May and June, the resort has few visitors, as the low water levels mean much of the riverbed is exposed. “People come when the water comes,” Islam explains.
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Rupert Michell was hooked by the Kinbasket before he ever saw it in person, having pored over satellite imagery of the area from his home in Australia. “I couldn’t believe what I was looking at,” he says. He began searching for land and bought a 612-acre property on the water, where he’s been building cabins for the past six years. He isn’t set on their intended use yet, but has dreams about recreational accommodation, perhaps a cross-country skiing retreat or a catch-and-release fishing operation.
The shoreline erosion is a reality to contend with, and he knows over decades some of his waterfront will crumble into the reservoir. Despite the challenges, Michell is connected and committed to the Kinbasket. “It is the most neglected and the most beautiful piece of BC,” he says.
Locals discussing their vision for the future of the Kinbasket invariably mention the Columbia River Treaty renegotiation and the hope that an updated agreement could see less water level fluctuation. In springtime, the low water can render boat launches useless. Erosion can make it difficult for paddlers or boaters to find a spot to camp. Ice fishing can be tough to promote, because ice forms and then drops along with the water level, creating large slabs of ice at the same angle as the embankment. One longtime ice fisher from Golden described the ice crashing down along the shoreline, creating voids where someone could fall into the water.
“Kinbasket is the most neglected and the most beautiful piece of BC.”
When the water is low and the riverbed exposed, dust storms can whip up. George Lampreau, Chief of the Simpcw First Nation, feels strongly about the potential for the Robson Valley to attract an increasing amount of visitors, but cites this threat as a major concern. “It’s a beautiful area. People are looking for areas to go and visit, and if we could get some of these issues like the water levels and dust resolved, it could really help,” he says.
When asked if water levels hindered Recreation Sites and Trails BC from implementing more recreation sites on the Kinbasket, the Ministry of the Environment characterised the mud flats as a different kind of recreation. “Exposed mudflats and shoreline erosion are normal events that occur with the fluctuating reservoir water levels, which provides a unique user experience (e.g. beachcoming, birdwatching) that is otherwise not available,” a Ministry official wrote by email.
The Columbia River Treaty has no end date, but either country can unilaterally terminate it after September 2024, with a minimum of 10 years’ notice. Canada and the US began talks to modernize the treaty in 2018 and have held 19 rounds of negotiations to date. The Canadian government is pushing for greater flexibility regarding water flows and protection of the river basin’s ecosystem—referred to as the third leg of the stool, along with power generation and flood control. Also key to the process is the inclusion of Indigenous representatives, who are an important part of the negotiation team—and whose concerns were entirely excluded when the initial treaty was signed. The negotiation proceedings, the outcomes of which will dictate the coming decades for the Kinbasket, are not public.
Regardless of the negotiation results, the reservoir will continue captivating those who spend time there, particularly with its ability to look both like a picturesque mountain lake and a sparse moonscape.
It’s a contrast Golden Mayor Ron Oszust knows well. Oszust owned a lot at Esplanade Bay for a number of years, and has seen the Kinbasket when it is an expanse of mud flats, as well as when it is at full pond and absolutely stellar. He’s walked out at low water and dug deep into the silt, finding moss, leaves and twigs from the old forest floor, insulated from decay for decades. “It’s a big, vast, amazing landscape, and more and more people are looking for those kinds of rural, rustic experiences,” he says. “My hope would be that more people get to experience that.”
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