JULY
Nearly three years after the atmospheric river of November 2021 slammed the Southern Interior, work on a key bridge on Highway 1 in the Fraser Canyon was completed, and the bridge was given an Indigenous name that celebrates neighbouring communities. The new three-lane bridge at Falls Creek (Jackass Mountain) was officially given the name CèX ʷ Cixʷ (pronounced Check-Chow), which the Kanaka Bar band said was the original name that the ancestors called the area long ago. The bridge is 20 kilometres south of Lytton, and replaced a culvert that was washed out during the 2021 flood.
Organizers of the Lytton River Festival — a key celebration in the village and surrounding region for 20 years — were hoping that businesses, community groups, and First Nations in the area and beyond would step up as sponsors. The festival usually depends on government funding to help meet the costs of putting on the event, but in 2024 that funding fell through, leaving organizers looking at other funding sources. They were also hoping that the 2024 festival — scheduled for the Labour Day weekend — could be held in its traditional location of downtown Lytton. The last time it was held there was in 2019; in 2020 it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in June 2021 fire destroyed 90 per cent of the downtown core.
Ashcroft HUB and SD74 reach deal
After more than three years of negotiations between the Ashcroft HUB Society and Gold Trail School District (SD74), the society announced that as of July 31, 2024 they would own the former Ashcroft Elementary School building and property at 711 Hill Street outright. At their January 2021 meeting, the Board of Trustees of SD74 voted to start the disposal process for the site, which had been leased to the HUB Society since summer 2015. That was when a group of community volunteers formed the society, after the elementary school was permanently closed by the school district in June 2015, with the goal of turning the elementary school building into a community centre for a variety of groups and activities catering to all ages. "We’re not being kicked out," said the HUB's executive director, Jessica Clement. "The building is ours and the community’s now, and we can do what we want with it.”
Loon Lake community hall reopens
After being closed for renovations for nearly two years, the Loon Lake Community Hall was open again to serve the community. The hall was built by volunteers in the late 1970s and was beginning to show its age, and the original intention of the renovations was to increase the size of the kitchen so that people working in it could move around more freely and have more space between them during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those renovations triggered the need to bring other things up to code, including a new septic system, improvements to the washrooms (such as wheelchair accessibility), fire suppression and ventilation systems in the kitchen, and new propane tanks.
Historic ranch in Hat Creek Valley up for auction
A unique piece of B.C. history in Upper Hat Creek Valley was set to go up for sale via an online auction. Established in 1900 as "The Meadows", the historic ranch — one of the province's top cattle ranches — formed part of the 74,716-acre "Hat Creek Ranch Collection" west of Ashcroft. The entire collection was comprised of several properties containing 2,387 deeded acres, 61,531 acres in Grazing Licences, 9,518 acres in Grazing Leases, and 1,280 acres in a BC Hydro Agricultural Lease. The collection also had multiple ranch houses, including an exclusive owner’s retreat. The starting bid for the collection — which was set to go under the hammer on Aug. 15 — was $5.9 million.
On July 12, the Shetland Creek wildfire started northwest of Spences Bridge, and on July 15 merged with the nearby Teit Creek wildfire. The BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) stated that both fires were lightning-caused. On July 17, members of the Saranagati Village community in Venables Valley southwest of Ashcroft were attending a FireSmart meeting to discuss the threat posed by the fire when they learned that it had grown massively in size, prompting an immediate tactical evacuation of the community's 80 residents. Within 24 hours some 20 structures in the community, including six permanent residences, were destroyed, with the fire prompting numerous evacuation orders and alerts throughout the area. Highway 1 between Spences Bridge and Ashcroft Manor was closed, with fire threatening to jump the highway in numerous locations, and with the entire Village of Ashcroft on evacuation alert, Interior Health made the decision to evacuate the residents at the Jackson House long-term care facility at Ashcroft Hospital as a precautionary measure. BCWS put an area restriction order in place for the entirety of the fire's area, which by July 30 was mapped at 24,858 hectares. A group of volunteers took it upon themselves to provide snacks, lunches, water, toiletries, and lots of socks for fire crews battling the blaze, assembling every day in Ashcroft to prepare meals and package them up. The fire was most active on the southern flank, near Spences Bridge, and organizers of that community's Desert Daze music festival — scheduled for early September — said they were keeping an eye on the wildfire situation.
Ashcroft connection for women's Olympic beach volleyball team
When members of the Canadian women’s beach volleyball team took to the sand for their opening match of the Paris Summer Olympics on July 27, there was an Ashcroft connection. While none of the players were from the B.C. Interior, they were wearing uniforms designed by Left On Friday, which was founded by Ashcroft-born Shannon Savage and Laura Low Ah Kee, whom Savage met when they worked together at Lululemon. Their designs blended form and function, and in 2022 they began a partnership with the Canadian women’s beach volleyball team. Left On Friday provided the team with specific uniforms for playing in, and Savage said that it was a “mind-blowing” moment.
Ashcroft and District Fall fair to go ahead
The Ashcroft and District Fall Fair, which had been in danger of folding, was saved thanks to a local family that stepped in at the eleventh hour to save it. Ashcroft's Deb Tuohey; her sister Rayla Reid; Tuohey's daughter Kelsey Lysyshyn; Reid's daughter Nicole Rouble; and Reid's daughter-in-law Danielle Nelson decided that, between them, they could save the fair, which was first held in Ashcroft in 1889. With a relatively small budget to work with, the group realized that this year's fair would have to go back to the basics. However, they immediately began getting a wonderful response as the news spread. "It's been very positive," said Tuohey. "We have lists of volunteers, and lots of entertainment lined up."
The Chilcotin River continued to rise upstream of a landslide near Ilnicki Ranch west of Williams Lake that occurred between July 30 and July 31. A large swath of the vegetation, trees, clay, and soils slid into the river, blocking it completely. The slide was located 22 km upstream from the Farwell Canyon Bridge, and resulted in a complete blockage of the river, with material piling 30 metres high and 600 metres long. Within two days of the slide, water had backed up roughly eight kilometres behind the landslide material. The blockage finally gave way on Aug. 5, sending a metres-high surge of water down the Chilcotin, Thompson, and Fraser Rivers and prompting numerous warnings in communities alongside all three rivers.
AUGUST
Permanent repairs underway on Highway 8
Nearly three years after it was badly hit by the atmospheric river of November 2021, permanent repairs to Highway 8 were about to start, with a planned completion date of 2027 for all the work along the corridor. Seven kilometres of the highway were completely washed out during the flooding, which impacted 25 sites along the route. A further five sites were washed out during the summer of 2022. Initial repairs — including construction of two temporary bridges — allowed the highway to reopen to all traffic on Nov. 9, 2022, some 361 days after the atmospheric river.
Residents of Ashcroft's Jackson House long-term care facility returned home on Aug. 10) more than three weeks after being evacuated as a precautionary measure due to the Shetland Creek wildfire. As of Aug. 18, the BCWS had classified the fire as Being Held, meaning that it had received sufficient fire suppression action that it was not likely to spread further. It had grown to an estimated 28,182 hectares, and by August the province said that the 2024 fire season was the fourth-worst on record, with a total of 995,549 hectares burned to that time. In 2023 — B.C.'s worst fire season — a total of 2,857,878 hectares were burned.
Savona youth regional finalist for provincial award
A young athlete from Savona was named as one of the regional recipients of the Premier’s Awards for Indigenous Youth Excellence in Sport. Akira Susanj was one of six recipients in the Interior region, and one of 36 recipients province-wide, of the award for 2023. The awards are a collaboration between I·SPARC (Indigenous Sport, Physical Activity, and Recreation Council) and the province, and the nomination process was launched in late 2023. Applications were open to Indigenous youth athletes aged 25 and younger who are competing in performance sport and demonstrating a commitment to their education and culture, and to promoting healthy and active lifestyles. Susanj, a member of the Métis Nation, was going into Grade 12 at South Kamloops Secondary School.
A generous donation meant that fire departments throughout the Thompson-Nicola Regional District had an extra tool when it comes to responding to wildfires in rural or hard-to-reach areas. Thanks to a partnership between the TNRD and Canadian charity GlobalMedic, nearly 20 departments (including Cache Creek and Ashcroft) each received a fire skid unit that contains a holding tank which can hold up to 1,000 litres of water, a pump that creates a high-pressure water stream, and a forestry fire hose. The total value of each fire skid is approximately $6,000. The units are self-contained and include all the components required, meaning that fire departments can hit the ground running and get them operational immediately. The units are designed to be added to pickup trucks and utility vehicles, turning them into small but agile fire trucks that can be moved into areas that might be inaccessible to full-sized fire trucks.
For almost half her life, 12-year-old Michaela Aie of Ashcroft has been raising funds during the summertime for different good causes, including Ashcroft Fire Rescue, victims of the Lytton fires in 2021 and 2022, and the two Ashcroft families who lost their homes to fire in 2023. In 2024, Michaela’s lemonade stand was set up outside her home on Elm Street for three days, selling cold beverages, freezies, and cupcakes to raise funds for the residents of Saranagati Village in Venables Valley. On Aug. 17, Michaela presented the money she had raised — $1,351.65 — to Venables Valley resident (and Ashcroft pool manager) Nandini Villeneuve.
New signage for Fraser Canyon route
An initiative to encourage tourism along the Fraser Canyon that has been several years in the making took a major step, with the unveiling of gateway signage on Highway 1 near Lytton and Yale. The Fraser Canyon Tourism Master Plan started in 2019, when a group of provincial, local, and Indigenous government representatives and tourism stakeholders met to discuss how to revitalize the Fraser Canyon. The first priority identified in the master plan was a signage project, which would involve the planning, development, and installation of highway signs with community names in local Indigenous languages and English, as well as gateway and interpretive signs. At the unveiling of the signage on Aug. 30, Fraser-Nicola MLA Jackie Tegart — who had been lobbying for revitalization of the Fraser Canyon highway for several years — said that the signs represented "a new chapter in the recovery and revitalization of this beautiful region.”
SEPTEMBER
Transit regionalization raises concerns
If you live in a rural area such as Clearwater or Ashcroft, you or a family member, neighbour, or friends have most likely taken advantage of the local transit service operated by Yellowhead Community Services (YCS). However, the mayors of Ashcroft and Clearwater voiced their concerns about plans to regionalize the service, which is operated by BC Transit. The move would see the bus services in Clearwater, Ashcroft-Cache Creek-Clinton, and Merritt amalgamated with the much larger Kamloops transit system, something both mayors feel would be a huge disadvantage to their municipalities.
Todd Road in Cache Creek reopens
Residents of Cache Creek had some welcome road relief when the Todd Road bridge reopened to traffic, and were looking forward to smooth sailing on Highway 97, with work on the new Ministry of Transportation (MOTI) bridge over Cache Creek nearing completion. Todd Road was hit hard by the May 2023 flooding in the village: the road on both sides of the bridge was washed out, and the bridge’s deck planking was affected. The reopening of the bridge meant residents would be able to access the post office, and properties along Old Cariboo Road, much more easily and directly.
Ten cents isn’t a lot of money, but thanks to organizer Faye Morrison, some dedicated volunteers, and the community of Loon Lake, the dimes that you get when you return bottles and cans have added up over the last few years, and turned into funds that have helped the Loon Lake Volunteer Fire Department. The “Ten Cents at a Time” campaign was started by Morrison after the Loon Lake fire hall was destroyed in the Elephant Hill wildfire of 2017. Since then, close to $30,000 has been raised, one return at a time.
No evidence 2021 Lytton fire deliberately set
B.C. RCMP said a criminal investigation into the devastating 2021 Lytton wildfire found no evidence to suggest the fire was intentionally set. The RCMP released its report on Sept. 11, more than three years after the wildfire that destroyed much of the Village of Lytton, as well as buildings and properties in TNRD Area "I' and Lytton First Nation, and killed two people. Police say the criminal investigation did not determine a cause of the fire. Police said investigators specifically focused on a parking lot and park area at the end of River Drive toward the south end of the village as the origin of the fire, and looked at "all movements and actions of any individuals, vehicle traffic, and a southbound freight train" that were all in the area around 4:30 p.m. when the fire started.
Cache Creek firefighter gets long service award
Cache Creek Volunteer Fire Department captain Bill Elliott has called Cache Creek home for 46 years. After graduating from high school in Ashcroft, he went to work at the Cache Creek Husky in 1978 and has lived in the community ever since. While he no longer has the Husky, and is down to owning Cariboo Clear Water only, he and his wife Christine owned several businesses in the community over the years. He received his 45-year pin for service with the fire department, and said it's the camaraderie and wanting to give back to the community that keeps him dedicated to the department.
OCTOBER
Some 40 residents of Cache Creek attended a public hearing on Oct. 7 about the future of the community’s pool, with the majority of those who spoke or submitted written comments recommending that the pool be closed permanently. At the meeting, CAO Damian Couture read out seven written submissions and gave the results of another 54 online submissions. A total of 40 respondents were in favour of closing the pool, while 17 people were in favour of rehabilitating it and four were neutral. Nearly a dozen people spoke in person at the meeting, with the majority in favour of closing the pool. At its meeting on Oct. 21, Cache Creek council voted to permanently close and decommission the pool, and have some of the pool infrastructure removed.
The Cache Creek Fire Department announced there would not be a fireworks display in the community this Halloween, but fire chief Tom Moe said he hoped the event will return next year. The fire department announced the decision in a Facebook post, and while there was disappointment, many commenters asked how they could help for next year. Moe said that money had a lot to do with the decision, noting that it usually costs around $5,000 to produce a display that lasts 15 to 20 minutes.
The B.C. provincial election was held on Oct. 19, and BC Conservative MLA Lorne Doerkson of Williams Lake was re-elected in the newly-reconfigured riding of Cariboo-Chilcotin, which stretches from Cherry Creek to Anahim Lake, and includes Ashcroft, Cache Creek, and Clinton. Newcomer Tony Luck, also a BC Conservative and a former Merritt city councillor, was elected in Fraser-Nicola, which includes Spences Bridge and Lytton, and stretches from Merritt to Harrison Hot Springs. Ashcroft's Jackie Tegart, who had served as the Fraser-Nicola MLA since first being elected in 2013, was left without a party when BC United (formerly Liberal) leader Kevin Falcon abruptly wound up the party in August. Tegart announced her retirement in September.
The “On the Land” learning facility at Skeetchestn Community School west of Kamloops saw the grand opening of the Skeetchestn Stables on Oct. 17, a major addition to the school which will provide students with an immersive and "hands on" learning environment where it's OK to get dirty. The Skeetchestn Stables is part of a program which connects youth to the land, and fosters in them an appreciation for agriculture, animal husbandry, and sustainability. By getting their hands dirty, students cultivate more than just the land: they cultivate knowledge, responsibility and respect for the environment.
Shetland Creek fire hazard assessment
Two public information sessions held on Oct. 30 laid out the findings of the Level 2 “Post-Wildfire Geohazard Risk Report” conducted by the province in the wake of the Shetland Creek wildfire. Geomorphologist Gareth Wells said that several areas were severely impacted, particularly Twaal Creek, Venables Valley, Oregon Jack/Three Sisters, and parts of Murray Creek. The dominant hazard causing concern was run-off, triggered by rainfall or rapid snowmelt. “Post-fire we might see substantially more water flowing down the hillside and/or where it hasn’t flowed before. We’ve seen some signs of overland flooding hazards already.”
NOVEMBER
Lytton fire truck restoration a labour of love
An almost-forgotten piece of Lytton’s history that survived the 2021 fire is being restored, and the man behind the project is hoping for a little help. Huntley Smith came to Lytton in the mid-1960s. He has always had a passion for restoring old vehicles, and would often restore old logging trucks and take them to shows. For many years, Lytton’s 1941 International Harvester fire truck was parked behind the fire hall on Fraser Street, where it was hidden from view and exposed to the elements. The 2021 fire destroyed the fire hall, and melted a few pieces of the truck, but the main body of it survived. Huntley acquired the truck as his next project, and is now restoring it so it can be returned to the Village of Lytton.
Fast EV charging station for Ashcroft
A new EV fast-charging station opened for customer use in Ashcroft. It is the first-ever for the community and the result of the council's persistence, said chief administrative officer Daniela Dyck. Installing the charging station was at no cost to local taxpayers, but the village planned to pave some of the area to make it easier to plow in the winter.
DECEMBER
The province approved nine new wind-energy projects, including one that will be located between Ashcroft and Logan Lake, and said that in order to expedite them, the projects will not be subject to environmental assessments. The Highland Valley Wind Project is a partnership between Capstone Infrastructure and the Ashcroft Indian Band. The project size (in megawatts) is 197. Capstone is also partnering with the Lower Nicola Indian Band on the Mount Mabel Wind Project, which will have a project size of 143 MW and be located east of Highway 5 between Merritt and Lac Le Jeune.
"Wind phone" coming to Ashcroft
Ashcroft will be joining the growing number of communities — in B.C. and beyond — offering a “wind phone” to help those dealing with grief or loss. The wind phone proposal was made by the Ashcroft and District Hospice Society, which has been researching the project for the last year, and president Deb Tedford said the phone was intended to be a "safe, serene place to sit with your thoughts of your loved one and maybe have a little time with your memories.” At its meeting on Dec. 9, Ashcroft council voted to approve installation of the wind phone at the south end of the cemetery, overlooking the river.
Nicomen River bridge fully reopens to traffic
Another permanent link in the chain that is Highway 1 through the Fraser and Thompson canyons was completed, just over three years after the site was hit hard by the November 2021 atmospheric river. The Nicomen River bridge, 19 kilometres south of Spences Bridge, fully re-opened to two-lane traffic. It will provide safer, more reliable travel, and has been built to better withstand extreme weather. The new bridge replaces one that was badly damaged by heavy rains and flooding in November 2021.
