Enjoying the Valley that We Have

Drawings from Grade 3/4 Class, Begbie View Elementary, 2016.

When school classes come to Revelstoke Museum and Archives to learn about historic land use, the curator asks them, “How many of you have been to the flats?”

Usually, every hand shoots up.

The children talk about what they like to do on the flats: going for long walks, walking their dogs, riding their bikes, horseback riding, fishing, jumping in puddles, swimming, looking for tadpoles, looking for old bottles or other relics, bird watching, and skating on frozen ponds.

Revelstoke Flats, ca. 2020. Photographer: Bjorn Patterson. Photo courtesy of Tourism Revelstoke.

Biking on the Revelstoke Greenbelt, ca. 2020. Photographer: Bruno Long. Photo courtesy of Tourism Revelstoke.

There are many recreational opportunities in the valley.

People enjoy walking and biking on the greenbelt trails and dykes on both sides of the Columbia River near Revelstoke.

Boating and fishing in the Arrow Lakes reservoir is a popular activity, with anglers going after rainbow trout, bull trout, and Kokanee – a species of landlocked salmon.

The government created provincial parks at Syringa Creek, just north of the Hugh Keenleyside Dam at Castlegar, as well as at Blanket Creek, near the former settlement of Twelve Mile, south of Revelstoke. Though the landscape was irrevocably changed, and not necessarily for the better, people have found ways to enjoy the valley edges that remain.

Kate Borucz Interview – Living with the Land (captions available in both French and English). Enjoy this video with an English transcript.