Stein Valley Nlaka'pamux Heritage Park

Stein Valley Nlaka'pamux Heritage Park
IUCN category Ib (wilderness area)
View from Gott Peak
Location in British Columbia
Location	Thompson-Nicola, British Columbia
Nearest city	Lytton
Coordinates	50°15′10″N 121°57′03″W
Area	107,191 ha (413.87 sq mi)
Designation	Class A Provincial Park
Established	July 12, 1995
Governing body	BC Parks & Lytton First Nation

The Stein Valley Nlaka’pamux Heritage Park is located near Lytton, British Columbia. The park was established in 1995. The park is co-managed, operated, and planned through a partnership between the Lytton First Nation and the government of British Columbia. The park provides recreational opportunities and cultural heritage activities.

The primary purpose of the park however is to protect the Stein River and its watershed ecosystem. The Stein River and the surrounding watershed contain a variety of flora and fauna and have great cultural significance for the Lytton First Nations people. Stein Valley has been a sacred and significant place for the Nlaka’pamux community for thousands of years, both spiritually and for sustenance. It has also historically been used as a travel route through the mountains near Mt. Currie and the Stʼatʼimc and Lytton communities. It has also been a spiritual and cultural site of practice, particularly used for cultural rock paintings and writings. The park features a number of pictographs.

The park is also used for educational and research purposes, along with recreational purposes. With the undistributed biodiversity in the Heritage Park, it has become a location for ecological, anthropological, and archaeological research. The facilitation and authorization of such activities is also overlooked by the management board, which consists of three representatives from the Lytton First Nation and three representatives from the British Columbia provincial government.

Etymology

The name “Stein” originates from the Nlaka’pamux word "Stagyn,” meaning "hidden." It was given to the valley because it is not easily visible from the estuary.

History

The first issues between indigenous and non-indigenous people over public and government use of Stein Valley began as early as 1858, in the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. The conflicts that led to the park's incorporation, though, happened in the 20th century, between British Columbia, and cooperating Nlakaʼpamux people and environmental activists. The provincial government initially intended to log the valley in the 1920s, but was not able to do so because of the high cost. However, in the 1960s and 1970s, with the newfound frequency of logging in southern British Columbia, the provincial government reintroduced the idea and completed a study to understand how they could proceed with the logging of the Stein Valley. Indigenous communities and environmental activists protested it, some environmentalists arguing that the valley was the last untouched watershed in the southern Coast Mountains. Eventually, with the help of a local Fisha nd Wildlife officer, conservationists Chris Adam and Roy Mason negotiated a 2-year postponement. This postponement was initially intended to be used to explore management options. However, after years of debate, amid strong public support, and after an annual music festival raising awareness, the provincial government decided to protect it as a park on July 12, 1995, and the Stein Valley remains unlogged today.

When the park was established cooperative management agreement was signed with the Lytton First Nations to jointly manage the park. The cooperative management agreement established that it did not undermine the aboriginal rights and title to the park, and allows members of the Lytton First Nations to continue to extract resources from the park for traditional, ceremonial or social activities. Today, the cooperation is done through management board, consisting of three representatives from the Lytton First Nations and three from the BC Government. The government provides governmental funds to maintain the park, and the management board itself sometimes applies for grants.

Geography

View of Blowdown Lake, from the slopes of Gott Peak.

The park protects the complete Stein River watershed as it flows down from the eastern Pacific Ranges into the Fraser River, including several lakes and tributary creeks. Cirques and tarns are scattered along the upper range of the river watershed. Two canyon sections of the Stein River can be found on the east end and the west end of the valley. The main valleys, not counting the lower canyon, are composed of glacial landforms, U-shaped valleys, and hanging valleys which indicate the existence of vast glacier formation and erosion in the past ecosystem of the Stein Valley. The south-facing slopes in the lower valley are relatively drier and warmer compared to the north-facing slopes, because they are located in the rain shadow of the Coast Mountains.

The park's elevation ranges from 220 metres above sea level at the eastern end up to 2,954 metres at the summit of Skihist Mountain. There are other peaks that are over 2,438 metres and other significant features around the park mentioned by British Columbia Parks such as:

• Main (eastern) trail head 220 metres
• Cottonwood Creek mouth 675 metres
• Stein Lake 1,025 metres
• Elton Lake 1,825 metres
• Tundra Lake 1,875 metres
• Lizzie Lake 1,325 metres
• Blowdown Pass 2,175 metres

Ecology

Stein Valley holds a substantial variety of flora and fauna throughout the park. The park is home to over 50 species of mammals, including mountain goats, cougars, wolverines, black bears, and grizzly bears. Bird species include golden eagles, sharp-shinned hawks, barred owls, pygmy owls, white-tailed ptarmigan, pileated woodpeckers and Rufous hummingbirds, as well as several species of chickadees, warblers and nuthatches. In the valley, the Stein River holds resident Dolly Varden char, rainbow trout and Rocky Mountain whitefish, migratory steelhead trout and Coho, Pink and Chinook salmon who return to their home waters to spawn.

The Stein Valley has extraordinarily diverse vegetation communities within the park. This comes from the valley's transition from the dry interior to the coastal mountains and various elevation levels in the park. In the lower valley, ponderosa pine forests dominate. In the mid-valley, Douglas fir forests dominate. On the western side of the valley, there are more hemlock, spruce and fir. In contrast, cedar communities exist not only on the valley's eastern side but also in patches throughout other parts of the valley. black cottonwood communities mixed with birch and aspen are prevalent within the Stein Valley River floodplain. Higher elevations within the park include stands of subalpine fir, whitebark pine, Engelmann spruce, and alpine tundra. During the blooming seasons of spring and summer, you can find a wide variety of blooming flowers throughout the valley, especially at higher elevations.

Recreation

Stein Valley offers hiking, fishing, hunting, camping, and wildlife and cultural artifact viewing. The Stein provides 250 km of trails and quality wildlife viewing of the various flora and fauna that inhabit the park. There are three cable crossings (as of 2017) and a suspension bridge across the Stein River. The Lower Stein Valley, from the Lytton trailhead to the Suspension Bridge Camp, has become popular for school outdoor education groups.

The Stein River can provide Pacific salmon fishing opportunities, including pink, coho, and chinook salmon, from early summer to late fall. The river also provides fishing opportunities for Dolly Varden char, rainbow trout, and Rocky Mountain whitefish. Any angler fishing in Stein Valley must have an appropriate freshwater fishing license from the BC Freshwater Society. Hunting within the Stein Valley is only permitted during the game hunting season. The Stein Valley is located within regions 3–16, and further information about bag limits and harvestable game can be found in the Hunting and Trapping Regulations Synopsis.

The Stein Valley offers 11 developed campgrounds for park visitors in the lower and mid-valleys. Most campgrounds have pit or backcountry toilets, and metal food caches are provided to campers. The park also allows camping opportunities on undeveloped sites. The park has limited capacity, and it is essential for visiting campers, especially groups of over four, to contact the Thompson Southern Rivers staff of the BC Parks office in Kamloops during the planning phase for the park.

See also

• Mehatl Creek Provincial Park

External links

• "Stein Valley Nlaka'pamux Heritage Park". BC Geographical Names.
• Stein Valley Nlaka'pamux Heritage Park, BC Parks
• UN database entry