EDITORIAL · WALKER FSR 3112 01 · KAKWA PARK

Ravi Parmar’s Forests ministry closed the only B.C. road to Kakwa Park over five unsafe bridges. Snowmobilers, horse packers, hikers and hunters are cut off, and it has published no plan to reopen it.

Walker FSR is the only road from British Columbia to Kakwa Provincial Park. It runs 74.5 kilometres from Highway 16 east of Prince George to Bastille Creek, and from there it is about 29 kilometres on foot, on horseback or by snowmobile to Kakwa Lake and its public cabin. On 22 July 2026 the Prince George Natural Resource District, an office of the Ministry of Forests that Ravi Parmar heads, closed the road near kilometre 52, because its inspectors had rated five bridges beyond that point as able to carry no load at all, and it barricaded the road a week later. The bridges are closed to all traffic. Nothing published says any has been taken out, or whether they will be repaired, replaced or removed, and the ministry has given no date to reopen the road. Kakwa Lake is now about 50 kilometres past the barricade, and BC Parks, which answers to Environment and Parks Minister Tamara Davidson, has not told visitors.The district repaired two of these bridges and reopened the road in 2023.

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Walker FSR is the road British Columbia drives to reach Kakwa Provincial Park. Since 29 July 2026 it has been barricaded near kilometre 52, because the Prince George Natural Resource District downrated five bridges beyond that point to 0 tonnes. The district has not said whether those bridges will be repaired, replaced or taken out of the road for good.01

The road belongs to the Province. Its tenure record names the holder as the Prince George forest district itself, so there is no licensee to wait for and no company to blame. Whatever happens to the five bridges will be decided by the Ministry of Forests, and so far the ministry has published one notice and no plan.0201

In 2009 the Province called Walker FSR the primary access to Kakwa Park. In 2026 it has closed the road short of the park and has not said whether the closure is temporary.

Who’s cut off

Each bridge on a forest road carries a load rating set by the ministry’s inspectors. The five bridges between kilometres 56 and 70 are now rated at 0 tonnes, which means they are not safe for any vehicle, so the district has closed the road near kilometre 52 and barricaded it. The bridges are still listed in the Province’s bridge inventory, and nothing published says any has been taken out. Nothing the ministry has published says whether they will be repaired, replaced or removed, or when the road might reopen.010308

What is past the barricadeBC Parks, Kakwa Park
The last 22 kilometres of road to Bastille Creek, and beyond it the route to Kakwa Lake, with its first-come public cabin, the horse camp at the south end of the lake and the park’s unmarked hiking routes. BC Parks allows horses, hunting in open season, fishing outside the winter closure and snowmobiling from 1 December into April.04
SnowmobilersWinter
BC Parks puts Kakwa Lake about 100 kilometres from the sled staging site, and the route follows this road. The Kakwa Park Snowmobile Club’s volunteers cleared the park’s Wishaw Trail in 2024–25. The district’s notice makes no exception for winter travel.042001
Horse packers and huntersSummer and fall
A licensed guide outfitter holds a BC Parks permit, issued in 2019 for nine years, for guided hunting and horseback riding in Kakwa. A Robson Valley guiding company also holds permits to take visitors into the park.2425
HikersGreat Divide Trail
The 1,095-kilometre Great Divide Trail ends in Kakwa Park. Its association now tells hikers that the road is barricaded near kilometre 52.2609
McBride and the Robson ValleyThe nearest town
BC Parks gives the park’s location as about 70 kilometres north of McBride, and names McBride as the way in from British Columbia.04
What is leftThe long way round
From the barricade, Kakwa Lake is about 50 kilometres on foot, on horseback or by sled. The other way in is from Alberta, along the 112-kilometre Kakwa River Forestry Road from Grande Prairie and then by trail from Kakwa Wildland Park, or by air charter under a park permit.0104

BC Parks publishes no visitor count for Kakwa, and the cabin cannot be booked, so there are no reservation figures to report. We found no public statement on the closure from any of these groups, and the facts above come from BC Parks, permit records and the groups’ own pages.18

Who answers for this

The road, the bridges and the decision on what happens to them sit with one ministry. These are the people and offices that answer for it, and how to reach them.

Ravi ParmarMinister of Forests
He is the minister responsible for the Ministry of Forests. His ministry holds Walker FSR, and its Prince George district closed the road after rating five of its bridges unsafe for any vehicle. He has told the House that a closure is made by the engineer, as the statutory decision-maker. Whether the five bridges are repaired, replaced or removed is a funding decision for his ministry, and he answers for it. He is a candidate in Langford-Highlands and remains minister until a new cabinet is sworn in.02121614 FOR.Minister@gov.bc.ca · Minister’s page
Prince George Natural Resource DistrictMinistry of Forests district office
The district posted the closure on 22 July 2026 and barricaded the road on 29 July. The Province’s district contact page does not name the district manager, and its staff directory is no longer open to the public, so we name the office instead.0123 2000 South Ospika Blvd, Prince George · 250 614-7400 · Forests.PrinceGeorgeDistrictOffice@gov.bc.ca
Tamara DavidsonMinister of Environment and Parks
Her ministry runs BC Parks and Kakwa Provincial Park. BC Parks has not told visitors that the park’s road from British Columbia is barricaded. She is a candidate in North Coast-Haida Gwaii.160414 ENV.Minister@gov.bc.ca · Minister’s page
Rosalyn BirdPrince George-Valemount
The whole road lies in Prince George-Valemount. She was its MLA until the Legislature was dissolved on 22 September 2026, so the riding has no sitting MLA until the vote on 24 October. She is the Conservative candidate.1422 rosalyn.bird@conservativebc.ca · Legislature page

Send them the prepared letter →

Section 01Walker FSR is the British Columbia road to Kakwa Park, and since 29 July it has been barricaded well short of the park.

Kakwa Park sits on the Alberta boundary north of McBride, and BC Parks puts it about seventy kilometres from the town. There is no public road into it. On the British Columbia side, the way in is Walker FSR, forest service road file 3112, which leaves Highway 16 between Dome Creek and Crescent Spur, crosses the Fraser River on a 164-metre bridge at kilometre 5, and runs north for 74.5 kilometres to Bastille Creek. From the Bastille Creek bridge it is about 29 kilometres more to Kakwa Lake, on foot, by bike, by horse or by snowmobile.020419

Here is that road drawn from the Province’s own records: the tenure line, every bridge in the provincial structure inventory with its current rating, the park boundary and the barricade. Read it for one thing, which is how much of the road lies beyond the barricade.0203

Walker FSR, the barricade, and the five bridges rated at zero

Map of Walker FSR drawn from the Province's own road tenure and bridge records. The road leaves Highway 16 near Dome Creek and runs north and then east for 74.5 kilometres to Bastille Creek, at the southern edge of Kakwa Park. The road is barricaded near kilometre 52. Beyond the barricade, five bridges rated at zero tonnes are marked in accent, along with bridges rated at ten and thirty tonnes. Kakwa Lake lies inside the park to the north-east. WALKER FSR 3112 01 · KAKWA PARK Kakwa Park Kakwa Lake Barricade Bastille Creek Highway 16 east of Dome Creek N 10 km Closed beyond km 52 Rated 0 tonnes 10 or 30 tonnes Higher rating

The road line is section 01 of file 3112, 74.49 km long in the Province’s tenure layer. Bridge positions and ratings are the Province’s own inventory coordinates. The barricade is drawn at kilometre 52, where the district notice places the closure, measured from Highway 16 along the mapped line of the road.020301

The park service’s own page still describes the trip as if the road were open. It lists three advisories, and not one of them concerns the closure.04

Exhibit 01BC Parks, Kakwa Park · the advisories list and the access section, as served 10 October 2026BC Parks
Two parts of the BC Parks page for Kakwa Park. The first is the advisories list, headed Advisories (3), with three collapsed entries: Road and trail Information; Kakwa Park offers a Backcountry Host volunteer opportunity; and Porcupines chew brake and fuel lines, wrap your parked vehicle with chicken wire. The second is the Access section. It warns that the Walker Creek Forest Service Road is uneven, rutted, slippery and very rough and is not recommended for anything other than a high-clearance four-by-four. It says that Walker Creek access road condition up to Bastille Creek, km 75, varies, and that from the Bastille Creek bridge to Kakwa Lake is approximately 29 kilometres. A table follows, whose first row reads: From BC, Walker Creek Forest Road to Bastille Creek, all motorized vehicles permitted, high clearance four-by-four vehicles are best suited.
Three advisories, and none of them is about the closure. The road advisory, opened, reads “Walker Creek Forest Service Road (FSR) is in good condition up to 50km”, and the park service’s own record shows it was last updated on 29 May 2026, eight weeks before the district closed the road. The access table below the advisories still lists “Walker Creek Forest Road to Bastille Creek” as open, with “All motorized vehicles permitted.”04

The Province has said plainly what this road is for. When it put money into Walker FSR seventeen years ago, two ministers described the road in the same release.05

Exhibit 02Ministry of Forests and Range, news release 2009FOR0058-000590, 9 April 2009 · the release down to the second minister’s quotationGov release
A Ministry of Forests and Range news release dated April 9, 2009, numbered 2009FOR0058-000590 and headed $700,000 to make Walker Creek Forest Service Road safer. It says residents of Prince George and surrounding communities will benefit from more than $700,000 to improve travel and safety conditions on the Walker Creek Forest Service road. Minister Pat Bell is quoted: the Walker Creek Forest Service Road provides primary access to Kakwa Provincial Park, a spectacular and heavily-used recreational site. The funding will allow replacement of the deck material on the Fraser River Bridge. Minister Kevin Krueger is quoted: the Walker Creek Forest Service road is used as a critical link between Prince George and Kakwa Provincial Park.
More than $700,000 in 2009, including a new deck for the Fraser River bridge. The Forests minister of the day: “The Walker Creek Forest Service Road provides primary access to Kakwa Provincial Park, a spectacular and heavily-used recreational site.” His cabinet colleague: “a critical link between Prince George and Kakwa Provincial Park.”05

The only other road approach is from Alberta. A forestry road runs south-west from Grande Prairie to Kakwa Falls in Alberta’s Kakwa Wildland Park, and BC Parks’ own management plan puts the nearest vehicle access on that side about five kilometres from the park.0406

Section 02One notice from the Prince George district took five bridges on Walker FSR to zero tonnes.

The closure was announced where the Ministry of Forests announces every closure, on the district’s road safety page. The entry is dated 22 July 2026, and it is the whole of what the ministry has published about it.01

Exhibit 03Prince George Natural Resource District road safety information · the Walker FSR entry under road closures and restrictions · page as served 10 October 2026; its own footer reads “Last updated on October 8, 2026”District page
The Walker FSR entry on the Prince George Natural Resource District road safety page. Heading: Walker FSR 3112.01, July 22, 2026. Text: Walker Forest Service Road is closed near 52 km due to unsafe bridges. Access will be barricaded on Wednesday July 29, 2026. Then eleven lines: bridge at 51.2 km downrated to 10 tonnes; 54.5 km to 10 tonnes; 56.1 km to 0 tonnes; 59.7 km to 30 tonnes; 61.5 km to 0 tonnes; 63.0 km to 10 tonnes; 65.4 km to 0 tonnes; 67.5 km to 0 tonnes; 69.2 km to 0 tonnes; 71.4 km to 10 tonnes; and 74.6 km to 30 tonnes.
“Walker Forest Service Road is closed near 52 km due to unsafe bridges. Access will be barricaded on Wednesday July 29, 2026.” Below it are eleven bridges, and five of them, at 56.1, 61.5, 65.4, 67.5 and 69.2 km, are “downrated to 0 tonnes.” Every other bridge past kilometre 51 is limited to 10 or 30 tonnes. The entry says nothing about what happens next.01

The Province keeps a second record of the same structures. Its bridge and major culvert inventory lists every crossing on file 3112 with a current load rating, and exactly five of them carry a rating of zero. All five are short steel spans, from 9.1 to 12.2 metres, over unnamed creeks between kilometre 56 and kilometre 69.03

Exhibit 04WHSE_FOREST_TENURE.RRI_BRIDGES_MAJOR_CULVERTS_SP · crossing G1-725 · feature record as served by the Province’s own map service, retrieved 10 October 2026Gov record
Attribute table served by the British Columbia government map service for the bridges and major culverts layer. Org Unit Name Prince George Natural Resource District. Crossing Site ID G1-725. Crossing Name Unnamed creek. Crossing Site Status Active. Road Name WALKER FSR. Forest File ID 3112. Road Section ID 01. Current Load Rating in tonnes 0. Structure Type Class Description Durable Bridge. Superstructure Type Description Steel I-beam. Deck Type Description Concrete Removable. Deck Width 4.27 metres. Right and left abutments Concrete Lock Blocks. User Kilometre 68.39. Total Bridge Length 12.2 metres. Last Inspection Date 6 slash 5 slash 23. Next Planned Inspection Date 6 slash 5 slash 26. Latitude 53.831528. Longitude minus 120.447472.
The furthest of the five. Current Load Rating (tonnes): 0. A durable steel I-beam bridge, 12.2 metres long, with a concrete removable deck on concrete lock-block abutments. The inventory’s kilometre, 68.39, runs slightly behind the district’s signed chainage, so the same bridge appears on the notice at 69.2 km. Its last recorded inspection is 5 June 2023, and its next planned inspection was due on 5 June 2026, seven weeks before the closure.03

The two records count the same five bridges, though not in the same kilometres. The inventory’s chainage runs up to about 0.9 kilometres behind the district’s, and matched in order the ratings agree on every structure from kilometre 51 to Bastille Creek. Neither record says when each rating changed, and three of the five inventory records still show a last inspection in June 2023. The inspection reports behind the July downrating have not been published anywhere the public can read them.0301

The barricade’s location is not settled in the public record either. The district’s notice says the road is closed near kilometre 52. The ministry update relayed by a Prince George hiking site in July said 56, and the Great Divide Trail Association, whose route ends at Kakwa Lake, reports a barricade near 52.010809

Section 03The district has brought bridges on this road back from zero tonnes before, as recently as 2023.

The road safety page is rewritten in place, so its history survives only in archived copies. Ten of them, from October 2022 to March 2026, show that a zero rating has not always been the end of a bridge here.07

In September 2023 three bridges on the road, at 54.5, 56.1 and 61.5 kilometres, were already rated at zero, and the district scheduled six weeks of work.07

Exhibit 05Prince George Natural Resource District road safety information · the two Walker FSR entries in the Internet Archive copy of 28 September 2023Archived page
Two entries from the archived Prince George district road safety page of 28 September 2023. The first is headed Walker FSR 3112.01, September 7, 2023, and reads: bridge repair and terrain stability works from September 18th to October 31st; current road closure beyond 37 km remains in effect. The second is the Walker FSR bridge list: 11.7 km downrated to 30 tonnes; 21.6 km to 30 tonnes; 34.8 km to 5 tonnes; 54.5 km to 0 tonnes; 56.1 km to 0 tonnes; 61.5 km to 0 tonnes; 65.4 km to 30 tonnes; 67.5 km to 30 tonnes; and 74.6 km to 30 tonnes.
September 2023: “Bridge repair and terrain stability works from September 18th to October 31st.” Below it, three bridges “downrated to 0 tonnes” at 54.5, 56.1 and 61.5 km, two of which are on the July 2026 list again.07

By the end of January 2024 all three were rated at ten tonnes, and the district had opened the road beyond kilometre 37 for the winter of 2023–24.07

Exhibit 06The same page, Internet Archive copy of 12 March 2024; the page’s own footer reads “Last updated on January 31, 2024”Archived page
Two entries from the archived Prince George district road safety page of 12 March 2024. The first is headed Walker 3112.1, December 12, 2023, and reads: road section 37.5 km to 70 km is open during winter months; closes March 15, 2024. The second is the Walker FSR bridge list: 11.7 km downrated to 30 tonnes; 21.6 km to 30 tonnes; 34.8 km to 10 tonnes; 54.5 km to 10 tonnes; 56.1 km to 10 tonnes; 61.5 km to 10 tonnes; 65.4 km to 30 tonnes; 67.5 km to 30 tonnes; and 74.6 km to 30 tonnes.
After the work: 54.5, 56.1 and 61.5 km now “downrated to 10 tonnes”, up from zero, and “Road section 37.5km to 70km is open during winter months.” The bridge list then stayed exactly like this in every archived copy through March 2026.07

Against those readings the sequence is plain. Two of them have been at zero before and were brought back, two were still rated at thirty tonnes in March 2026, and one first appears on the page this year.070103

The five bridges rated at zero, as the district page has listed them
On the noticeIn the inventorySep 2023Jan 2024Mar 2026Oct 2026
56.1 kmG1-720 · non-durable I-beam, 9.2 m0 t10 t10 t0 t
61.5 kmG1-728 · steel I-beam, 9.1 m0 t10 t10 t0 t
65.4 kmG1-723 · steel I-beam, 12.2 m30 t30 t30 t0 t
67.5 kmG1-724 · steel box beam, 12.2 m30 t30 t30 t0 t
69.2 kmG1-725 · steel I-beam, 12.2 mnot listednot listednot listed0 t

Ratings are as printed on the district page in the archived copies of 28 September 2023, 12 March 2024 and 14 March 2026, and on the live page last updated 8 October 2026. The 54.5 km bridge, at zero in 2023, has been at 10 tonnes since. The inventory column gives each bridge’s structure number, type and span, matched to the notice by their order along the road. Its last recorded inspections are September 2025 for G1-720 and G1-724, and June 2023 for the other three.070301

The road’s whole public record fits on one line. Read down it for the two entries marked in orange: the repair in 2023, and the closure this summer.

  1. November 2006

    BC Parks’ management plan for Kakwa warns that Walker FSR is no longer a priority for road maintenance money, and promises to post updated information if the road stops being maintained.06

  2. 9 April 2009

    The Province puts more than $700,000 into the road and calls it the primary access to Kakwa Park.05

  3. 28 July 2020

    A landslide across the road closes it at kilometre 70.07

  4. 17 September 2021

    The road is closed at kilometre 37.1 for “unsafe road conditions.”07

  5. September 2023

    Three bridges are rated at zero, and the district schedules six weeks of bridge repair and terrain stability work, from 18 September to 31 October.07

  6. December 2023

    The road beyond kilometre 37 opens for the winter, until 15 March 2024. By 31 January 2024 all three bridges are listed at ten tonnes on the district page.07

  7. 8 April 2025

    Kakwa Park access is raised in the Legislature, and the Minister of Environment and Parks says the roads belong to the Ministry of Forests.11

  8. 29 May 2026

    BC Parks last updates its Kakwa road advisory, which says the road is in good condition up to kilometre 50.04

  9. 22 July 2026

    The district closes the road near kilometre 52, downrates five bridges to zero, and orders the road barricaded on 29 July, one week after the notice.01

  10. 8 October 2026

    The district page is updated again, and Walker FSR is not on its deactivation lists for 2026 or 2027.01

In 2023 the district repaired bridges on this road that were rated at zero, and opened the road above them for the winter. In 2026 it has not said whether it will do that again.

Section 04No one has said whether the five bridges will be repaired, replaced or removed, and nothing published puts a price on any of the three.

Nothing on any government website says what happens next. The only words attributed to the ministry about the future of the road were relayed by a Prince George hiking site on 16 July, which posted an update it said came from Forestry and the answer it got when it asked whether the bridges would be removed.08

Reply attributed to the Ministry of Forests, as posted by Hiking Prince George · 16 July 2026

“Near term, the road will be barricaded at 56 km. Long term will be dependant on funding to rebuild the road.”

A further update posted on the same page on 20 July said that BC Parks and Recreation Sites and Trails had been told of the downrating, and that “decisions regarding the future of this road are currently being considered by the Ministry of Forests.” Neither update appears on a government page, and neither names an official, so both are quoted here as the site posted them.08

Walker FSR is not on the district’s published lists of roads planned for deactivation, as of the page’s update on 8 October. The same page shows what this district does when it decides a bridge will not come back. On Hodda FSR, it records that a bridge “has been removed and road has been permanently deactivated.” On Castle Creek Mainline, the road is “permanently deactivated beyond 7.2 km, bridges removed.”01

No cost has been published for any of the three choices on Walker FSR. No inspection report, engineering assessment or estimate is on the district page or in the provincial news archive, and a search for a Walker bridge tender found none. The province’s tender portal sits behind a browser check, so it could not be searched directly. The last public figure for this road is the $700,000 spent in 2009.010518

What the Province’s auditor general has published is how a bridge comes to be rated at zero when there is no money to fix it. The November 2020 audit of forest service roads recorded what ministry officials told its auditors about down-rating bridges.10

Exhibit 07Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia, Management of Forest Service Roads, November 2020 · printed page 35Audit PDF
A paragraph from page 35 of the Auditor General report Management of Forest Service Roads. District staff told the auditors they lacked funding to meet maintenance requirements for crossing structures. In 2019 and 2020, $2.7 million of the districts' requests for very high and high risk bridge and culvert operational funding, for repairs and replacements, was unfunded. Ministry officials told the auditors that district managers can, if needed, reduce the load rating or close bridges in order to limit access and mitigate safety risks. As of May 30, 2019, the ministry had reduced load ratings to reduce safety risk on 585 structures on active sites. Closed and down-rated structures remain an environmental risk, for example to fish passage, and a financial liability.
“Ministry officials told us that district managers can, if needed, reduce the load rating or close bridges in order to limit access and mitigate safety risks.” In 2019/20, $2.7 million of the districts’ requests for high-risk bridge and culvert repairs went unfunded, and 585 structures had been down-rated. The audit adds that closed and down-rated structures “remain an environmental risk… and a financial liability” for the Province.10

The same page of the audit explains why some bridges wait years for replacement. One of the five on Walker FSR, G1-720 at kilometre 56, is the only one the inventory classes as non-durable rather than durable.1003

Exhibit 08Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia, Management of Forest Service Roads, November 2020 · printed page 35Audit PDF
A paragraph from page 35 of the Auditor General report. As of May 30, 2019, replacement was overdue on 583 structures, or 9 per cent, by an average of five years. Of these, 561 were on active sites and the majority were temporary bridges. Engineering Branch officials explained that temporary bridges are often found on wilderness roads and are not replaced with permanent bridges until the road is being used by industry.
Replacement was overdue on 583 structures, by an average of five years, and most were temporary bridges. The ministry’s engineers explained why: “temporary bridges are often found on wilderness roads and are not replaced with permanent bridges until the road is being used by industry.” In July 2025 the ministry confirmed that BC Timber Sales was considering auctioning cutblocks in the Walker Creek watershed, with maps due in 2026.1021

The Robson Valley has already watched one closure run its course. The first bridge on the Renshaw snowmobile trail near McBride was closed in January 2024 after an inspection and was then removed. The McBride and District Chamber of Commerce projected a $3.15 million loss to the town over the following winter, and the number of riders using the area fell by seventy per cent. Putting the crossing back has taken a 140-foot bridge bought secondhand from Trans Mountain, almost $400,000 in provincial grant money announced in May 2026, and, by one MLA’s account, more than $1 million raised by the club and the community.13

None of those figures is a cost for Walker FSR, and they should not be read as one. They show who paid at Renshaw once the bridge was gone, which was the community. The Province’s outdoor recreation strategy carried the grant for that bridge. The auditor general’s road audit explains why districts turn to down-rating bridges when the money for bridge repairs runs short.

Opinion. A bridge rated at zero can still be inspected, repaired and re-rated, as this district did on this road in 2023. A bridge that has been pulled out can only be replaced, and at Renshaw the replacement fell to the people who used it. Until the ministry publishes the inspection findings and what each option would cost, removal should not be on the table for Walker FSR’s five bridges.

Several things the public record does not yet show would settle the question. They are what the inspections found on each of the five bridges, and what it would cost to repair them, to replace them, or to take them out. The record does not show whether the district has asked for that money, or when a decision is due.

Section 05BC Parks warned in 2006 that the park depended on this road, and promised to tell visitors if it stopped being maintained.

The management plan for Kakwa Park, approved in November 2006, saw this coming. Its access section names the road, the policy that would starve it of maintenance money, and the consequence for anyone trying to reach the park from British Columbia.06

Exhibit 09BC Parks, Kakwa Provincial Park and Protected Area Management Plan, November 2006 · § 4.1 Access Management, printed pages 20 and 21Plan PDF
Two passages from the 2006 Kakwa park management plan. The first says that in British Columbia, access to the south side of the park is via the Walker Creek Forest Service Road, 85 km from Highway 16; that new Ministry of Forests and Range policies, under which roads not used for industrial purposes are no longer a priority for maintenance funding, will have significant impact on park visitor access because the entire road is under that ministry's jurisdiction; that ideally the road will be maintained to the Bastille River, 10 km from the park boundary; and that should the road no longer be maintained, summer access from British Columbia will most likely revert to hiking, biking, horse and float plane access. It adds that from Alberta the closest vehicle access comes within about 5 km of the park via roads to Kakwa Falls, 155 km southwest of Grande Prairie. The second passage is a strategy: should the Ministry of Forests and Range no longer maintain part, or all of the Walker Creek Road, updated information will be provided on the BC Parks website.
Twenty years ago: roads “not used for industrial purposes are no longer a priority for maintenance funding,” and that “will have significant impact on park visitor access to Kakwa.” If the road were lost, “summer access from British Columbia will most likely revert to hiking, biking, horse and float plane access.” And the commitment: “updated information will be provided on the BC Parks website.” Ten weeks after the barricade, that website does not mention the closure.0604

That update has not been made. Ten weeks after the barricade went up, the only BC Parks advisory about the road still dates from 29 May. The Great Divide Trail Association, a volunteer society, has told its hikers that the road is barricaded near kilometre 52, and the park service has not told its visitors anything.0409

Volunteers already carry some of the load inside the park. In April 2026 the Ministry of Environment and Parks credited volunteers from the Kakwa Park Snowmobile Club with clearing brush and deadfall from the Wishaw Trail over the 2024–25 season. That trail work is only useful to people who can still get to the park.20

Section 06The Minister of Forests answers for the road, and we found no public statement on its closure from any candidate in either riding.

Walker FSR runs entirely through Prince George-Valemount, the riding that also holds McBride and the south-western part of Kakwa Park. Kakwa Lake itself is across the line in Peace River South. Both ridings vote on 24 October. The House has not sat since the barricade went up, so Walker FSR has never been raised there.14

Kakwa’s access has come up in the House once in this parliament. In the Environment and Parks estimates of 8 April 2025, Donegal Wilson listed the roads she was hearing about, and Kakwa came first.11

“We have the Kakwa Park access, which has been limited for some time. We have the McBride Bridge. My inbox is full of businesses in McBride that are struggling from losing access to McBride.”

Conservative Party of BCDonegal Wilson · Boundary-Similkameen · Hansard, Issue 37, 8 April 2025

“[T]he Ministry of Forests has the statutory responsibility for the road maintenance, and they also include the securities and the financial arrangements. All of those are under the purview of the Ministry of Forests, and I would welcome the members to canvass the Minister of Forests.”

BC NDPTamara Davidson · Minister of Environment and Parks · Hansard, Issue 37, 8 April 2025

That answer stands as the division of labour. BC Parks runs the park and the Ministry of Forests runs the road, and the following March the Minister of Forests said who decides a closure.1112

“An FSR closure is made by the statutory decision-maker. That’s the engineer. Safety drives that. My long-term vision is to be able to have infrastructure set up to be able to, essentially, have all of our FSRs listed on a website and for us to be able to find a better method to communicate to people where things are at in terms of the status of those FSRs.”

BC NDPRavi Parmar · Minister of Forests · Hansard, Issue 141, 12 March 2026

A closure for safety is the engineer’s call, and nobody is asking for an unsafe bridge to be opened. What happens to a closed bridge afterwards is a funding decision, and the update attributed to the ministry by Hiking Prince George said the long term depends on funding. That decision belongs to the minister and his district, and below is everyone who answers for it, with what each has said in public.120816

WhoOn Walker FSR and Kakwa accessOn the record elsewhere
Government of British Columbia markPrince George Natural Resource DistrictMinistry of Forests · holds the road
On Walker FSRPosted the closure on 22 July 2026 and barricaded the road on 29 July. Has published no plan, estimate or inspection report.01
ElsewhereRepaired bridges on this road in 2023. Its page records bridges removed on Hodda FSR and Castle Creek Mainline.0701
Ravi ParmarRavi ParmarMinister of Forests · Langford-Highlands candidateBC NDP
On Walker FSRNo public statement found. His ministry has published no plan, estimate or inspection report for the road or its five bridges.1801
ElsewhereOn the McBride snowmobile bridge in 2025: “It was the Ministry of Forests engineers that made the difficult decision to remove the bridges.”12
Tamara DavidsonTamara DavidsonMinister of Environment and Parks · North Coast-Haida Gwaii candidateBC NDP
On Walker FSRReferred the 2025 question on Kakwa access to the Minister of Forests. Her ministry’s park advisory has not mentioned the closure.1104
ElsewhereHer ministry announced almost $400,000 for the Renshaw bridge near McBride in May 2026.13
Rosalyn BirdRosalyn BirdPrince George-Valemount · MLA 2024–2026, candidateConservative Party of BC
On Walker FSRNo public statement found.18
ElsewhereIn November 2024 she asked McBride council, “why don’t you just transfer the road from [the Ministry of] Forests to Tourism?”15
Carol BourqueCarol BourquePrince George-Valemount candidateBC NDP
On Walker FSRNo public statement found.18
ElsewhereNo statement found on forest roads or access.18
Jodie CaplingJodie CaplingPrince George-Valemount candidateBC Green Party
On Walker FSRNo public statement found.18
ElsewhereNo statement found on forest roads or access.18
Mitchell LukoniMitchell LukoniPrince George-Valemount candidateOneBC
On Walker FSRNo public statement found.18
ElsewhereNo statement found on forest roads or access.18
Larry NeufeldLarry NeufeldPeace River South · MLA 2024–2026, candidateConservative Party of BC
On Walker FSRNo public statement found.18
ElsewhereNo statement found on forest roads or access.18
Marsha Rose DufresneMarsha Rose DufresnePeace River South candidateBC NDP
On Walker FSRNo public statement found.18
ElsewhereNo statement found on forest roads or access.18
Neutral silhouette: no public photograph foundHelen ScottPeace River South candidate · listed as “Other”
On Walker FSRNo public statement found.18
ElsewhereNo statement found on forest roads or access.18
Gene RuntzGene RuntzMayor of McBride · regional district board
On Walker FSRNo public statement found.18
ElsewhereHas pressed the Province on the Renshaw closure since 2024, including with the Premier in 2025.1317
Regional District of Fraser-Fort George markKevin DunphyRegional District of Fraser-Fort George, Area F, where the bridges are
On Walker FSRNo public statement found.18
ElsewhereHe is not running on 17 October, so Area F will have a new director after the vote.17

Portraits are from each candidate’s party page, the Village of McBride and the Province, and are cropped. The district office and the regional district are shown by their own marks, and Helen Scott by a neutral silhouette, because no public photograph of her was found. The ministers’ own candidacies are from Elections BC’s candidate list. Rosalyn Bird left the Conservative caucus on 25 August 2026, joined the MLAs forming CentreBC in September, and returned to the Conservatives on 22 September; she is on the ballot as the Conservative candidate.14

We searched the House transcripts of the 43rd Parliament, the provincial news archive, the district and BC Parks pages, the candidates’ party pages, the Rocky Mountain Goat, the Prince George Citizen, CKPG, My PG Now, CBC and Grande Prairie outlets, and the Village of McBride’s council agendas from June to September 2026. The regional district’s agenda archive and the province’s tender portal sit behind a browser check, and Facebook, Instagram and X need a sign-in, so none of them was searched.18

The regional district will change too. On 17 October, a week before the provincial vote, Area F elects a new director from four candidates, Area H’s Dannielle Alan faces McBride councillor Joe Kolida, and McBride elects a mayor. Walker FSR runs through both areas, and the zero-rated bridges are all in Area F.1714

Section 07Ask the ministry what happens to the five bridges before anyone decides to pull them out.

According to an update a Prince George hiking site attributes to the ministry, the long term depends on funding. These questions would show whether that funding is being sought. They belong with the minister, the district and the four candidates in Prince George-Valemount.

Will the five bridges be repaired, replaced or removed, and when will that decision be published?The district brought two of them back from zero in 2023. The public should know whether it intends to do that again before anything else happens.

Will the ministry publish the inspection findings and the cost of each option?That means repair, replacement and removal, for each bridge, so that the people who use the road can see the choice being made.

Will the ministry commit that no bridge on Walker FSR is removed before the public and BC Parks have been heard?Removal turns a repair into a replacement, and at Renshaw the replacement fell to the community that used it.

Will BC Parks tell Kakwa’s visitors that the road is closed?Its own plan promised that in 2006, and its road advisory still dates from May.

The letter linked below puts those four questions to the Minister of Forests, the Minister of Environment and Parks and the Prince George district office, and blind-copies all four candidates in Prince George-Valemount. It opens in your own mail app and sends from your own address.1614

If you hold records about Walker FSR, such as inspection notices, photographs of the bridges or the barricade, correspondence with the district or BC Parks, or a club’s figures on use of the road, send what you have the right to share to contact@backcountry.cx. Say where each item came from. Nothing sent will be published until it has been checked against other sources.

The Province once called this road the way into Kakwa Park. It should say whether it still is.

Share this story

Six images carrying the Walker FSR story on their own — the closure, the bridges, the 2023 repair and who answers for the road. Made to be posted. Background photographs: Mount Ida by Jagged Ridge Imaging (John Scurlock), CC BY-SA 4.0, and the Wishaw quarry in Kakwa Park by Chris Goulet, CC BY-SA 3.0, both via Wikimedia Commons and cropped.

Suggested caption

Ravi Parmar’s Forests ministry closed the only B.C. road to Kakwa Park over five unsafe bridges. Snowmobilers, horse packers, hikers and hunters are cut off, and it has published no plan to reopen it.

Walker FSR runs 74.5 km from Highway 16, east of Prince George, toward Kakwa Provincial Park. In 2009 the Province called it the park’s primary access.

On 22 July 2026 the Prince George Natural Resource District closed it near km 52 “due to unsafe bridges” and barricaded it on 29 July. Five bridges beyond that point, at 56.1, 61.5, 65.4, 67.5 and 69.2 km, are downrated to 0 tonnes.

This has happened before. In September 2023 three bridges on the same road were at zero. The district ran six weeks of repair work, rated them back up to 10 tonnes, and opened the road beyond km 37 for the winter.

This time the ministry has published one notice and no plan. The only word on the future, relayed by a Prince George hiking site, is that the long term “will be dependant on funding to rebuild the road.” No cost to repair, replace or remove the bridges has been published.

BC Parks promised in 2006 to tell visitors if the road stopped being maintained. Its only road advisory for Kakwa was last updated on 29 May, and it says nothing about the closure.

We found no public statement on Walker FSR from the Minister of Forests, the Minister of Environment and Parks, or any of the four candidates in Prince George-Valemount: Rosalyn Bird (Conservative), Carol Bourque (BC NDP), Jodie Capling (BC Green) and Mitchell Lukoni (OneBC).

Ask them: will the bridges be repaired, replaced or removed? Will the inspection findings and costs be published? Will anything be pulled out before the public and BC Parks are heard?

Records about the road can go to contact@backcountry.cx.

Backcountry Coalition is independent. This article is not authorized by any party or candidate.

backcountry.cx/editorials/walker-creek-fsr/

#BCpoli #PublicLand #RobsonValley #PrinceGeorge #Kakwa

Sources

  1. ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩Prince George Natural Resource District, road safety information — read on 10 October 2026; the page’s footer reads “Last updated on October 8, 2026.” Under road closures and restrictions, verbatim: “Walker FSR 3112.01 (July 22, 2026) Walker Forest Service Road is closed near 52 km due to unsafe bridges. Access will be barricaded on Wednesday July 29, 2026,” followed by eleven bridges: 51.2 km 10 tonnes; 54.5 km 10; 56.1 km 0; 59.7 km 30; 61.5 km 0; 63.0 km 10; 65.4 km 0; 67.5 km 0; 69.2 km 0; 71.4 km 10; 74.6 km 30. The same page lists only McGregor-Torpy FSR under “Planned for deactivation in 2027” and only Chuchinka-Colbourne FSR under “Planned for deactivation in 2026.” Walker FSR is in neither list. Under completed deactivations it records “Hodda FSR 7698.1 (2022) Bridge (G1-742) at 6.9 km has been removed and road has been permanently deactivated” and “Castle Creek Mainline FSR (9255.01) Permanently deactivated beyond 7.2 km, bridges removed.” The district office is at 2000 South Ospika Boulevard, Prince George, and publishes Forests.PrinceGeorgeDistrictOffice@gov.bc.ca and 250 614-7400. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/natural-resource-use/resource-roads/local-road-safety-information/prince-george-natural-resource-district-road-safety-information
  2. ↩↩↩↩↩The road tenure record — WHSE_FOREST_TENURE.FTEN_ROAD_SECTION_LINES_SVW, queried on forest file 3112 on 10 October 2026. Section 01, “WALKER FSR,” file type Forest Service Road, status ACTIVE, length 74.4914 km, district Prince George Natural Resource District, client “PRINCE GEORGE FOREST DISTRICT.” Two further sections, “WALKER-POB” (10.14 km) and “WALKER-HOLY CROSS” (12.95 km), branch from it. A search of the whole layer for road sections named Walker returns 55 rows, and this is the only forest service road among them. The mapped line starts on Highway 16 at 53.666°N 120.905°W, between Dome Creek and Crescent Spur. https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/forest-tenure-road-section-lines
  3. ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩The Province’s bridge and major culvert inventory — WHSE_FOREST_TENURE.RRI_BRIDGES_MAJOR_CULVERTS_SP, queried on forest file 3112 on 10 October 2026. Twenty-five distinct structures; five carry a current load rating of 0 tonnes: G1-720 at user km 56.05 (non-durable steel I-beam, 9.2 m, last inspected 5 September 2025), G1-728 at 60.62 (steel I-beam, 9.1 m, 6 June 2023), G1-723 at 64.52 (steel I-beam, 12.2 m, 6 June 2023), G1-724 at 66.68 (steel box beam, 12.2 m, 5 September 2025) and G1-725 at 68.39 (steel I-beam, 12.2 m, 5 June 2023). The Fraser River bridge, G1-710, is at km 5.21 and is 164 m long; Bastille Creek, G1-727, is at km 73.84, 30.5 m, rated 30. The inventory’s chainage runs up to about 0.9 km behind the district page’s, and the pairing of inventory structures with the notice’s kilometres is made here by order along the road and by rating; neither record states it. The layer has no field for the date a rating changed. Exhibit 04 is the map service’s own GetFeatureInfo response for G1-725, linked in full at the exhibit. https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/ministry-of-forests-mof-bridges-and-major-culverts
  4. ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩BC Parks, Kakwa Park — the park page and its published advisories, read on 10 October 2026. “Kakwa Park is located approximately 70km north of McBride in British Columbia. It can be accessed from McBride in B.C., Grand Prairie in Alberta, or by air charter.” “There is no public access road into the park. In B.C., the Walker Creek Forest Road from Highway 16 currently provides access to the Bastille River at km 75, Bastille River is 10km away from the park boundary. From Grand Prairie, the 112km Kakwa River Forestry Road leads to the eastern boundary of Alberta’s Kakwa Wildland Park.” “From Bastille Creek Bridge to Kakwa Lake is approximately 29km.” The advisories are read from the park service’s public advisory feed: three are published, all with access status “Open.” Advisory 1203, “Road and trail Information,” carries an update date of 29 May 2026 and opens: “Walker Creek Forest Service Road (FSR) is in good condition up to 50km.” None of the three mentions the July closure. The same page, on the park itself: the Kakwa Lake cabin is public, “first come, first served”; a horse camping area lies at the south end of Kakwa Lake; hiking routes are unmarked; horses are permitted; snowmobiling is permitted from 1 December to 15 or 30 April in designated zones; firearms are permitted in open season; Kakwa and Cecilia Lakes are closed to angling from 1 November to 30 April; and “It is approximately 100km to Kakwa Lake from the staging site.” Air charters need a Park Use Permit. The page gives no visitor numbers. https://bcparks.ca/kakwa-park/
  5. ↩↩↩↩Ministry of Forests and Range, “$700,000 to make Walker Creek Forest Service Road safer,” news release 2009FOR0058-000590, Prince George, 9 April 2009. “more than $700,000 to improve travel and safety conditions on the Walker Creek Forest Service road”; “replacement of the deck material on the Fraser River Bridge”; Minister Pat Bell: “The Walker Creek Forest Service Road provides primary access to Kakwa Provincial Park, a spectacular and heavily-used recreational site”; Minister Kevin Krueger: “a critical link between Prince George and Kakwa Provincial Park.” Exhibit 02 stops before the release’s media contact block. https://archive.news.gov.bc.ca/releases/news_releases_2005-2009/2009FOR0058-000590.htm
  6. ↩↩↩↩BC Parks, Kakwa Provincial Park and Protected Area Management Plan, November 2006. § 4.1, printed page 20: access “via the Walker Creek Forest Service Road, 85 km from Highway 16”; roads “not used for industrial purposes are no longer a priority for maintenance funding”; “Should this road no longer be maintained, summer access from British Columbia will most likely revert to hiking, biking, horse and float plane access”; from Alberta “the closest vehicle access comes within about 5 km of the park via roads to Kakwa Falls, 155 km southwest of Grande Prairie.” Printed page 21, among the strategies: “Should Ministry of Forests and Range no longer maintain part, or all of the Walker Creek Road, updated information will be provided on the BC Parks website.” The same table sets a goal of maintaining the park’s wilderness character and states that public road access into the park will not be permitted. Exhibit 09 joins the page 20 passage and the page 21 strategy, cropped from the PDF as published. https://nrs.objectstore.gov.bc.ca/kuwyyf/kakwa_pk_pa_mp_20061010_70a7e67075.pdf
  7. ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩The district page’s history, from Internet Archive copies. Ten copies were read, from 12 October 2022 to 14 March 2026. 12 October 2022: “Walker 3112.1 (Sep 17, 2021) Road closed at 37.1km. Unsafe road conditions” and “Walker 3112.1 (July 28, 2020) Road closed at 70km. Landslide across road.” 28 September 2023: “Walker FSR 3112.01 (September 7, 2023) Bridge repair and terrain stability works from September 18th to October 31st. Current road closure beyond 37 km remains in effect,” with bridges at 54.5, 56.1 and 61.5 km at 0 tonnes. 12 March 2024 (page updated 31 January 2024): “Walker 3112.1 (December 12, 2023) Road section 37.5km to 70km is open during winter months. Closes March 15, 2024,” with those three bridges at 10 tonnes. September 2024 to 14 March 2026 (seven copies): the bridge list unchanged, with 65.4 and 67.5 km at 30 tonnes and no closure notice for the road. Exhibits 05 and 06 are cropped from the archive’s copies of 28 September 2023 and 12 March 2024, linked at each exhibit. https://web.archive.org/web/2024*/https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/natural-resource-use/resource-roads/local-road-safety-information/prince-george-natural-resource-district-road-safety-information
  8. ↩↩↩↩↩Hiking Prince George, “Walker Forest Service Road Closed at 56 km,” 16 July 2026, with updates to 17 September 2026 — read on 10 October 2026. A community site, not a government page. It posts an update it attributes to “Forestry”: “Be advised the Walker Forest Service Road is closed at 56 km and beyond. Load ratings for bridges at 56.1 km, 61.5 km, 65.4 km, 67.5 km, and 69.2 km have been downrated to 0 tonnes capacity,” and, asked whether the bridges would be removed, the reply “Near term, the road will be barricaded at 56 km. Long term will be dependant on funding to rebuild the road.” An update dated 20 July 2026 reads: “BC Parks and Rec Sites and Trails have been made aware of the downrating of the bridge structures which has led to the Walker FSR’s current closure… Decisions regarding the future of this road are currently being considered by the Ministry of Forests and will take into consideration all available information.” Neither update names an official, and the underlying messages were not seen. https://hiking.princegeorge.tech/walker-forest-service-road-closed-at-56-km/
  9. ↩↩↩Great Divide Trail Association, trail conditions page — read on 10 October 2026. “Walker Creek FSR is in good condition up to km 50 but the road is barricaded near km 52. The BC Ministry of Forests has indicated the road is closed beyond km 52 due to safety concerns and downrated (0 ton) bridges.” https://greatdividetrail.com/go-hiking/trip-planning-resources/trail-update/
  10. ↩↩↩↩Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia, Management of Forest Service Roads, dated November 2020, released 19 January 2021. Printed page 35, for both passages in Exhibits 07 and 08, cropped from the PDF as published. The same report records that from 2017/18 to 2019/20 districts received between 14% and 20% of what they requested for forest service road maintenance. The site’s reading of the whole audit is published separately. https://www.oag.bc.ca/app/uploads/sites/963/2024/08/OAGBC-20210119-Management-Forest-Service-Roads_RPT.pdf
  11. ↩↩↩↩Hansard, 43rd Parliament, Issue 37, 8 April 2025, afternoon, Committee of Supply, Ministry of Environment and Parks estimates, about 4:30 to 4:35 p.m. Donegal Wilson: “We have the Kakwa Park access, which has been limited for some time. We have the McBride Bridge. My inbox is full of businesses in McBride that are struggling from losing access to McBride. We have a major road into Allan Creek in Valemount.” Hon. Laanas / Tamara Davidson: “The Ministry of Forests is the one that has the responsibility for the roads,” and then the answer quoted in Section 06. Across all 188 House transcripts of the 43rd Parliament, this is the only sitting in which the word “Kakwa” appears. The exchange is also set out in The rest of the cabinet. https://lims.leg.bc.ca/hdms/file/Debates/43rd1st/20250408pm-Hansard-n37.html
  12. ↩↩↩↩The Minister of Forests in the House. Hansard, Issue 38, 9 April 2025, Ministry of Forests estimates, on the McBride snowmobile-area bridge: “It was the Ministry of Forests engineers that made the difficult decision to remove the bridges that the member is talking about, for obvious reasons as it pertains to safety… I’m not an engineer. I’m not going to try to be an engineer.” Hansard, Issue 141, 12 March 2026, Ministry of Forests estimates: “An FSR closure is made by the statutory decision-maker. That’s the engineer. Safety drives that,” and the maintenance budget had risen “from $6.1 million in the 2022-2023 fiscal year to $16½ million in 2025-2026.” Issue 141 is linked here. https://lims.leg.bc.ca/hdms/file/Debates/43rd2nd/20260312pm-Hansard-n141.html
  13. ↩↩↩The Renshaw bridge near McBride, from the public record. The Rocky Mountain Goat, Andrea Arnold, 5 June 2026: the McBride Big Country Snowmobile Association was “awarded nearly $400,000 through The Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program”; access “was abruptly prohibited in January of 2024 due to unsafe bridge conditions”; “The existing structure was removed and the community of McBride immediately saw a 70 per cent drop in riders”; the club bought “a 140-foot bridge from Trans Mountain at a significantly reduced price.” The Rocky Mountain Goat, 13 December 2024: the McBride and District Chamber of Commerce report “projects a $3.15M loss this winter for the McBride area due to the Renshaw closure.” BC Gov News release 2026ENV0024-000574, 21 May 2026, “Almost $400,000 for the Renshaw Snowmobile Trail System Revitalization.” Hansard, Issue 141, 12 March 2026, Donegal Wilson: “The community and the snowmobile club have been successful in raising over $1 million themselves for that particular bridge.” The mayor’s 2024 correspondence on the closure is reported in The Rocky Mountain Goat of 12 March 2024. The Renshaw sequence is set out at length in Steve Morissette. https://therockymountaingoat.com/2026/06/funding-in-hand-for-renshaw-bridge-replacement/
  14. ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩The ridings and the ballot. Elections BC’s current electoral district boundaries (WHSE_ADMIN_BOUNDARIES.EBC_PROV_ELECTORAL_DIST_SVW, gazetted 7 December 2023), tested against the road line and the park polygon on 10 October 2026: all three sections of Walker FSR, and McBride, lie in Prince George-Valemount; Kakwa Park is split between Prince George-Valemount and Peace River South, and Kakwa Lake lies in Peace River South. Candidates from Elections BC’s published candidate list, modified 9 October 2026: Prince George-Valemount, Rosalyn Bird (Conservative Party), Carol Bourque (BC NDP), Jodie Capling (BC Green Party), Mitchell Lukoni (OneBC); Peace River South, Larry Neufeld (Conservative Party), Marsha Rose Dufresne (BC NDP), Helen Scott (Other). The same list has Ravi Parmar (BC NDP) as a candidate in Langford-Highlands and Tamara Davidson (BC NDP) in North Coast-Haida Gwaii. Rosalyn Bird’s party moves are from The Rocky Mountain Goat of 25 August, September and 22 September 2026, and her re-election bid from its edition of 8 October 2026. https://elections.bc.ca/2026election/2026-provincial-general-election-candidates.csv
  15. ↩Rosalyn Bird on access. The Rocky Mountain Goat, Abigail Popple, 15 November 2024, reporting McBride council of 6 November 2024: “One of the main industries here in the Robson Valley is tourism, so why don’t you just transfer the road from [the Ministry of] Forests to Tourism?” At a Valemount all-candidates forum on 9 October 2024 she said, “We need to make sure that we continue to have access to the backcountry” (The Rocky Mountain Goat, 18 October 2024). In the House on 12 March 2025 she said tourism operators “have struggled with challenges regarding back road and highway closures.” The words Walker, Kakwa and Renshaw do not appear in any of her turns in the House. https://therockymountaingoat.com/2024/11/mla-elect-rosalyn-bird-meets-with-mcbride-council/
  16. ↩↩↩↩The ministers. Province of British Columbia, cabinet ministers page, last updated 8 September 2026: Hon. Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests; Hon. Tamara Davidson, Minister of Environment and Parks, whose ministry holds BC Parks and Recreation Sites and Trails BC. Ministers remain in office until a new cabinet is sworn in. The ministers’ office addresses used in the letter are those published in the Province’s news releases: FOR.Minister@gov.bc.ca and ENV.Minister@gov.bc.ca. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/organizational-structure/cabinet/cabinet-ministers
  17. ↩↩↩Local government. Regional District of Fraser-Fort George, board members page and 2026 election page, read on 10 October 2026: Electoral Area F (Willow River-Upper Fraser Valley), director Kevin Dunphy, not a candidate on 17 October, with four candidates for the seat; Electoral Area H (Robson Valley-Canoe), director Dannielle Alan, challenged by Joe Kolida. The road crosses from Area H into Area F at about kilometre 30, measured on the mapped line, and the five zero-rated bridges are all in Area F. Village of McBride council page: Mayor Gene Runtz. On the Premier meeting, The Rocky Mountain Goat, 18 December 2025. https://www.rdffg.ca/government/board-directors/members
  18. ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩Where the search for public statements reached, and what it found. No public statement on the Walker FSR closure was found from the Minister of Forests, the Minister of Environment and Parks, any candidate in Prince George-Valemount or Peace River South, the Mayor of McBride or the Area F director. Searched: all 188 House transcripts of the 43rd Parliament; BC Gov News; the district and BC Parks pages; each candidate’s party page; The Rocky Mountain Goat archive; the Prince George Citizen, CKPG, My PG Now, CBC and Grande Prairie outlets by web search; and the Village of McBride council agenda packages of 30 June, 14, 21 and 22 July, 11 August, 8 and 24 September 2026. Not searched: the regional district’s agenda archive and the BC Bid tender portal, both of which show a browser check before any document; and Facebook, Instagram and X, which require a sign-in. No news report of the July 2026 closure was found. For the groups that use the road, a web search on 10 October 2026 found no public statement on the closure from the Kakwa Park Snowmobile Club, the Back Country Horsemen of BC or its Robson Valley chapter, the guide outfitters and guiding companies holding Kakwa permits, or the Great Divide Trail Association beyond its trail-conditions note. https://therockymountaingoat.com/
  19. ↩BC Geographical Names, Walker Creek, name ID 15896. “Flows SW into Torpy River, N side of Fraser River just NE of Dome Creek (community).” Dome Creek community is recorded at 53.747°N 121.025°W, and Crescent Spur at 53.583°N 120.685°W. https://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/15896.html
  20. ↩↩Ministry of Environment and Parks, BC Gov News release 2026ENV0018-000363, April 2026. “in Kakwa Park near McBride, volunteers from the Kakwa Park Snowmobile Club made improvements to the Wishaw Trail by clearing heavily brushed sections and removing deadfall in 2024-25.” https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2026ENV0018-000363
  21. ↩The Rocky Mountain Goat, Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative, “Province considering auctioning cutblocks near Walker Creek,” 2 July 2025. “In an email to The Goat, the Ministry of Forests confirmed the area is being considered for auctioned cutblocks,” and said the proposed cutblocks “will be available for review on the provincial Forestry Operations Map in 2026.” Conservation North opposes the proposal. https://therockymountaingoat.com/2025/07/province-considering-auctioning-cutblocks-near-walker-creek/
  22. ↩Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, member page for Rosalyn Bird, 43rd Parliament — read on 10 October 2026. The page’s election banner: “The Legislative Assembly adjourned on May 28, 2026, and the 43rd Parliament was dissolved on September 22, 2026,” with the general election on 24 October 2026. Her campaign address, used above and in the letter, is from the Conservative Party of BC. https://www.leg.bc.ca/members/43rd-Parliament/Bird-Rosalyn
  23. ↩Province of British Columbia, Ministry of Forests region and district contacts, last updated 22 May 2026 — read on 10 October 2026. Prince George Natural Resource District (DPG): 2000 South Ospika Boulevard, Prince George V2N 4W5; 250 614-7400; Forests.PrinceGeorgeDistrictOffice@gov.bc.ca. No district manager is named. The B.C. Government Directory, which once listed district staff, now tells the public that “Public access to the B.C. Government Directory is no longer available.” https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/forestry/managing-our-forest-resources/ministry-of-forests-lands-and-natural-resource-operations-region-district-contacts
  24. ↩BC Parks, commercial recreation permit record 103392. Activity: “Guide Outfitting for Hunting Purposes (GO certificate #701249) and Horseback Riding”; parks: Wapiti Lake Park, Bearhole Lake Park and Kakwa Park; term nine years; issued 4 July 2019. https://apps.nrs.gov.bc.ca/pae/content/103392
  25. ↩The Rocky Mountain Goat, Andrea Arnold, “Robson Backcountry Adventures hits the trail,” 21 August 2022. The company “has received permits to take visitors into Kakwa, Erg, West Twin and Mount Robson.” https://therockymountaingoat.com/2022/08/robson-backcountry-adventures-hits-the-trail/
  26. ↩Great Divide Trail Association, home page — read on 10 October 2026. The trail “begins in Waterton Lakes National Park at the Canada-US border” and “ends 1,095 kilometres to the north in Kakwa Provincial Park.” https://greatdividetrail.com/