Provincial park devasted by Shuswap wildfire partly reopens to public

A popular provincial park near the town of Scotch Creek in the Shuswap is slowly reopening to the public after the Bush Creek East wildfire devastated parts of it in August last year. Eighty per cent of the Tsútswecw Provincial Park in Chase was damaged by the fire and has been closed for several months for safety reasons. Formerly called the Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park, Tsútswecw Provincial Park is a popular place for hiking, biking, rafting and kayaking in warm months, and cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in colder ones. The park is also a favourite place for photographers as its home to many species of birds, fish and wildlife.  https://infotel.ca/newsitem/in-photos-local-photographers-capture-life-and-death-of-adams-river-salmon-run/it94928 The park is known for having one of the largest sockeye salmon runs in North America. Every fourth year the salmon have a dominant run as they return to their spawning grounds and people from around the world gather to celebrate the Salute to the Sockeye, an event hosted by the Adams River Salmon Society.  https://www.salmonsociety.com/?fbclid=IwAR02GDtM0HN9-UWw3eT-sUGo3fIw1q5tdY23ak7GoTPF9JcNzNChEhXVeUM On Aug. 19, 2023, the Bush Creek East wildfire was created when two wildfires in the area merged, https://infotel.ca/newsitem/two-shuswap-wildfires-merge-into-devastating-41-square-kilometre-blaze/it100065 creating a 41,000 hectare fire that burned through several communities in the Shuswap including Scotch Creek, Lee Creek and Sorrento destroying structures and shutting down the Trans-Canada Highway between Chase and Sorrento.   Part of the park that was untouched by wildfire was reopened to the public in the middle of January. The trails and forested areas southeast of the main plaza parking lot are now open and can be accessed through the eastern beach road, according to an advisory by BC Parks. https://bcparks.ca/tsutswecw-park/#park-activity-container Areas of the park remain closed due to a dangerous trees, landslides and other safety hazards from wildfire damage with BC Parks planning to do damage assessment in early spring followed by recovery efforts and repairs. Tsútswecw Provincial Park is located on both sides of the Adams River between Adams Lake and Shuswap Lake. It was created in 1977 to protect the spawning beds of a variety of salmon species. Home to the Shuswap people, archaeological studies of the area have found evidence of their large settlements. Updates regarding the further opening of the park will be posted on the BC Parks website as they become available https://bcparks.ca/tsutswecw-park/#park-activity-container . To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie mailto:sainslie@infonews.ca  or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .