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Knox Mountain Park is our largest park at nearly 370 hectares, and it’s popular, with an average 1,300 people enjoying the park every day. But it’s also a fragile ecosystem that needs protecting for future generations, as challenges such as rogue trails and unleashed dogs are a challenge.
Welcome to Kelowna Talks, a podcast presented by the City of Kelowna that explores the "why" behind the decisions that shape your city. Tune in for weekly episodes with host, Bob Evans, Partnerships Office Director with the City of Kelowna, as he welcomes guest subject matter experts to explain the processes and decisions that influence the lives of the citizens.
Kelowna Talks - EP12
Melanie 0:00
Knox is for nature Knox is for people and Knox is for stewardship and really the stewardship piece is tying people and nature together and really taking care of it as we enter and experience the park
Zoe 0:12
Welcome to Kelowna talks where we explore the why behind the decisions that shape your city. Together, we open the curtain and dig deep into current issues, plans and policies that come out of City Hall. Thanks for joining us as we talk about Kelowna, and the topics that matter to you.
Bob 0:37
Hi, everyone, I'm Bob Evans Partnership Director, the City of Kelowna and host of our Kelowna Talks podcast. I acknowledge that our community is located on a traditional ancestral unceded territory of the Syilx, Okanagan people. Well, Knox Mountain Park is a true gem in our city. It's a symbol of Kelowna, a place of unique and remarkable natural beauty within our city's parks system. It's also our largest park at nearly 385 hectares, and it's not very far from downtown. So it's a great location. And it's popular made even more so with COVID when we are all trying to get outside more and more and more. The average number of people pass the first gate at the base of Knox Mountain is around 1300 people and I hear the busiest day on record in April was 3674. People passing that one gate alone, that's that's an amazing statistic. So due to growing popularity, together with its fragile ecosystems, the park requires a proactive management approach. So what does the future of Knox Mountain Park look like? today? We are chatting with Parks Planner Melanie Steppuhn to talk about Knox, what are some of the challenges and why we need a plan? So welcome, Melanie. So we always like to start these things off and finding out a little bit about who is Melanie, you're a planner? What else do you get up to when you're not planning or thinking about parks, tell us a little bit about who you are?
Melanie 2:02
Well, I love parks. Interestingly, a lot of what we do is we climb Knox. We live at the base of the back so we got the backside up to Kathleen Lake and enjoy Knox east. It was through COVID. It was one of our regular walks. So really, really grateful to have it in our backyard, literally. And when I'm not doing that I'm starting to really like pickle ball which is something else that's super popular and a growing sport in Kelowna.
Bob 2:31
So you like to spend a lot of time outside.. And here we are talking about Knox Mountain. So let's start with a little history of Knox Mountain. How did Knox come to be what it is today?
Melanie 2:41
Well, Knox has an interesting history. It was named after Arthur Booth Knox, who owned it in the late 1800s and into the early 1900s. He was a bit of a nefarious fellow.
Bob 2:58
I love that word nefarious.
Melanie 3:02
Allegedly he set fire to his neighbours haystacks and was sentenced to three years of hard labor in prison, which he served. And so yeah, he was not the fellow who donated the park to the City. That was Dr. Benjamin Boyce who donated it in I think it's in the 30s or early 40s. And who owned it at the time. He's also the fellow who helped establish Boyce Gyro Park, so definitely a benefactor of the city. And it was also helped by Stanley Simpson, who, who donated money to develop the park, another major benefactor to the city.
Bob 3:50
We hear a lot about the environmental significance. Many parts of the park, can you tell us a little bit about the particularly unique species and other environmental qualities within the park that we should know about?
Melanie 4:01
Just in terms of context, the Okanagan Valley has a large portion of rare and endangered ecosystems in Canada and BC. We are at the northern tip of sagebrush ecosystems, which is evident on Knox. We have anything, that's intact, pretty much is almost rare and endangered. So the entire ecosystem is a fragile one. It's at risk and it needs a lot of care, specific to different species that live there. There's deer obviously, which is one of the most evident which people see regularly on Knox. But there's also smaller, a lot of smaller or less visible wildlife species that really are vulnerable in themselves as well as the ecosystem. The examples are things like Northern Alligator Lizard, they're small, they're about six inches long. They live in ponderosa pine and sagebrush ecosystems.
Bob 5:02
What does it look like?
Melanie 5:02
It's it's like a little Newt, like a little teeny tiny lizard really super cute. They live in the dry lands. So they're not necessarily an aquatic species. So they don't have a lot of cover.
Bob 5:14
Do they burrow or?
Melanie 5:16
Yeah, they use the burrows of other like mice and things like that to have cover. But yeah, they they forage on insects and crickets, and they're a really interesting species. And yeah, so they're one of similar ones that wouldn't occur in say, well, something that's higher in elevation? There's things like ground nesting birds, for example, the Nighthawk, which nests essentially on the ground, and rocks right on the ground. So these are some of the species that we don't necessarily see. Most of the species on Knox, as much wildlife is, is very secretive, to avoid people? The other things, there's some non venomous snake species like gopher snake, which are non venomous, as well as the rubber boa. Those are both species of concern within Canada. So we've got a lot of species and ecosystems that are really, really special, that are not elsewhere in the province and elsewhere in Canada.
Bob 6:25
Okay, so we have this special place. And I mentioned some statistics earlier on about the heavy use and the amount of people that are being attracted to this to this park. And now we have a fragile ecosystem. So where are we with the balance, I guess, or the demands for recreational activities on the park and trying to balance out this environmental sensitivity?
Melanie 6:48
Well, certainly that's a big focus of the plan is how to manage what we've seen in terms of growth and users on the mountain, as well as what we anticipate in further growth through the growth that we've anticipated in our city through even the downtown core. So looking at this will be for their use, we've done a few things in the plan that are focuses one, we want to establish a very solid base for the first lookout to make that a very, very comfortable space for all people. So looking at improvements like improved parking layout, potentially more benches, doing some signage upgrades, things like railings and improvements for accessibility to make that to function better than it does right now. So that's one focus area. Another one is to really look at Knox East, which a lot of people may not realize, is right across Clifton, from Knox and is a beautiful park. We're improving some of the trails currently and looking to, over the course of the plan improve parking at Cara Glen and a staging area,
Bob 8:03
I didn't even realize the park actually went on the other side of the street people maybe people don't.
Melanie 8:08
There's some great trails over there. And that's a lovely, lovely, lovely spot. So trying to take some of the energy and the usage from Knox itself and just sort of transfer it to expand onto the other. So it is spread out essentially dispersed the use. So that's a focus. And one of the third one is is will be just to improve the trails themselves to be able to withstand more folks, as well as try to reduce the unsanctioned trails and rehabilitate those now. Through the course of the plan, we did a an assessment and pretty much half of the trails on knots or unsanctioned rougue trails. So it's a big job to rehabilitate. And like you mentioned, it's a very fragile ecosystem. It's very slow growing, it's a dry area. So things do not recover in nature very quickly. The plants are very slow to rehabilitate, so it's going to be a big job.
Bob 9:07
So let me back that up a little bit. Unsanctioned rogue trail, so I'm guessing that just means people are out there, mountain biking, walking in places that you don't want them to be.
Melanie 9:18
Right and some of them are really obvious like when we've got railings, and switchbacking with a very designated trail and then people are hopping, hopping the rail and going straight up the hill. Those are the unsanctioned that's often the cutting off of you know, through existing trails or braiding trail braiding when there's a certain trail and people are using, they go on the side and then there's another one on the other side, that sort of thing ends up to be you expand the footprint on the mountain, whereas it would be better not to
Bob 9:49
S o this is what leads us to the fact that we need a management plan and my understanding is that there has been many management plans or several at least before this ones So, what's queuing this one up in terms of priority?
Melanie 10:04
Well, I think that you know, in, as you mentioned in previous plans, the first was started in the late 1990s. When they first started, there was big concerns in the park about things. forest health, things like tussock moth, spruce budworm, and later mountain pine beetle were really big issues. There's still forest health concerns in terms of reducing wildfire hazard and the city has over the last few years done a lot of mitigation and removal of ladder fuels and downed woody debris that would, you know, reduce the fire hazards. So that is a good thing. And that will continue. But certainly looking forward to really doing some public awareness of spreading the word about how fragile Knox is, and how important it is for all of us to take a stewardship role. Everybody who walks into the park, ideally. The objectives of the Knox mountain management plan from 2011, included that the Knox is for nature, Knox is for people and Knox is for stewardship. And really the stewardship piece is tying the people and nature together and we all have a role of really taking care of it as we enter and experience the park.
Bob 11:32
Well, that's always the challenge is that balance, you know, it'd be great to have a fantastic preservation plan, but unless people both know about it, and also their balance out their needs for just getting out and experiencing nature and, and fresh air. Before we get more into the recent plan. Can you mention the public engagement process that occurred? Because I understand is that it was a really great response to the ask this time around.
Melanie 11:57
Right. A year ago, in the spring, we launched a survey specific to the modal strategy for Knox. This included several options we had five options available for people to comment on and to choose. And the response, as you mentioned, was incredible. Over 8000 respodence. Which is the highest in the city of Kelowna history really fantastic.
Bob 12:24
So why do you think so? Like just just shows you the I guess the heart of people for Knox mountain?
Melanie 12:29
Exactly. You hit the nail on the head, people really care about this park. It is very close to the hearts of many people, whether you be like longterm, original Kelowna resident who grew up here and had many memories of taking visitors from out of town out of country to Knox to to look at the views and memories that way, or whether you're a new resident, and quite often, it's one of the first places people come to see there is a visitor residence is is Knox mountain. So I think that Knox and access to it is very close to the hearts of many of our residents and visitors.
Bob 13:05
Okay, so the plan itself, can you tell us a little bit about the plan and my understanding that it's a 10 year framed plan?
Melanie 13:13
That's right. So the plan itself over the 10 years has a capital and operational cost of $3.4 million. So that boils down to about $341,000 per year, about 150 of that will be operational dollars. So that's just things like taking care of the park, the caretaker, the, you know, cleaning the washrooms and opening and closing and security on the park, you know, just keeping operations baseline operations, just keeping it going. A further $192,000 per year on average is to make some of those improvements to improve usability through the park and we mentioned some of them being improving the lower lookout, improving parking and staging at Knox East, doing trail upgrades things like replacing cribs, stairs, old you know, wooden crib stairs with a better concrete more solid longer, longer lasting, or those are things that are going to be in the plan. Another thing that we're looking at is improving and upgrading the interpretive signage. It's a bit of a dog's breakfast and in a way it really needs a refresh on the interpret of area and sort of the entrance and some of the, you know, the maps need to be upgraded and then those sorts of things. So definitely signage will also be in the plan.
Bob 14:41
Okay, so lots of response. Lots of lots of good measures there. I also understand there has been some controversy with the plan. Can you tell us a little bit about that and what are the next steps in dealing with some of the controversial not so popular ideas around the park?
Melanie 14:59
Well generally speaking, the response in the last three weeks early response indicates that there's generally favourable and positive support for the plan itself. Where the controversy I think, has come in is through the access management plan. It has received 8000 respondents. And it's just a really we we received a very polarized response from folks some who want access for cars right to the top others who do not want access for cars at all through Knox. So it's, this is where the contrast this is very polarized views. Now through that process, what came to the forefront as being the compromise solution, and the most popular solution was access for vehicles to the lower lookout, where still, there's a beautiful view of views over Kelowna and can still access Paul's Tomb from there, etc. So that is what council had recommended and endorsed as a two year trial, we are looking at this bearing in mind there is controversy around this. And there is difference of opinion through users in Kelowna. So looking at the two year trial, so this is started in the spring and will be ongoing until 2024.
Bob 16:23
So if I go up there today, the upper part of the mountain is locked off to a vehicle
Melanie 16:27
Yes, to vehicles.
Bob 16:29
Okay. Here's another question we're 20 years from now, you're you and I call each other up, Bob, let's grab a coffee, let's go up top and on top of Knox Mountain or onto the mountain, what do we see? You know, what's your? What's your ideal vision? And what does that look like for us as to people looking at Knox mountain? What's different?
Melanie 16:50
Well, I think that what we do need is, is a very, it's a subtle difference in terms of overwhelming care of the mountain, I think that if we can improve and go beyond what we do today as everyday residents in terms of being aware of the sensitivity of those ecosystems, and the importance of stewardship for every person that walks into the park. And if that is the vibe, if you will, or the philosophy of people using the park that it's a very, very, very vulnerable place. And that if we really need to take care of it in order for it to be this great and greater. And this place for, for wildlife and for the ecosystems in 20 years. And just although you mentioned it's 385 hectares, which is our largest park, it still only represents in terms of the city, the size, the City of Kelowna, less than point .2% of our landmass. So we have this ecosystems that used to be very prevalent, have now kind of been boxed into this one park. So if we can improve and just have those, those ideas in our, in our minds and in our hearts as we were going through there. And just be very careful about what we leave there and how we treat the mountain. I think that would be success.
Bob 18:22
Well, I love that statement stewardship for every person. I think that sums it up because it sometimes we kind of default, Oh, someone's taking care of this place or this ecosystem. But it's it falls on us individually. I was up there. I don't know, two or three years ago and going for a hike and saw somebody get out of a car smoking a cigarette, and they tossed a lit cigarette, and I ran up first to the cigarette, put it out, then was aggravated, got to the person just say hey, you don't understand how fragile this ecosystem is. And, and I, you know, so I wasn't yelling at them just trying to bring them along to understand that and it was nerve-racking to do that. But it felt good to do it. And hopefully that person walked away with a little different understanding. So have we missed anything here Melanie? We're getting close to the end of our time. Have we is there anything else that you want to tell our listeners about Knox Mountain and about the management plan in particular?
Melanie 19:18
Well, I would say that to your point about stewardship is for everyone it's it's it can be fairly straightforward. Just walking into the park recognizing that it's sensitive, not picking the balsamroot or the flowers, recognizing that they will fail probably by the time they reach your car, they're not a cut flower and they will not risk they will not bloom again next year. So that we really this is a very, very important. Things like staying on the trail and things like keeping your dog on the leash. Dogs are wonderful. But they do not know better than us. We need, they can't read signs. They can't. They don't. They don't know not to scare things, small wildlife, so they need to they need our direction and the best thing to do absolutely is stay on the leash unless you're in the off leash dog park.
Bob 20:16
Okay, well, thank you. You've heard it here, folks take care and take personal responsibility on the mountain and we'll have something that's sustainable for many, many years for many people. So thank you for that wisdom, Melanie, and best of luck with the management of the of the park on our behalf. And I really appreciate your time today.
Melanie 20:34
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Zoe 20:39
Thank you for listening to this episode of Kelowna Talks. For more conversations about topics that matter in your community. Subscribe on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. If you liked what you heard, give us a five star rating and review and share Kelowna Talks with your friends and neighbours. For more information about this podcast and other big community conversations, visit Kelowna.ca/communitystories.