Barriers to River Access

Kamloops does have some excellent river and lake access in certain places. At the city's core, Pioneer, Overlander, Riverside and MacArthur Island Parks do offer excellent opportunities for river access. Unfortunately, Kamloops has many barriers to river and lake access and some neighborhoods and outlying communities have shockingly few places to access our local waterways.

We believe that every community and every neighborhood should have some usable access point with an adequate trail to the beach, parking, signage, and usability that does not discourage local paddlers and other recreational users. Our beaches and waterways are public land and transportation routes, and all Kamloopsians should be able to use them.

We do understand that problems such as vandalism, drug and alcohol use, garbage-dumping, squatting and other issues have at times prompted our local city hall or regional districts to put up barriers. However, we believe that there are creative solutions and that the rights of local residents to access the water should be balanced against these potential harms. Putting up fences and barriers often stops law abiding citizens much more than it deters these problematic groups.

We also want to be clear that we respect private property rights and understand the concerns that public use can create for waterfront homeowners as well as commercial and industrial operations bordering the river. Again, we feel that creative and fair solutions that weigh the rights of all user groups and all of our citizens are possible. With proper consultation and site specific considerations we can find ways to better value and utilize our lakes and rivers.

The following is a series of photos illustrating problems and in some cases possible solutions to river and lake access in and around Kamloops.

An image of stunning Cooney Bay. No other municipality the size of Kamloops has a large lake close by with such a fantastic beach but no regional park! This spot is a real gem that is hugely undervalued and under-developed as a recreational destination for paddlers, fisher-people, dog walkers, boaters and nature enthusiasts in general. There is limited access to this beach; however, it crosses private land and the trail to the beach is in dire need of improvements. A better trail would make it accessible to users with mobility issues and easier to hand-launch paddle craft.

A satellite view of a potential location for a new regional or civic park in Dallas. This is the outflow of Campbell Creek across from the BC Wildlife Park. The city already has acquired a strip of land along the creek. There are not many opportunities left inside Kamloops city limits for a regional park of this size and ecological significance... And it could help an area of Kamloops that is surprisingly under-served in terms of river access in a large part due to private property and the Canadian Pacific Railway.

A satellite view of a micro-park leading to Okanagan Lake in Kelowna. Likely the large development at the bottom of the image was required to set aside land for the lake access as a requirement by the city of Kelowna. Kamloops should plan and enact policies to require public river and lake access points be included in all future developments.

Street View of the same "micro-park" lake access point in Kelowna. Note the inclusion of adequate parking, signage, and a user friendly trail to the beach that make this an exemplary public water access point.

An image of some of the well maintained river access points created by the city of Enderby along the Shuswap River in order to support recreational users and promote tourism. These access points have had some negative effects surrounding their use by "tubers" and the associated drinking and garbage. However the positive effects for tourism and ease of access for local recreational paddlers and fisher-people have been greater, and we can learn from both their successes and failures.