Volunteers for Parks Canada and Fort St. James National Historic Site are being recognized this month for their contributions over the past couple of years.
Volunteers in both Prince George and Fort St. James have been involved in delivering outreach programming, assisting with special events, performing heritage crafting demonstrations and advising on marketing initiatives and continue to play a critical role in the success of the historic site as a whole.
Volunteerism at Fort St. James has deep roots in the commemoration of the National Historic Site there: and go back right to the very reasons why the area was set aside in the 1970’s as a National Historical Park.
Fort St. James National Historic Site benefits from two great volunteer programs: one being the Friends of Fort St. James National Historic Site, who are a cooperating association for the Parks Canada site.
Their board of directors and membership of more than 200 people and businesses represent the heart of the community there.
The other program (being recognized here) is the Parks Canada Park Ambassadors program: a small contingency created in the spring of 2010 to assist in engaging residents of Central Interior BC with the commemorative significance of Fort St. James National Historic Site, the only Parks Canada managed site found in the region.
Amongst the volunteers being recognized for the Prince George group are Corey Walker, Tana Woodward and Kathleen Dalzell. Amongst the volunteers from Fort St James being recognized are a family of three German residents including Sina Elrick and her parents Dieter and Holly Behncke. Holly has become somewhat well known in Fort St. James by offering bobbin lace making lessons on a volunteer basis from the Officer’s House.
She has contributed more than 450 hours to the historic site operations assisting park interpreters to deliver special event programs, conducting her lace making lessons and providing daily tours of heritage buildings in English and German.
Jessica Sparling has also been an active volunteer for the past two summers and spends time assisting interpreters in their buildings and delivering a few points about the heritage sheep breed found at the Officer’s House.
Natalie Baillout also provided significant assistance in the Officer’s House building and to our Sunday Afternoon Tea programs.
For people who may wish to explore volunteer opportunities at Fort St. James National Historic Site further, such as crafting demonstrations, artist-in-residence placements or other similar roles, please contact via email at stjames@pc.gc.ca.
For all other opportunities, individuals should email the same address, making their email requests out to the Friends of Fort St. James National Historic Site.
For information call 996-7191.