Powerhouse Foreshore Restoration Project – Visioning Sessions

The goal of the Visioning Sessions was to develop a feasibility study into the possibility of building a “green” Nature Interpretive Centre in Lillooet on the banks of the Fraser River – the site of the Powerhouse Restoration Project. The centre would showcase alternative technologies and provide a home to implement locally developed environmental and cultural programs that create an appreciation and awareness of the natural world, our impacts on it, and ways to mitigate those impacts. It could also be one in a string of Fraser River Interpretive Centres from the headwaters to the delta.

We planned to engage our partners and the local community in three visioning sessions. The sessions were designed to provide a safe place to work collaboratively towards a common goal – the building of the Nature Interpretive Centre.

We held four visioning sessions in the community, and participated in outreach events and surveying throughout the year. All sessions were facilitated by our local contractors and two were held with an aboriginal architect in attendance.

As part of our research, we visited three existing nature centres (Wells Grey, Swan Lake and Iris Griffith and Scout Island). Scout Island graciously shared their strategic plan and operating budgets with us. We also found numerous resources from book resources and on the internet.

We have now completed the feasibility study and have pre-design plans for a Nature Centre and trail system connecting the Fraser River site with the Lower Spawning Channels.

The process of creating the pre-design plans and the resulting feasibility study allowed us to develop partnerships and provides us with the resources necessary to guide future work and assist us in leveraging funds.