History

In 1997, as part of a resolution of legal issues surrounding the cancellation of the Kemano Completion Project in northwestern British Columbia, the government of British Columbia and Alcan Inc. each contributed $7.5 million to create the BC-Alcan Northern Development Fund. The BC-Alcan Northern Development Fund Act was passed, setting up a legal structure for the Fund.

Following advice from a regional advisory board, the NKDF Society was incorporated (see our constitution) on August 18, 1999 with the following mandate:

To support sustainable economic activity in northern communities affected by the Kitimat-Kemano project and by the creation of the Nechako Reservoir. NKDF spends the income from its long-term investments on programs and projects that meet each community’s goals for economic development and community stability.

Since then, the fund has been governed according to those principles, by a board of directors appointed by the BC government.

About

~Nechako Nordics

To NKDF Board of Directors,

I am writing on behalf of the Nechako Nordics to share our Success Story.

Our club is the Ski Section of the Nechako Valley Sporting Association in Vanderhoof, BC. We have been active for over 30 years and have produced both elite athletes and many more recreational skiers. Several of our athletes have competed provincially for British Columbia and Canada internationally. It is worthwhile noting that the head official at the 2007 and 2015 Canada Games and the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics for biathlon was from our club.

The Nechako Valley Sporting Association is a nonprofit organization that has received a significant amount of financial support from the Nechako Kitamaat Development fund over the past 14 years including:

Water and Septic Service for our Clubhouse (February 2004): $8,000
Trap Equipment (January 2011): $22,768
Under Ground Lighting for our ski trails) (March 2015): $35,000
Ski S'kool Cross Country Ski Equipment (July 2016): $3,806
Administration and Timing Building (September 2016): $13,500
Ski Terrain Park and Adventure Trail (June 2018): $3,783

That is a total of $86,857!

The NVSA Trail System now has over 11km of trail tracked for classic skiing, over 8km of trail groomed for skate skiing and more than 2km of lit trails for night skiing. All trails are well marked with good signage. The club has a heated day lodge on site, with running water, indoor bathrooms and waxing facilities. We also have good, well maintained grooming and tracking equipment.

With the help of the NKDF we have significantly increased the number of skiers using our facilities in the last several years. In 2018 we had five Bunnies, twenty seven Jackrabbits, six Racers, four Biathletes and 282 school students attend our Ski S’Kool Program. In total there are now more than 450 active recreational skiers in the Vanderhoof area! Lots of happy skiers and lots of good skiing conditions!

This year’s skiing promises to be even more exciting! Over the summer the Nechako Nordics have created a new Terrain Park and Adventure Trail adjacent to our Clubhouse full of humps, bumps and jumps suitable for all young at heart skiers. We are also hosting the TECK Northern Cup #1 cross country ski race on January 19, 2019 and the Biathlon BC Cup #4 on February 1-3, 2019.

These successes would not have been possible without the generous support from the NKDF.

Thank you very much and congratulations on contributing more than 10 million dollars across the investment area. Your support is very much appreciated!

Yours truly,
Richard D. Burkholder, Chairman
Nechako Nordics