Experimental forestry in all its autumn glory can be found at Goodsir Nature Park on the outskirts of Prince George.
"The trails are in excellent shape," said Jim Good. "I've worked hard maintaining the trails and it's really paid off. They're all in great shape. It's easy walking in running shoes and there are almost 300 outdoor interpretive displays."
There's about two miles of trails on Good's 160 acre property and beside each plant there's an interpretive sign.
"The interpretive signs include a description of the plant and each one has a map showing where the plant is naturally found plus one of my habitat photos," said Good. "There are two main botanical gardens and along one trail there is a large beaver pond, and there are beaver and muskrat. There's a resting places close to the beaver pond where you can sit and relax and it's very, very peaceful. And the colours - there's pink spirea bordering the pond and the red autumn colours, it's just spectacular, especially if you have a blue-sky day."
Good was five or six years old when he would visit Cultus Lake east of Vancouver with his family.
"I would wonder what the plants and flowers and trees were called that I was seeing," said Good. "When the park ranger would come along, I would always stop him and ask him what they were and he would always tell me and it was just a matter of a few years short years later that the shoe was on the other foot. He would come along and I would stop him and tell them what the plants were and this was when I was nine or ten years old."
Good's mother bought him a book called Native Trees of Canada and then C.P. Lyons book about the trees, shrubs and wildflowers of B.C.
"So that's how it all started," said Good, who has worked at the hospital for the last 20 years. "It's been a lifetime love for the outdoors and especially native plant life."
Since the late 60s Good has tried to get grants and sponsorship but has had no luck.
"I've never received a cent but it's always been in me," said Good. "It's something I've always lived by -- never give up and never give in and those are the words of my Sunday school teacher when I was a little kid and it's been with me all my life."
The mission to create the Goodsir Nature Park has taken Good across the country collecting plant life. He ended up quitting a full time job in the late 60s to pursue his goal, he said. He's collected more than 2,000 species of plants, which can be found in his onsite plant museum.
"The entire project is the work of one person," said Good proudly. "I can't say it without bragging, but it's true!"
When people realize this, the reaction is always positive.
When people do visit the park on Old Summit Lake Road, Good asks that they sign the guest registry. It would be great to get the true number of people who visit each year.
For information and a map visit http://www.tourismpg.com/activities/goodsir-nature-park.
