Jim Good has never climbed to the top of the Mount Goodsir, the mountain in the southeast corner of the province that is part of his family legacy.
That’s a 3,567-metre (11,703-foot) climb over some dicey terrain.
Good feels much more at home taking to the visitors from all over the world who come to visit the living museum he’s built on his homestead north of Prince George, known as Goodsir Nature Park. His roots in the community run as deep as those that he has planted himself on his Old Summit Lake Road property, a diverse collection of plants he’s gathered in his travels all over Canada.
Good’s commitment to preserving botanical treasures and making those plants thrive for all to see has not gone unnoticed and on Wednesday afternoon his friend, property developer John Brink, invited Good and his wife Reine to the Nechako Terrace subdivision Brink Properties is building in the northwest part of the city’s bowl area. They had no idea why they were there until Brink handed them the street signs that will soon be the names of addresses for hundreds of Prince George residents.
The streets will be called Goodsir Place and Goodsir Crescent and for Good and his wife it was a totally unexpected tribute. Knowing his grandfather’s name will be preserved as part of a Prince George neighbourhood was a proud moment indeed for the 72-year-old Good and his wife.
“This is unbelievable,” said Good. “I had no idea.
“Scott (McWalter) called me a week or so back and I said I don’t want to know what it is, and if anybody knows, don’t tell me. I wanted it to be total on-the-spot surprise. It means more to me to get it on the spot instead of having hints what it might be ahead of time.”
“This is such a privilege,” added Reine.
Brink said he wanted to honour Good for all he’s done to preserve nature and inform visitors about the trees, plants and flowers he’s collected over decades to feature them in one of the city’s most beautiful parks.
“He has worked so hard to put Goodsir Nature Park together and when I got to know him five or six years ago, doing it all on his own, I thought, this is something that we have to work with him on,” said Brink. “When we went down and took a look at what he was doing, I just couldn’t believe it, it was absolutely amazing. He deserves the recognition and it will be there for the longterm as his mark on the city.
“I want to let as many people as possible know to go and visit him at Goodsir Nature Park, it’s a treasure for the future.”
Goodsir Nature Park opened in 1989, two years after Good bought the land, located about 20 minutes from the city on the west side of Highway 97, just north of the Salmon River bridge.
“I was named after my grandfather and it was a promise I made to my dad many years ago, when I was about 14 years old, and I had an idea about buying some land someday and turning it into a park,” Good said. “I said to my dad, I’m going to name it Goodsir, after Mt. Goodsir in Yoho National Park.
“Like some of the trees I’ve planted, some of those trees can last hundreds of years, way beyond all of us, it’s my goal to preserve it as I’ve created it for future generations to come.”
The park is home to 2,000 different plant species and 200 kinds of trees , accessed by three kilometres of walking trails.
“I homesteaded there on that land 35 years ago… and it was tough, I singlehandedly homesteaded there,“ said Good.
“We have hundreds of botanical displays, native trees of Canada, every province and territory is somewhere in the park in live format.”
Good is also a music lover and his other hobby is his collection of vinyl records which he plays on his own radio station CGNP (Canada’s Goodsir Nature Park).
“I have multiple thousands of records and I do my own radio production with my own call letters and I love doing what I do,” he said. “I love rockabilly, and I feature classic rock, classic country, classic ballads and have features on folk music, easy-listening and gospel music. I simply love doing it, on closed circuit right now.”
