{"id":107842,"date":"2026-08-14T09:02:53","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T13:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=107842"},"modified":"2026-08-14T09:02:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T13:02:53","slug":"ancient-forest-interpretive-centre-prepares-for-soft-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/14\/ancient-forest-interpretive-centre-prepares-for-soft-opening\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient Forest interpretive centre prepares for soft opening"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Kevin Gibson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Rocky Mountain Goat Those hoping to catch a glimpse of the new interpretive centre celebrating the natural and cultural history of the Ancient Forest will get a sneak preview on August 27th. The Lheidli T\u2019enneh First Nation and BC Parks will host the opening celebration at Ancient Forest\/Chun T\u2019oh Whudujut Provincial Park, located approximately 103 kilometres west of McBride on Highway 16. Doors will open at 11 a.m. The celebration is expected to include opening remarks, a cultural blessing and a performance by the Khast\u2019an Drummers, a cultural group of Lheidli T\u2019enneh members, relatives and friends who promote the Nation\u2019s language, history and culture through song and dance. Visitors will have an opportunity to explore the new centre, meet community members, and&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F08%2F14%2Fancient-forest-interpretive-centre-prepares-for-soft-opening%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Kevin Gibson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Rocky Mountain Goat Those hoping to catch a glimpse of the new interpretive centre celebrating the natural and cultural history of the Ancient Forest will get a sneak preview on August 27th. The Lheidli T\u2019enneh First Nation and BC Parks will host the opening celebration at Ancient Forest\/Chun T\u2019oh Whudujut Provincial Park, located approximately 103 kilometres west of McBride on Highway 16. Doors will open at 11 a.m. The celebration is expected to include opening remarks, a cultural blessing and a performance by the Khast\u2019an Drummers, a cultural group of Lheidli T\u2019enneh members, relatives and friends who promote the Nation\u2019s language, history and culture through song and dance. Visitors will have an opportunity to explore the new centre, meet community members, and... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F08%2F14%2Fancient-forest-interpretive-centre-prepares-for-soft-opening%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ancient Forest interpretive centre prepares for soft opening - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/14\/ancient-forest-interpretive-centre-prepares-for-soft-opening\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ancient Forest interpretive centre prepares for soft opening - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Kevin Gibson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Rocky Mountain Goat Those hoping to catch a glimpse of the new interpretive centre celebrating the natural and cultural history of the Ancient Forest will get a sneak preview on August 27th. The Lheidli T\u2019enneh First Nation and BC Parks will host the opening celebration at Ancient Forest\/Chun T\u2019oh Whudujut Provincial Park, located approximately 103 kilometres west of McBride on Highway 16. Doors will open at 11 a.m. The celebration is expected to include opening remarks, a cultural blessing and a performance by the Khast\u2019an Drummers, a cultural group of Lheidli T\u2019enneh members, relatives and friends who promote the Nation\u2019s language, history and culture through song and dance. Visitors will have an opportunity to explore the new centre, meet community members, and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/14\/ancient-forest-interpretive-centre-prepares-for-soft-opening\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-14T13:02:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/14\\\/ancient-forest-interpretive-centre-prepares-for-soft-opening\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/14\\\/ancient-forest-interpretive-centre-prepares-for-soft-opening\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Ancient Forest interpretive centre prepares for soft opening\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-14T13:02:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/14\\\/ancient-forest-interpretive-centre-prepares-for-soft-opening\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":449,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/14\\\/ancient-forest-interpretive-centre-prepares-for-soft-opening\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/14\\\/ancient-forest-interpretive-centre-prepares-for-soft-opening\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ancient Forest interpretive centre prepares for soft opening - 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