Our History

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The Mamquam River Access Society (MRAS) began in 2008 after rebuilding the

access road to the kayak race site. It all began the year prior when John Harvey decided to fix

the road because he didn’t want his wife, Carole Comeau, portaging their 17’4″ Old Town canoe

down the washed out road. John knew it was going to be a long term plan of managing

the site but his history of building recreation infrastructure with ‘at-risk’ teens gave him

the confidence to move forward.

He recognized that the Mamquam River served the whitewater paddling community of the entire Lower Mainland region and beyond. John asked Dave Berrisford of the Squamish Paddling Club to join as a Director and a few other respected paddlers to help form the society.

The Squamish Community Foundation served as a fundraising charity and Canoe

Kayak BC helped us raise over $15,000.00 to carry out the project. MEC was integral to

that process and many others helped as well. Since the access upgrade, MRAS has

managed the locked gate at the head of the whitewater access road that allows drivable

access to all paddlers. Anyone willing to participate in our stewardship program and

willing to invest $50.00 gets a personal key. Others can borrow the key for free (with

refundable cash deposit) from the Mamquam River Campground in Squamish. 

The land is privately owned by Coast Aggregates Ltd (now LaFarge Canada) who has generously allowed access through MRAS management.

Since 2008, we’ve enhanced the riverside trails and built safety railings, viewing

platforms and access points. With our sister organization, the Squamish Paddling Club,

we hosted a few Mamquam River Whitewater Festivals and one Nationals Junior Slalom

Race.

In 2011, MRAS applied for and received an Olympic Legacy Grant of $25,000.00 to

build a Whitewater Clubhouse/Storage Facility at the Kayak Site but, due to insurance

challenges and changing recreational needs, has since re-directed these monies back

into downtown Squamish towards building an Ocean Kayak storage facility, run by the

Squamish Paddling Club.

In 2013, in collaboration with Skookum Power Corp. and the Ministry of Forests, MRAS

built another Kayak Put-in/take-out at 9 Mile in the Upper Mamquam Watershed,

demonstrating the importance of a recreational voice for this area. The Kayak Put-in

includes parking, signage, outhouse, trail, picnic table and access to river. A

conservative estimate on the value of this infrastructure would be $15,000 at that time.

In 2014, MRAS introduced the Mamquam River Campground vision to the recreation

community in Squamish and with overwhelming support, fundraised over $7000.00 to

begin the process. Environmental Testing was performed and General Liability Insurance purchased. A Riparian Area Assessment was also an important step before we could rezone the land. With further fundraising and in-kind donations we completed the Flood Hazard Management Plan, Site Bio-Inventory and Fire Management Plan.

In 2015, the District of Squamish waived rezoning fees and in May, 2016 MRAS

succeeded in the final adoption of our rezoning application. Shortly thereafter, MRAS

signed a 30 year Provincial License of Occupation and became a federally registered

Charity. MRAS fundraising begins in earnest. MRAS applied for a federal Canada 150 Infrastructure grant twice but was unsuccessful. Thankfully, it all came together when the Whistler-Blackcomb Foundation came on-board with a $22,000 grant. At this same time, Dave McRae of Triack Resources offered us a genuine half-price discount to clear the land. Dave was familiar with the site and over many months, he and his excavator helped design the

campground.

John fundraised from the three run-of-river hydro producers sharing the same river to

support the vision. The District of Squamish, Anthem Properties and the Sea to Sky

Gondola all committed significant dollars as did many equipment contractors in town.

MEC, Valhalla Pure Outfitters, Climb-On Equipment and the Escape Route all

supported the cause. See our Donators plaque below.

We opened the Mamquam River Campground in the summer of 2017, only to be shut

down by Vancouver Coastal Health a week later because we didn’t have outhouse

permits and had not built them to code (metal versus plastic). This fiasco forced us to

request more help from the District, which came slowly over the following 12 months.

Officially, the Mamquam River Campground opened for its first season May 1st, 2018.

The vision continues.