History

• 10 million
  years ago
• 13,000
  years ago
• 4,000
  years ago
• 1700's
• Early 1800's
• Mid 1800's
• Late 1800's
• Early 1900's
• 1950's
• 1960's
• 1970's
• 1980's
• 1990's
• 2000's
• What's next?

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13,000 years ago

Approximately 13,000 years ago the Lower Mainland began it's present ice free status. When that finally happened, the coastal areas were flooded by the sea. The enormous weight of the ice had depressed the land as much as 250 meters. Most of the Fraser Valley was under salt water. It would take another one or two thousand years to rise back up to the present level. By eleven thousand years ago the land was similar to what you see now. The Fraser River was busy dumping sediment at it's mouth, far upriver from where it is now and helping to build most of what today we call the Lower Fraser Valley.

As the climate warmed and the land dried, the plants returned. Initialy it was cooler and drier with Lodgepole pine the dominate tree. As it got warmer and wetter, the coast slowly developed into our modern day temperate rain forest. The fertile earth, mild climate and lots of rain supported huge Douglas Fir plus a scattering of Western Red Cedar, Hemlock and Big Leaf Maple. They towered over ferns, salal and the numerous other plants that grew thickly. Five thousand years ago the park would have looked very similar to what's left of our old growth rain forest.

The abundant plant life supported an equally diverse animal population. The Fraser and the Straight of Georgia had a rich marine life. Roaming in the park you would have found black bears, Roosevelt elk, Black-tailed deer and cougars. There were also many smaller animals living in the area. Some of these animals can still be found in Royal Kwantlen.

The mild weather and abundance of life also attracted people to the west coast at least 10,000 years ago. Initially they led a hunter/gather nomadic life.

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