As a new resident of Kamloops living in the Aberdeen neighbourhood this is a great exercise to be better situated in my surroundings. Kamloops has been around for a long time with deep indigenous roots dating back nearly 10,000 years. Kamloops has a great ecological history regarding glaciers, unique climate, and somewhat recent urban modifications.

Kamloops used to be a water filled valley, but with the high altitude of the Aberdeen neighbour, where I am living now, was never submerged.  Many of the prominent hills we see today are made up of those volcanic remnants. During the ice age, the Cordilleran ice sheet covered the area. When the glaciers melted nearly 10,000 years ago, this is when we see the valley filled with water. Though the water didn’t stay around, or we wouldn’t be residing here today. The ‘lake’ drained and made way for the quick waters of the Thompson River, north and south. These rivers cut deep trenches into the valley floor, and the heavy erosion left steep terraces, deep gullies, and the famous silt bluffs. Since the valley floor was so narrow, there was no choice but to expand up land, to now what we know as Aberdeen, Sahali, and Batchlor Heights that are on the steep hillsides.  Moving closer to present time, Kamloops was a critical hub for the fur trade. Fort Kamloops, which started in 1811, was marked as one of the first major economic shifts in the area. With the uproar of the fur trade there were thousands of horses traveling through which led to the Secwépemc developing the horse culture. By the mid-1800s, horses roamed the valley floors. Unlike deer which roamed widely, horses cropped the native bluebunch wheatgrass all the way to the root, which was a severe blow to the lower grassland zones. Following the mid 1800s was the gold rush that created a demand for beef to feed the minors, which birthed the ranching industry. The ranchers didn’t have proper fencing for the animals which led to packing down the once fluffy and delicate material that was essential for the growth of bluebunch wheatgrass.

Moving closer to present time, the community was growing and expanding up hill. Neighbourhoods like Aberdeen and corporate subdivisions around Holyrood Circle formed which altered the physical landscape.  Today the Holyrood Circle is an example of an urban wildland interface. 

References 

BC Foundation Specialties Ltd. (2024). BC Foundation Specialties. https://www.bcfoundations.ca/areas/kamloops 

Mountaineer, R. (2025, July 3). Kamloops: Interior BC’s Hidden Gem. Rockymountaineer.Com; Rocky Mountaineer. https://www.rockymountaineer.com/blog/kamloops-interior-bcs-hidden-gem 

Ewing, T. E. (1981). Regional stratigraphy and structural setting of the Kamloops Group, south-central British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 18(9), 1464–1477. https://doi.org/10.1139/e81-137 

Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection. (n.d.). Retrieved September 4, 2026, from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/environment/plants-animals-and-ecosystems/species-ecosystems-at-risk/brochures/grasslands_southern_interior.pdf 

Hamilton, N. P., Elliot, N., Campbell, I. T., Bassett, E., Bradley, C., DeLury, L., Larade, S., & Burton, P. J. (2026). Managing forage and ecosystems in the West beyond the West: recounting a century of reference areas and rangeland ecology in British Columbia, Canada. Facets, 11, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2025-0391