Blue River is a small community of 175 residents at the
2021 census in
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
, situated on
Highway 5 about halfway between
Kamloops
Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the North Thompson River, North and South Thompson Rivers, which join to become the Thompson River in Kamloops, and east of Kamloops Lake. The city is the ad ...
and
Jasper, Alberta It is located at the confluence of the
Blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...
and
North Thompson Rivers.
The local economy is supported by logging, tourism and transportation industries.
Geography
Blue River lies in a wide, gravelly part of the
North Thompson River valley. Its
podzolic soils are strongly acidic and coarse, with abundant sand, gravel and stones. Drainage is not as rapid as would be expected from the soils' coarse texture because the subsoils tend to be cemented.
The forests and mountains around Blue River have plentiful
big game such as deer,
moose
The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...
,
black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
and
grizzly bears, and
caribou. Birds include
osprey,
eagle
Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...
s,
woodpeckers and
ravens. The
mountain pine beetle has become the area's most significant insect.
Lodgepole pine is the most common tree at Blue River, with strong reproduction offsetting impacts from the mountain pine beetle. Other common native conifers are
Douglas fir,
Engelmann spruce,
subalpine fir,
western hemlock, and
western red cedar. Among deciduous trees, the
black cottonwood is largest;
trembling aspen and
paper birch are also prominent. Non-native trees which may be seen in Blue River include
green ash,
littleleaf linden,
silver maple, and
Norway maple.
Sugar maple,
burr oak,
northern red oak, and
butternut formerly thrived at the CNR Gardens.
Climate
Blue River has a
continental climate
Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm to hot summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in central and eastern parts of the three northern-tier continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), typi ...
which is subject to frequent modification by maritime air masses from the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
. The area is part of the world's only interior temperate rainforest that occupies parts of eastern British Columbia. Heavy and deep snow falls most winters. The most severe cold spells may send thermometer readings below . Rain is frequent in other seasons. Summer days are warm or occasionally hot, with
thunderstorms often spawning over the nearby mountains.
Transportation
Blue River has a railway station on the
Canadian National Railway. The station is served by
Via Rail's ''
The Canadian'' as a
request stop, with 48 hours advance notice required.
See also
*
*
Mud Lake Delta Provincial Park
References
{{reflist
External links
Blue River & Avola Tourist Information Website
Designated places in British Columbia
Unincorporated settlements in British Columbia
Thompson Country
Populated places in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District