Fort Nelson is a community in northeast British Columbia, Canada, within the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality (NRRM). It held town status prior to 6 February 2009, when it amalgamated with the former Northern Rockies Regional District to form the NRRM, becoming its administrative centre. The NRRM is the first regional municipality in the province.

The community lies east of the northern Rocky Mountains in the Peace River region along the Alaska Highway at Mile 300. The town is approximately a four hour drive from the nearest urban centre, Fort St. John, but could potentially take six hours under winter driving conditions.No maternity ward, unreliable medevac, dangerous roads: why doctors tell pregnant women to leave Fort Nelson The Alaska Highway both north and south of Fort Nelson is usually well plowed in the winter, and offers scenic views year-round.

According to the 2021 Canadian Census, the population was 2,611, a drop of 22.5% from the 2016 census.

History Fort Nelson, named in honour of the British naval hero Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, was established by the North West Company in 1805 as a fur-trading post. Due to fires, floods and feuds, Fort Nelson is in its fifth location.

World War II Fort Nelson Airport was a valuable asset for allied military forces in World War II, as it served as an airbase for the United States Air Force and for the Royal Canadian Air Force. Contrary to popular belief that the construction of the Alaska Highway commenced in Dawson Creek, Fort Nelson was the original Mile 0 on the Alaska Highway because of the existence of a previously constructed road from Fort St. John to Fort Nelson. The United States Army built perhaps the most notable historical artifact in the area, the Alaska Highway. Construction began in 1942 out of a firm belief that Alaska faced a significant threat of Japanese invasion. Initial highway construction was performed by over 11,000 U.S. soldiers. After approximately nine months, the highway was finally completed, making Fort Nelson a bustling service-centre along the road. After the Japanese surrender of 1945, the U.S. Army ceded the Canadian portion of the highway to the Canadian government, which it made accessible to the public in 1948.

Post-World War II In the early 1950s the first five acres were sold to locals, which marked the start of the community as a separate entity from the military. Oil and gas exploration in the early 1950s provided Fort Nelson with the industrial sector that it required to jump-start expansion of the community into what would eventually become the village of Fort Nelson in 1971. However, due to collapse in oil price in 2014, most gas fields and associated rigs have been shut down and put out of operation on an indefinite basis.Northeast B.C. Rig Report - 17 October After the completion of BC Hydro's natural gas power plant to provide electricity to the region, Fort Nelson experienced true growth. A railway was built by the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (BC Rail) up to Fort Nelson in 1971 which allowed efficient transportation of the local industry's major products (lumber, and gas) to larger markets in the south. The railway was left in abandoned state due to lack of use in the 2010s and was subsequently closed down. No facility has since been built to replace the railway to ship commodity to markets. Renewable energy company Peak Renewables is currently in negotiations with the provincial government and CN Rail to make improvements to the rail line as they develop their Pellet Plant in Fort Nelson.

Post-millennium

Fort Nelson held its first annual Northern Lights Festival in March 2019. The community welcomed hundreds of international visitors to experience the northern British Columbia lifestyle. The festival included dog sled races, trips to Liard Hot Springs, northern lights viewing, indigenous handgames and cultural celebrations, concerts from celebrated Canadian musicians, and many other events.

The closure of both forestry mills officially ended the major economic pillar in 2008, mainly due to the collapse in US housing prices and subprime mortgage crisis. The 2014 collapse in oil prices decimated the natural gas industry. Without oil production in the Horn River Basin and lack of pipeline access, many major oil companies, including Apache, Nexen and Encana, shut down their local production. With the bankruptcy of Endurance energy, many local workers were laid off. The Community Forest or boreal caribou protection initiative, with support of local First Nations and Mayor Gary Foster, impacted the potential logging quota and possible areas for new gas well development. The Community Forest would be out of a total of .

Since 2012, lack of access to maternal care has deterred many young professionals from relocating to Fort Nelson for work. In 2019, outages in electrical power, telephone service and internet access in 2017 disrupted the municipality. Lack of basic infrastructure, including user-friendly facilities, have deterred many tourists from enjoying local attractions.'Frustrated' wheelchair user calls for ramp at hot springs after he can no longer access pools On 26 March 2020, the shuttered Tackama mill was set on fire and suffered significant damage. Circumstances were suspicious and RCMP was called to investigate for any criminal element.

Due to the collapse of LNG price and the closure of the biggest private employer in the local region, Fort Nelson suffered an exodus of residents, including former business owners who cannot find jobs in their birthplace, and amongst the casualties of this economic downturn included the Fort Nelson dollar store. The owner of the Fort Nelson dollar store told CBC Daybreak North host Carolina de Ryk that '[she] just had no choice but to decide to close and try and make it out of here paying off people I owe money to.'Sign of the times: Fort Nelson dollar store to close amid economic downturn The owner of the dollar store predicted that 'A lot of people are hurting. A lot of people are leaving Fort Nelson and leaving their houses, either renting them out or just downright giving them back to the banks.' Average house values dropped from 282,000 in 2014 to 103,000 in 2019. Over a 5-year period, the house price dropped by 63.4%.Tumbler Ridge sees largest decline as 2016 property assessments released

On May 10, 2024, the entire town was evacuated as the result of a massive wildfire by nearby Parker Lake. The evacuation order was rescinded and residents were allowed to return on May 27. Due to the wildfire and a lack of a stable supply of gas, NorthRiver Midstream shut down their natural gas plant and laid off 42 unionized employees and six non-unionized employees.

Geography

Fort Nelson lies near the confluence of Fort Nelson River (which took the name from the community), Muskwa River and Prophet River. The entire region of the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality, of which Fort Nelson is the largest community, constitutes 10% of the province's total landmass. Fort Nelson is well known to be surrounded by mountainous beauty pertaining to the northern portion of the Rocky Mountains.

Wildlife

The Northern Rockies Regional Municipality is home to an extensive variety of wildlife which attracts many tourists and hunters to the region. Wildlife found in the area include western moose, black bear, grizzly bear, boreal woodland caribou, deer (white-tailed and mule), Rocky Mountain elk, wood bison, stone sheep, mountain goat, and northwestern wolf. The region, especially the area around the Liard Hot Springs, is home to several bird species such as the golden eagle, the bald eagle, and the great horned owl.

Climate Fort Nelson has a climate right on the boundary between a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) and a subarctic climate (Dfc), with a mean average of 4 months above 10 degrees Celsius placing it just within the former category. Winters, except when dry chinook winds blow from the Pacific Ocean, tend to be severely cold and generally dry with an average monthly snow depth of only , while summers are warm and occasionally rainy, though spells of hot weather are rare. Unusual for such a cold place, all 12 months have seen a temperature of above .

Fort Nelson is colder than anywhere else in British Columbia from November through February, but the mean average temperature during the summer is warmer than coastal areas even far south such as Victoria and comparable to Vancouver.

Demographics In the 2021 Canadian Census, Fort Nelson had a population of 2,611 living in 1,173 of its 1,622 total dwellings, a -22.4% change from its 2016 population of 3,366. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

As of the 2021 Canadian Census Fort Nelson had 700 Indigenous people made up of 440 First Nations, 215 Métis and 20 Inuit. Fort Nelson is a fairly young community in comparison to the rest of the province, with 20.5% of the population being under the age of 14. Approximately 30.97% of Fort Nelson residents over the age of 25 have attained an education beyond a high school certificate or equivalent in the forms of trades, colleges, or universities.

Fort Nelson is home to 2,611 residents, representing 66.15% of the NRRM's total population of 3,947 in 2021.

According to the 2021 census, only 295 people are aged 65 or over, representing only 11% of the overall town population.

Economy

Due to major decrease in oil price in 2014LNG in an era of lower oil prices and lack of pipeline access to the lucrative Asian market, the abundant natural gas in the Horn River Basin remains untapped.As LNG promise fades, property assessments decline in B.C.'s northOil & gas crash makes enrolment projection difficult for Fort Nelson schools Fort Nelson has experienced substantial contraction in economy, noted by significant reduction in business licenses, long term decline in school enrolment and increase in mortgage foreclosures.Fort Nelson struggles to rebuild ‘devastated’ forestry sector Before 2014, natural gas, forestry, tourism and agriculture made up the majority of local industry. Nowadays, the town heavily relies upon the government sector and tourism.

The majority of Fort Nelson's economic activity is currently concentrated in the tourism industry and government sector, and until recently, natural gas extraction and forestry. The forests surrounding Fort Nelson are part of Canada's boreal forest. Fort Nelson is on the southwest edge of the Greater Sierra oil and gas field.

In March 2021 the Fort Nelson First Nation received $40.5 million to develop the Clarke Lake Geothermal Project. Project developers are optimistic that this geothermal project will lead to significant economic development in the Fort Nelson region and serve as a model for other indigenous clean energy projects across Canada.

Natural gas