The Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail a.k.a. the Nuxalk Carrier Grease Trail is 420 km long, with an elevation change of 1800 metres (BC Parks). It is a part of the route across Canada followed by Alexander Mackenzie in 1789-1793 (Alexander Mackenzie Voyageur Route Association, January 2013)

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The Nuxalk-Carrier Grease Trail stretches 420 km from the confluence of the Fraser and Blackwater Rivers north of Quesnel, through Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, to the Bella Coola Valley. This is part of a network of traditional trails used for many thousands of years by Aboriginal peoples of the Coast and of the Interior. Historically the trail was important for maintaining ties — and sometimes for waging warfare. It was also a conduit for trading eulachon grease, obsidian, hides, salmon and other goods between First Nations. It was designated in 1988 as the “Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail” to commemorate the westward journey of Scottish explorer Alexander Mackenzie in 1792-1793. Thanks to Aboriginal guides from a number of the communities, Mackenzie reached the Pacific Coast via the grease trail at Bella Coola. He was the first known European to have crossed North America north of Mexico. Towards a New Management Plan: Today the grease trail presents both opportunities and challenges. As always, it connects six First Nations — the Nuxalk (Bella Coola), Ulkatcho (Anahim Lake), Lhoosk’uz Dene (Kluskus), Lhtako Dene (Red Bluff), Nazko and Lheidli T’enneh. In 2011 representatives of these communities formed a working group to explore options for future care and management of the trail. (Fraser Basin Council website, February 2013)

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"The Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail, also known as the Nuxalk Carrier Grease Trail (AMHT) has been in use for up to 4000 years or more. The route was used by Nuxalk and Carrier peoples to access the ocean and its many resources, and the Fraser River and points in between for trade and food procurement. In the late 1700s there was a push by the Northwest Company (a fur trading company) to find, preferably, a water route across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. Alexander Mackenzie, an employee and shareholder of the Northwest Company was commissioned to see if a route existed. In 1793, after exploring the Mackenzie River to the Arctic in 1789 Mackenzie and nine men made his way by canoe across the Rocky Mountains, up the Parsnip River, across the divide, down the McGregor River to the Fraser River. After getting as far south as Alexandria on the Fraser, he was advised by Nazcotin people to turn north again and access the Pacific overland, via what Mackenzie called the Great Road. Guided by Nazcotin people, Mackenzie made it to the Pacific, and became the first known European to successfully cross the continent and return to tell about it. On a rock facing Dean Channel, Mackenzie inscribed the following: Alex Mackenzie, from Canada, by land, 22nd July 1783." His explorations and recommendations contributed to the expansion of the fur trade westward. In 1982, a Canada/British Columbia agreement for recreation and conservation on the Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail was signed. The primary purpose of the agreement was to accord recognition, protection and heritage status to the route followed by Alexander Mackenzie. In 1987, after years of hard work and input from governments (Federal, Provincial and First Nations), stakeholders and the public, a memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed between the Ministry of Forests and the then Ministry of Tourism, Recreation and Culture stating that the management of a designated heritage trail be the responsibility of the Forest Service in accordance with the approved Management Plan (with the exception of archaeological sites along the trail which are managed by the Archaeology Branch). In 1993 a Management Plan for the Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail was developed in accordance with the MOA, which takes into consideration 9 resource values and uses, outlines heritage, recreation and landscape management objectives, and gives guidelines and recommendations for other resource development." (Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail - Nuxalk Carrier Grease Trail Reconnaisance Study/date not cited))

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