ATHABASCA – When Kevin and Monique Mosich planted a line of poplar trees on their property south of Wandering River less than a decade ago, they didn’t know they were also planting seedlings to something that would grow even larger than those trees.
Those seedlings, now more than 30 feet tall, stand on the south side of the Mosich-owned-and-operated Highway 63 RV Park, which, like those trees, has grown faster and larger than Kevin and Monique ever intended — a seasonal community of strangers who have become quick friends, who return to a place they were showed kindness in their time of need. Year after year, that adopted community comes back and continues to support those who took them in.
This particular RV park opened with 10 stalls in 2010, catering to oilfield and highway workers who would set up for days or weeks at a time and move along when their business was done. There was a lot of work in the area at the time, but the northeast arm of Athabasca County had also long been known as a bountiful recreational destination for hunters, fishers and outdoorsmen and women of all kinds, and the number of private campgrounds grew, and continued to grow to accommodate all those who wanted to visit and stay for a while.
The Mosichs and dozens of others were happy to oblige and were very quickly operating very successful businesses. One day, Monique says, a man drove up and said he wanted a stall, but not for work. Instead, he wanted a recreational stall.
“Long story short, that was 2010 and he's still here,” she joked. “He's our mayor. He said he's dying here. We're gonna bury him here.”
That’s the kind of connection people develop when they visit — they want to stay, and see the area prosper.
All of those new campgrounds came in very useful during the Fort McMurray fires in May 2016 as evacuees headed out of danger south on Highway 63, looking for somewhere to set up camp. Walking through the site at the beginning of September in 2022, you’ll find many of them still there, as they have been for months of every year since. Many of them, by the way, also have six-year-old children.
“There's a lot of stories like that. The evacuation, as terrible as it was, really opened people's eyes to how welcoming this community is,” said Monique, during a tour of the park Sept. 2.
The Mosichs’ well-manicured, fully serviced RV park has doubled in size, with the lots now adorned with modern fifth wheel trailers, each with their own storage buildings, fire pits, decking and other homey accessories. They could easily be mistaken for one’s own backyard. There is also an above ground outdoor pool on the premises, not to mention a tiki bar. A few hundred yards away, a private community picnic area, and not far from that, over a small wooden bridge near the Lac La Biche River to the west, a large community vegetable garden awaits the summer residents.
Giving back
There are a lot of amenities, to be sure, but there are plenty of other sites around the area that offer a more rustic, outdoor experience, without the running water, tiki bar and pool. Regardless, many owners hold community events throughout the season for campers in their specific campgrounds.
The Mosichs, for instance, operate two, Highway 63 RV Park and Round Lake Campground about 15 km away. They also hold charity events, one of which is the annual Campground Cup Golf Tournament at the Riverbank Golf Club, organized by Monique and another local campground owner Lisa Penney of Better Den Ome Campground.
This year, the money raised went to STARS — $7,100.
Shannon Paquette, community engagement officer for STARS, was on hand at the golf course Sept. 2 to accept the donation from the three campgrounds. She pointed out it was enough to pay for a whole STARS mission.
In 2022, the air ambulance service has flown 17 missions to respond to emergencies in Athabasca County, about on par with the average of 23 in a year. Since 2010, there have been 443 missions in the county.
“We are so amazed at the community support for STARS. Donations like the $7,100 cheque given by the three campgrounds in Wandering River is what allows us to continue on our mission to save lives, and we are so grateful,” said Paquette.
“It’s really important to note that our tenants are the reason that this is so successful. They are unbelievable. They’re pretty cool,” Kevin said.
Monique added it is often their tenants that are the sponsors of the fundraiser, and many of them are from Fort McMurray, so the aftereffects of Wandering River’s kindness during the fires, continues to be repaid with large sponsorship dollars coming from the community a few hundred kilometres up the highway.
STARS was chosen as a recipient this year because of the important work they do, especially along the Highway 63 corridor, said Monique, adding it was also a nice tie-in to seeing STARS build a new fuel cache at the Athabasca Airport.
“We live in such a rural area that you never know,” she said.
The annual Rubber Duck Rally on the Lac La Biche River, which runs through the golf course, also took place Sept. 2, raising $3,280. Half of that was donated to the Wandering River Fire Department with the other half split between the owners of the three fastest ducks.
Campground controversy
In recent years, the number of campgrounds and RV parks in that part of Athabasca County has raised concerns among many Wandering River area residents who cite increased traffic, improper infrastructure and more crime as reasons to slow down development. ATV traffic in particular has been a sore spot as well as the redistricting of agricultural land.
For the Mosichs though, and the dozens of other campground owners, they are providing a valid and much-needed form of economic development for the region. For a time, land use bylaw amendments involving new or expanded campgrounds in the Wandering River area came before Athabasca County council at almost every meeting. Many of those were met with dozens of objections at a time, which either led to outright denial or long pauses.
What also became clear was that for as many permitted, rate-paying campsite owners as there were, at least as many unpermitted stalls operated under the county’s nose, and when incidents involving campers arose, all the campgrounds were lumped into one group.
“For years, we were a little bit complacent. We just listened to the stories and got frustrated and didn’t do anything about it. So, finally in the last couple of years we started to fight back a little bit to prove or disprove some of the things they were saying about crime,” said Monique, who’s happy to point out the Mosichs’ two campgrounds have a detailed list of rules and bylaws that must be followed, or campers can be evicted.
ATVs, Kevin pointed out, are legal to operate, responsibly, on county roads. He sees more regular education on the rules and more positive interactions with campers, owners, RCMP, county enforcement services and municipal leaders as good signs for the future.
“This council really seems ready to listen to both sides,” he said. “It’s nobody’s fault that it got big fast, people wanted to be here and were able to put six campers on a piece of land, and there were no rules.”
Several campground owners in the area formed a governing body of sorts in 2020 to share information, establish consistency and best practices; address valid concerns from the community; address false and negative information; and to speak about the benefits their operations bring to the area.
The Mosichs’ two campgrounds are now members of the Wandering River Campground Owner Committee, which is open to all campground owners in the area, but currently consists of the operators of Better Den Ome Campground; Haywood Campground; Hidden Spruce Campground; Highway 63 RV Park; Round Lake Campground; Northern Lights RV Park; SRS Storage & RV Park; and River’s Bend RV Park,
“I think if it weren’t for campgrounds, and not just our campgrounds ... people would not see what’s out here in Wandering River, because it is beautiful, and there’s good reasons why people want to camp here,” Monique said.
