Clyak River Airport

The closure was for economic reasons tied directly to the cessation of local industrial activity. The Clyak River Airport was a private airstrip constructed to support a remote logging camp, likely operated by Western Forest Products or a similar company active in the Rivers Inlet area. Once the timber in the vicinity was harvested and the camp was decommissioned, the airstrip no longer had a purpose and was no longer maintained, leading to its effective closure.

The site is currently abandoned and is slowly being reclaimed by nature. Satellite imagery of the coordinates (51.885622, -127.353264) clearly shows the remnant of a single, unpaved (gravel or dirt) runway. The runway surface is degraded, and vegetation, particularly alder trees, is encroaching from the sides. There are no signs of recent use, and the strip is considered completely unusable for aircraft without extensive clearing, grading, and repair. The area is uninhabited, and the former logging camp facilities are likely dismantled or in ruins.

Clyak River Airport was a vital piece of infrastructure for the forestry industry on British Columbia's remote Central Coast. In a region with no road access, the airstrip served as a critical transportation link for the Clyak River logging camp. Its primary operations involved flying in personnel, light-to-medium cargo, replacement parts for machinery, and emergency medical evacuations. The airport would have primarily handled rugged STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) bush planes, such as the de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver, DHC-3 Otter, and possibly larger aircraft like the DHC-6 Twin Otter, which are essential for accessing remote Canadian wilderness.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Clyak River Airport. The economic driver for its existence—a specific logging operation—is gone. Given its extremely remote location, the high cost of reactivating and maintaining an airstrip, and the absence of any nearby communities or new industrial projects, there is no practical or financial incentive for its restoration. The airport will almost certainly remain abandoned and continue to revert to forest.