Currently CWR has a Parks Use Permit Application with BC Parks to extend our use of the Bedwell Trail for Horse Use into Strathcona Park. This trail is currently closed due to bridge washouts. In our application we intend to build new bridges and reopen the trail for the public. To justify our costs, funded solely by resort operations, we are asking for the permit of guided horse trips on this old logging road. There has however, been much misinformation spread through the media regarding our application.
Today I will try to clear the air as much as possible for the public. There are a few non-profit groups which try to push as much misinformation as possible in order to sway opinion. However, I hope with this post the public may learn the facts regarding our current Parks Use Permit. In a recent article by Richard Boyce, on Wednesday July 9 2008, all of the misinformation I’ve heard to date has been summed up into one article.
Here are the key fictional statements followed by the facts:
FICTION- "CWR would like to build a horse trail 14km into Strathcona Park through the
pristine Bedwell Valley to You Creek"
FACT- in actuality CWR intends to use the same old mining road built over 100 years ago that is currently being used on the CWR property with no ill impact to the environment. This hard pack mining and logging road begins at the base of the Bedwell Estuary and continues through CWR property all the way to You Creek. This road has been used for over 100 years and is still usable.
FICTION- "There (at You Creek) they plan to build tent platforms, corrals, and toilets for their exclusive clients".
FACT- The tent platforms at this location was a suggestion of BC Parks to provide additional benefit to the public similar to existing facilities at Bedwell Lake. There would be no exclusivity for CWR and instead there would be a specific number of platforms for use solely by the public throughout the year.
FICTION- "The general public will not benefit from this deal".
FACT- Currently the trail is closed to the public due to the dangers of washed out and damaged bridges at river crossings. By allowing CWR to reopen and maintain the trail including the construction of new bridges at CWR’s cost, the general public will again find use of this area. New bridges will allow the safe passage of the public. The addition of tent platforms and facilities will add to the comfort of your hike through the park and Clayoquot Sound.
FICTION- "As a result of these costs (water taxi’s, barging, or floatplane transport to/from the mouth of Bedwell at the start of the logging road) the proposed horse trail would be for the exclusive use of CWR guests".
FACT- Since CWR opened in 2000 at Bedwell Sound we have always welcomed hikers to pass through our property on the way through the Bedwell Trail. Just last week we picked up a couple who chartered a floatplane into the CWR property and we escorted them via truck to the other side. This fact has not changed. The cost of transportation is not a cause to create exclusivity for CWR. The same could be said for travel to Mt Kilimanjaro- the cost of travel to the Mountain from Canada make this an exclusive vacation only for a precious few. This is simply not the case. There are costs involved in all travel, and for those that would choose to hike the Bedwell Trail and terminate their travels to/from the Bedwell estuary would have to arrange transportation to/from Tofino.
FICTION- "Today the policy from the Master Plan for Strathcona Park clearly states that no horses are allowed in the Bedwell Valley".
FACT- The master plan doesn’t specifically state that Horses are not allowed in this area of the park. The area is deemed- ‘Wilderness Recreation- which does state that horse use ‘may’ be allowed in the area. However, it does not specifically allow or disallow horses at present. Hence, our application for a Parks Use Permit. If horses were specifically not allowed in the area our Parks Use Permit would not even be considered.
FICTION- "One of the main reasons for not allowing horses onto parklands is that they eat hay which often contains seeds from invasive species resulting in the spread of noxious and exotic plants".
FACT- Due to our intended use of sterilized feed this would not be an issue. We would solely use sterilized hay for horses intended for use within the park.
FICTION- "Other concerns include: soil erosion grazing impacts on a delicate ecosystem, and damage to the banks of streams, rivers, and lakes…. Regular groups of multiple horse riders will
significantly impact this sensitive ecology".
FACT- One of the most important parts of a Parks Use Permit is the completion of an Environmental Impact Assessment. If specialists deem that horses will cause a negative impact on the park then the Parks Use Permit would not be accepted. Last month an impact assessment was performed for the Bedwell trail for the intended use of our application and the results are looking very positive.
FICTION- "Allowing horses into Strathcona Park may establish a precedent for all parks in BC".
FACT- BC Parks looks at each Parks Use Permit Application on an individual basis and applies their judgment to each instance case-by-case. There are currently several parks in BC (including Wells Grey and Manning Park) which already allow horse use, this fact is not being considered for our application- just the same as our horse use wouldn’t be used to set precedent for future applications.
MORE FACTS- What our opposition to our Parks Use Permit won’t tell you- The local Ahousaht First Nations Traditional Territory includes most of Clayoquot Sound and the Bedwell Trail. The Ahoushat people came with us to visit the Minister of Environment to state their case for the Bedwell Trail, which included their support of our application.
I hope this clears up some of the misinformation brought about in the media so now you, the public can make an informed decision.
If you have interest in our Parks Use Permit, or the Master Plan I suggest you contact the BC Minister of Environment Barry Penner and let him know about your concerns at 250-387-1187, env.minister@gov.bc.ca
This is a responce email I sent regarding Richard Boyses's Post:
This headline is really slanted and is, in fact, false. There is no "privatization" going on in allowing horses into Strathcona Park, this is being fed by a few radicals from the Friends of Strathcona Park and there is a great deal of false information in what is coming out. The proposed "trail" is an old mining and logging road, all gravel, and the horses will not harm it with their hooves. At present there are two other sites where horses are allowed in Strathcona Park. This application is not precedent setting at all, as permits for horses were already done years ago. What the Wilderness Resort is applying for is a temporary permit, not something exclusive or permanent. In fact, the resort would help to ensure a trail for the public to access as it is presently overgrown and not passable.
I know what goes on in the Bedwell Valley having lived here for over 40 years and know that if the resort wasn't there, there would be logging, mining, poaching, trophy hunting and a lot more taking place. Clayoquot Wilderness Resort works to co-exist with the wildlife there in one of the most amazing ways, having bears, elk, cougar, wolves and more all passing through or eating grass in the field that was cleared of alder left over after logging. It is the most amazing interrelationship between the wildlife and humans that I have ever encountered.
The Bedwell vally is not pristine by any reach of the imagination, it was logged and mined many years ago and is finally stabilizing and becoming beautiful once again. The Wilderness Resort has created something that is beneficial, beautiful and an asset to all generations and walks of people. They charge a lot of money to go there because they have to, to maintain wilderness tourism in a remote place with the high cost of fuel, travel, staff, food, equipment, etc. is beyond belief. We know, as we go by boat to our home and fuel costs are very high. Not only do they work extremely hard for very little return there, in spite of the high costs to stay there, but they also have put in salmon spawning channels which is where the majority of the remaining wild salmon in the Bedwell survived in the past few years of extremely harsh weather here on the coast. They have built a bird-of-prey flying cage where eagles, owls, hawks and other wild birds are returned to the wild and rehabilitated. They are doing a survey of sea lice on wild juvenile salmon in the Bedwell Inlet where there are at present at least 6 fish farms that the salmon must migrate past. These initiatives are helped by additional costs to visitors to the resort and this is at the request of the Wilderness Resort management.
The Wilderness Resort employs First Nations people from Ahousaht and works closely with members of the community in helping to find alternative sources of employment other than resource extraction. At the open house hearings regarding this proposal, Elders and Hereditary Chiefs came from Ahousaht to Tofino to attend the meeting to specifically support the Wilderness Resort's efforts and spoke highly of the work they are doing and the respectufl relationship that exists between them.
While the people who are claiming these false claims to create a hostile environment for the Clayoquot Wilderness Resort's existence, mining trucks rumble through Strathcona Park daily, giant fans can be heard in the heart of the park from the blowers a mile deep into the earth, dams have destroyed the shoreline of Buttle Lake which was flooded and mine tailings ponds are filling daily.
We fought hard to protect Strathcona Park when more mines were proposed for it over ten years ago, being charged and fined for obstruction. We helped to start Friends of Strathcona Park to prevent further destruction. Although we are no longer members of FOCS, we feel that the priorities that are being set by the people against the Wilderness Resort's proposal need to be examined. Wilderness Tourism just might be the one thing that may save some of our wilderness.
Right now on the west side of Strathcona Park, 500,000 cubic metres of old growth forest are being removed from Clayoquot Sound, dams are in the works for hydro electric power, some of the highest concentration of fish farms on the west coast exists adjacent to the rivers within Strathcona Park, and a copper mine is proposed for the heart of Clayoquot Sound. Maybe it is time for people to reassess just what is permanently "destructive" and what is actually contributing to a better future for us all, as we all need to survive somehow. All the best to you, For All Our Relations, Susanne Hare in Clayoquot Sound
Posted by: Susanne Hare Lawson | July 15, 2008 at 01:04 PM