Alberni Valley Local Events

 

----- Original Message -----
From: S&A Tanner
To: gptaylor@shaw.ca
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2001 11:58 AM
Subject: Meeting Mon. Dec. 3, 2001 re: Little Qualicum/Cathedral Grove


There will be a meeting on Monday, Dec. 3, 2001, after the Town of Qualicum Beach presentation at Annette's house to discuss current strategy and to plan new strategy for the Little Qualicum River Floodplain and Cathedral Grove. Thank you for your support. Please read the following schedule of council and regional district presentations, as your presence at the meetings represents the community support for our concerns.


CATHEDRAL GROVE 
 

  • Joyce Murray will receive a letter tomorrow informing her that we have our first 2,000 signatures on the petitions that we would like to present to her. There is a steady stream of tourists through the Grove every weekend, rain or shine and we are collecting signatures from all over the world every weekend.
  • There has been significant blowdown adjacent to the recently acquired portion of Cathedral Grove on the Floodplain, where the new parking lot was to have been constructed.


I am planning to address:

  • the Town of Qualicum Beach, Dec.3, 7:30 pm
  • the Regional District of Nanaimo, Dec. 4, 7:30 pm
  • the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District Dec. 7, 1:30 pm
  • the City of Port Alberni, Dec. 10, 8:00 pm
  • the City of Parksville, Dec. 17, 7:00 pm, to enlist their support for enlarging MacMillan Park.
     

LITTLE QUALICUM RIVER FLOODPLAIN
 

  • The current Eaglefest has been extended to Dec. 16, as the Eagles seem to be a bit late this year.
  •  There will be a special tour to the record 3rd tallest Sitka Spruce in British Columbia located on the Little Qualicum River Floodplain, in Qualicum Beach, where Weyerhaeuser is proposing to log. The tour is Dec. 9, meet at 1:00pm at the Riverside Resort at the Old Island Highway and Kinkade Rd.
  • Weyerhaeuser is asking for a trade for the floodplain and has set Dec. 1, 200l as the expiry date for their offer. The company has been unwilling to give us a valuation for the land, as they would like to have a trade. We have been unable to pursue fundraising and grantwriting without the company’s consent to give us a valuation or their consent to sell. The company has proposed to sell and subdivide the property after their proposed plans to log the floodplain forest. It is the second largest floodplain forest remaining on the east side of Vancouver Island. (Environment Canada and Ministry of Environment’s Sensitive Ecosystem Inventory for East Vancouver Island) It is one of the most popular sport fishing rivers on Vancouver Island.
  • The century old trail from Qualicum Beach’s Andreef Rd. down to the river, will be sold off and subdivided. The trail is within the Town of Qualicum Beach’s Official Community Plan, and therefore, the public is under the impression that the trail belongs to the town and the public.


Backgrounder: Cathedral Grove, Vancouver Island’s Stellar Provincial Park Tourist Attraction

  • We would like to thank the Honourable Joyce Murray, Minister of Water, Air and Land Protection, for meeting with us and other stakeholders about the MacMillan Park problems.
  • We are appreciative of the fact that while seeing the need to solve the traffic congestion and overuse of the park, the Minister also recognized that it was not a good idea to rush into building a big parking lot inside the current boundaries of the park.
  • On September 6th, Minister Murray put on hold the parking lot construction in an ecologically sensitive area on the floodplain near the Cameron River.
  • We are also pleased that the Ministry now is working towards getting more of Cathedral Grove incorporated into the park through negotiations with Weyerhaeuser, the landowner of the rest of Cathedral Grove.
  • However, we believe strongly that adding only a 100 hectares (the amount of land that is currently under negotiation) to the tiny 157 hectare MacMillan Provincial Park is not enough!
  • We are asking that another 400 hectares of the valley bottom be acquired from Weyerhaeuser. This would encompass all of the remaining giant ancient Douglas firs in the Grove plus some buffer second growth areas that someday, if left to grow to maturity could replace the aging trees within the current park.
  • The expanded park will more than pay for itself through more visitor days spent in the surrounding communities. Recent Tourism studies show that the number one reason people come to Vancouver Island is for its natural beauty. This natural, Old Growth Forest is accessible to all.
  • The existing Park is at risk of continuing to be severely impacted by the ongoing windthrow risk. At its present size, we risk the chance of losing the existing park in its entirety due to the impact of 2 lesser windthrow events and one major windthrow event since 1981.
  • Anyone that revisits the Park today quickly recognizes the change and the impact recent windthrow events have had on the Park.
  • Weyerhaeuser is willing to negotiate a trade for the whole of the Grove and we believe that the transfer of these lands into the park could be done without costing the taxpayers any cash.
  • We have urged the company to hold off on any further logging in Cathedral Grove for one year to allow time for the government and the company to reach an agreement.
  • We are asking the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District to support the provincial government in thinking big and in expanding the current negotiation from only seeking to acquire 100 hectares to acquiring 400 hectares. Cathedral Grove is unique and it is the very last chance to have a large big treed park adjacent to a major highway on Vancouver Island or anywhere, for that matter, in BC.
  • With less than 2% in Parkland on the East side of Vancouver Island it is imperative that this entire Old Growth Forest be preserved.
  • If there ever was a golden opportunity for a conservation “win-win” this is it!
    We would like the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District to resolve to:
     
  1. send a letter to the Honourable Joyce Murray, Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection, asking that the Minister initiate a cost benefit study regarding expanding MacMillan Provincial Park by acquiring approximately 500 hectares, of private land from Weyerhaeuser which includes both old growth and second growth forest to the south of the current park, instead of the 100 hectares currently being considered where the oldest and largest giants were logged one year ago.
  2. send a letter to Weyerhaeuser requesting that they voluntarily suspend any logging in the 500 hectares adjacent to MacMillan Provincial Park for one year to give an opportunity to study and possibly acquire the lands for park expansion.
     

Yours truly,

Annette Tanner,
Chairperson.
 

Translate this page automatically.

Local Alberni Valley Issues Alberni Environmental Coalition