Press Release Tuesday, July 31, 2001

Box 442, Qualicum Beach, BC, V9K 1S9, ph. 250 752-6585
Press Release
Tuesday, July 31, 200l
BC Parks Gives BC Public August 3 Deadline to Determine Fate of Cathedral Grove
       As a result of overwhelming public response at a July 19, Qualicum Beach public meeting, BC Parks will be accepting public comment regarding the $1.3 million dollar proposed project to construct a 200 car and 20 bus parking lot, gift shop, interpretive centre, and public washroom facility in MacMillan Park (Cathedral Grove).

       “ The August 3 deadline for gathering public input is disappointing,” comments Annette Tanner, Western Canada Wilderness Committee Chairperson and organizer of the July 19 meeting that drew a standing room only crowd of over 225 people to hear BC Parks’ Parking lot proposal for MacMillan Park in Cathedral Grove. “Compared to attendance at the last public meeting in 1996, our July meeting showed an increase of over 2000 percent interest in what happens to Cathedral Grove.   It is my hope that BC Parks’ request for input for the proposed development in Cathedral Grove will be well publicized and the deadline hopefully extended, as this is a Park of provincial, national and international interest,” adds Tanner.

Please submit comments to: BC Parks office, Strathcona District, P.O. Box 1479, Highway 19, Parksville, B.C., V9P 2H4, phone: 954-4600, fax: 248-8584 email: stdinfo@victoria1.gov.bc.ca Deadline: Friday, August 3.

Backgrounder:   The proposed location for the parking lot development is on the Cameron River floodplain, an active floodplain within a designated Community Drinking Watershed.   This forest provides critical elk habitat and a windthrow buffer for the park.   A proposed 10 foot wide 800 metre long public walkway will be cleared through the middle of the Park to get people from the parking lot to the large tree.   A 1997 hydrological study shows how the locations of the blowdown events were related to the location of logging and roadbuilding.   An undisclosed number of trees in the park would be removed to accommodate Highways Construction Standards for left turns, acceleration and deceleration lanes. Without the Highways drawings, the future site, requiring left turns across the highway may not be the safest location for the parking lot.
- for further information call Annette Tanner 250 752-6585 -