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Addressing Local Concerns A summary of Environment Minister Joan Sawicki's meeting with Port Alberni's Environmentally Friendly, July 20, 2000 British Columbia Minister of Environment Hon. Joan Sawicki met in person with Port Alberni locals on Thursday, July 20, 2000 to hear comments about local environmental issues. A number of different concerns were voiced by those in attendance. Matters discussed included the Fawn Creek culverts, the Beaufort Mountain Range, the Log Train Trail, the Alberni Inlet fibre mat, Mount Arrowsmith, the potential aluminum smelter, conservation in Tofino, and Cathedral Grove. The first speaker was Mike Dickie, representative of the Hal Creek and Mount Hal Watershed Protection Society. After commenting that he had written Miss Sawicki "numerous letters over the years", Mr. Dickie went on to explain his concerns about the Fawn Creek culverts, which, due to improper installation, are misaligned and have caused enormous erosion over the years. The result of this, said Mr. Dickie, has been the prevention of significant salmon spawning for the last thirty years. In addition, the ineffectiveness of the culverts poses a serious hazard to the public, as clogging often occurs in winter, which causes water to flood the section of Beaver Creek Road under which Fawn Creek flows. A further problem, identified was that a local resident's home which sits on a bank above Fawn Creek is being steadily undermined by erosion due to the faulty culvert below. Mr. Dickie held the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Highways responsible for these problems, but insisted that the Ministry of Environment should also be directly concerned with this issue because of the inability of salmon to spawn in Fawn Creek. A second issue was raised by Mr. Dickie at this point, this time concerning private land logging on the Beaufort Mountain Range. After stating his ambition to see Miss Sawicki come together with D.F.O. and Timberwest (the company that privately owns the Beaufort Mountain Range) to apply the Forest Practices Code as the minimum regulation on the Range, he pointed out that Miss Sawicki had refused his request in a letter in March, 2000 to implement the Forest Practices Code even though former Premier Clark had previously recommended working out the conflict with Timberwest. The private holdings of Timberwest on the Beauforts were granted without public input, despite the fact that this area is a vital watershed, fish habitat, and wildlife corridor. Mr. Dickie recalled a meeting in 1997 held at Beaver Creek Hall which was meant to clarify how the water of local residents living below the mountain was protected from the possibility of being compromised by potential logging. Their conclusion was that it was not protected at all. Many groups have written on behalf of the Hal Creek and Mount Hal Protection Society to various levels of government about this issue. Jake Leyennar, unable to attend, had written points for Mr. Dickie to say of his behalf. These included the fact that lobbyists were fed up with talking and that they wanted the Forest Practices Code applied now. Leyennar also wrote that no salmon were left for any more mistakes to be made by the provincial government. Mr. Dickie then went on to quote a new letter he had just written addressed to Premier Dosanjh. Comments in this letter included the fact that the Protection Society had not yet heard from him, even though the sensitive Beaufort watershed and wildlife corridor was not protected for the citizens in any way. The letter carried a reminder that Premier Clark had done nothing himself to take any responsibility for such mismanagement, which has led to the absurd situation of foreign interests having rights on the mountain prior to locals living below it. Mr. Dickie's letter called for the F.P.C. to be applied on the Beauforts from Cathedral Grove to Wolf Creek. In closing, Mr. Dickie said that he would appreciate a subsequent meeting with Miss Sawicki so that he could provide her with further information and have her speak with an independent biologist about this issue. At this point, discussion was turned over to Mike Stini. He presented Miss Sawicki with dramatic photographs of the destruction that had already been wrought by Timberwest on the Beauforts and explained to her that a range of species are dependent on such habitat as the company is destroying. He mentioned that since no one is keeping track of habitat integrity, critical winter range is rapidly being extinguished. He recommended immediate government action to preserve the remaining winter range habitats and warned that the reason why the salmon populations died out was because no one paid attention to the importance of habitat; the same scenario could happen with terrestrial wildlife. Mr. Stini's then offered a number of requests to Miss Sawicki:
To the concerns raised by Mr. Dickie and Mr. Stini, Miss Sawicki answered that their arguments were "being heard". She said that in the last few months "the matter has come to the attention to Premier Dosanjh and is a current priority." In terms of the Forest Practices Code, however, conflicts about land values are yet to be resolved. The Minister's reply left Mr. Dickie unclear, and he asked Miss Sawicki whether she would be willing to commit to an agreement on the Beauforts immediately or in a short time. To this she answered that the Forest Practices Code "may not be the best tool" for addressing the issue, though she said she understood the desirability of such regulations. "We can't just impose the Forest Practices Code on private land. The watershed is a hard issue," she said. Miss Sawicki added that the issue was outside of her jurisdiction, but conceded that private land logging is a major issue on Vancouver Island and that she would look into it, discuss it with her colleagues and get back to Mr. Janssen to further discuss what sorts of tools might be available to settle the matter. In terms of the watershed itself, Miss Sawicki stated that fish and water integrity were a Ministry priority. In regards to the winter range issue raised by Mike Stini, she assured him to "feel confident that we raise this issue constantly," and that remaining ranges will be protected. The next speaker was Frank Stini, who wanted to address the issue of ATV user impact on the Log Train Trail. He began by saying that ATV riders need proper trails, bridges, and regulations, and that it is destructive for them to use trails such as the Log Train Trail which have been arduously developed and maintained for walking. He showed Miss Sawicki photographs of washout holes caused by ATVers on the trail. Miss Sawicki responded that "we have few tools" to deal with ATVers. She said that required registration was a particularly possible option. It was noted, however, that in other parts of the province, ATVs are a component of the tourist industry. Also, zoned areas are going to be developed for ATV use in areas of provincial parks that aren't high impact and which will encourage tourism. To the proposition that "we have few tools" Gary Swann interjected that ATVs are regulated in Alberta. It was added that various clubs have succeeded in resolving conflict between motorized and non-motorized trail users in some areas. Gary Swann also noted that Frank Stini had invested ten years of dedicated effort and that various grants had made the 26-kilometre long trail possible. ATVs compromise the quality of the Log Train Trail. Miss Sawicki closed the issue by saying that she was aware that environmental groups have done work to maintain trail quality, but that there are thousand of issues that the Ministry is trying to prioritize. She said that trails issues like those raised by users of the Log Train Trail are "sort of on the front burner". The next issue was brought up by Raja Khuit, who explained that a legacy of direct discharge of pulp mill wood waste into the Inlet has created a great fibrous mat on the Harbour floor which sucks oxygen from the lower levels of the water, thus killing life like salmon and other sea creatures in the Inlet. Mr. Khuit said that as he understood it, no technology existed which could clean the mat up. He said that he was negotiating with divers to map, videotape, and sample the fibre mat so that information could be accumulated and perhaps one day be used by someone to discover a solution to the problem. He requested that if Miss Sawicki knew of or had copies of previous video footage of the mat (which he and others confirmed does exist) he would appreciate a copy. Gerard Janssen mentioned that he was familiar with the video and suggested that Bob Skelley might have it. He added that not even the huge machines which suck diamonds off the South African coast would work to clean the fibre mat, since all they would do is disperse the matter and perhaps contaminate the Harbour further. Maureen Sager mentioned that her efforts to obtain information on the fibre mat were coming along very slowly and that she was being led in circles by unwilling authorities. She requested that Miss Sawicki provide her with historical documentation which she could not obtain herself. Miss Sawicki asked who she should contact about this in the future. Mr. Khuit gave her his email address. Gary Swann added that the A.E.C. website gets over 700 hits a day and that if any sources of funding were available to help develop the website further, he would like to know them so that information on this an other like issues could be better distributed among a worldwide viewership. Miss Sawicki said she would work closely with Mr. Janssen on this matter. Mr. Janssen said he remembered swimming in the canal some decades ago when its waters were clean and clear. Miss Sager added that the Alberni Inlet had the second highest dioxin outfall rating in Canada in 1989 and that "last week fishermen brought deformed crabs out of the canal". Judy Carlson quickly mentioned at this point that if the Nanaimo Regional District wants to get a licence and take over maintenance of Mount Arrowsmith that it was okay with Port Alberni and then local residents would not be held responsible for such duties. Harold Carlson also spoke briefly, mentioning that water vapour emissions regulations were not in legislation because water vapour is assumed to be harmless, when in fact it acts as a greenhouse gas. An aluminum smelter would release many more water vapour emissions than are produced by local industry. Since the valley suffers from strong inversions in winter, thus preventing such emissions from leaving, a smelter would pose environmental problems. The issue of conservation in Tofino was raised next. It was argued that another conservation officer in Tofino was not necessary, even though a letter was on the way to the Minister at that time requesting that another officer be hired for bear control. What was deemed necessary instead was a concentrated education program to demonstrate to people how to be "Bear Aware". In the last 48 hours, three bears had been killed. If people recognized the human causes of the bear problem, killing of wildlife would not be necessary, because such problems would not occur. Miss Sawicki responded that "there has not been an incident where a bear has been destroyed and I haven't said that we need education programs installed". She added that "Bear Aware" programs had made phenomenal progress and assured those present that the issue was one of her personal priorities. She recommended fencing landfills and said "we're looking for pennies to channel" into conservation efforts. Sue Frazer spoke on behalf of Jack Thornburgh about the Bainbridge drinking water supply, and said that he had written a letter to which he had gotten a rude response. "You must have seen the stunning photos of the destruction in Cathedral Grove," she said. She qualified this as part of the private land logging problem and cited Cathedral Grove as being a world-famous tourist attraction which Port Alberni was very dependent upon. Mr. Janssen said that for the Forest Practices Code to be effective, it must first be amended to rectify the present circumstances which are the result of a system that is no longer justifiable. Mr. Dickie reiterated his conviction that a catastrophe is inevitable on the Beauforts if action is not taken by the N.D.P. government immediately. Miss Sawicki ended discussion saying she was impressed and appreciative of the input of those attending the meeting. She congratulated them on their collective efforts. The meeting with Miss Sawicki was generally considered successful though some ambivalence in her replies was noticed at times. Whether Miss Sawicki's visit was a politically correct pleasantry or an an authentic instance of democracy actually being made by the people remains to be seen. The meeting was an interesting opportunity for local activists to test the true nature of the democratic process in B.C.
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