Friends of Strathcona Park

Carol Hunter
591 Kinnikinik Way
Comox, BC V9M 3V8
250-339-2300

Dear Editor,

The provincial government is poised to grant a Park Use Permit (PUP) to Clayoquot Wilderness Resort (CWR) to take their exclusive clients on horse trips into the Bedwell Valley. The Bedwell Valley is one of the few true wilderness valleys left in our parks, free from constant human invasion. Opening the valley to regular influxes of paying adventurers who cannot get there under their own power endangers this, but there are reasons other than the protection of a rare, priceless treasure to speak out against this permit. Strathcona Park is a Class A park and the Park Act states that a park use permit must not be issued unless to do so is necessary to preserve or maintain the recreational values of the park involved. In this case it is not necessary. In return for the PUP, CWR has offered to rebuild a trail that Parks has allowed to fall into disrepair, however a group of volunteers have built a hiking trail into the Bedwell Valley on the opposite side of the river from the original trail which negates the need for building and maintaining the old trail with its costly bridges. The new trail also affords better views than the old trail and most of all is a low impact hiking trail that both preserves and maintains the recreational values of Strathcona Park. Issuing the permit would appear to be in direct violation of the Park Act, but the government seems to be ignoring this fact. Read More…

Open Letter – Please give wide dissemination
1 January 2011

Honourable Murray Coell
BC Minister of Environment
PO Box 9047
STN PROV GOVT
Victoria BC
V8W 9E2

Dear Sir

Reference:
A. Your email November 19, 2010
B. My email to BC Minister of Environment, Barry Penner, 30 August 2010 (Reference: 130187)

Thank you for your response to my email as per references A and B. It appears that I just didn’t get my point across in my previous email. I will try again.

The issue about the 2010 amendment to the Strathcona Park Master Plan is as much about horses as it is about the principle of public trust doctrine. Public trust doctrine is the principle that certain resources are preserved for public use, and that the government is required to maintain it for the public’s reasonable use. My understanding is the Government of British Columbia is supposed to manage BC Parks under the principle of public trust doctrine. Read More…

Dear Minister Coell,

Congratulations on your recent appointment as our new Minister of the Environment. We all look forward to working with you on some very serious issues regarding deregulation in our oldest Provincial Park,Strathcona. Of particular concern to many people on the north end of Vancouver Island, and else where, is B.C.’s first and oldest provincial park Strathcona Provincial Park. This park is about to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2011. It has suffered many indignities throughout its history. From being dammed, flooded, deforested, mined, boundaries changed and so forth. And yet, it still survives. Read More…

It is with a sense of urgency that I am voicing my concerns over the governments decision to grant Clayquot Wilderness Resort a permit to operate horse tours in Strathcona Park. I’m sure most would agree that the governments role is to follow the wishes of the people it serves. With this in mind, I’m at a loss as to why this government has chosen to ignore the results of it’s public hearing on the matter of allowing horse tours in a public park. Ninety percent of the public said they did not wish this to happen. The way our legal system works, once such a permit is granted, it becomes difficult to say ‘No’ to future similar permit applications. The Pandora’s Box will be forever opened! By reversing it’s decision on this matter, the government has an opportunity to show us all that it does follow the wishes of the people. Why spend money on holding public hearings if the public’s wishes aren’t upheld? What’s the point?

Sincerely,

Cynthia Schiller

30 August 2010

Barry Penner
Minister of Environment
Province of British Columbia

Dear Sir

References:
A. The Larkin Report “Strathcona Park: Restoring the Balance” 1988
B. Strathcona Park Master Plan 1993
C. Strathcona Park Master Plan Amendment 2001
D. Strathcona Park Master Plan Amendment 2010
E. Clayoquot Wilderness Resort Park Use Permit Application 17 July 2006

I am writing to express my disappointment in your recent action of making ill-advised changes to the Strathcona Park Master Plan in the 2010 amendment.

Your action is undermining more than 20 years of hard work that has gone a long way in restoring public confidence and goodwill in our Parks system and our government since the last time there was an attempt to destroy Strathcona Park. Read More…