Action Alert

November 24, 2005: CATHEDRAL WHITE WASH - Act Now!

Vancouver Island/South Coast

The BC Liberals are attempting to white wash the issue of bulldozing a parking lot in Cathedral Grove.  The only opportunity that they have left for the public, beyond the ongoing tree-sit blockade/protest, is to write a letter to the Minister with alternatives to the parking lot,  the Liberals have set a deadline for submissions of Dec 9, 2005

PLEASE SEND A SINGLE E-MAIL CC TO:

barry.penner.mla@leg.bc.ca
scott.fraser.mla@leg.bc.ca
gordon.campbell.mla@leg.bc.ca
premier@gov.bc.ca
rcboyce@shaw.ca

For the sake of accountability please carbon copy (cc) your message to:

BC  Minister of Environment Barry Penner
E-mail: barry.penner.mla@leg.bc.ca
Phone: 250 387-1187
Fax: 250 387-1356
PO Box 9047
STN PROV GOVT
Victoria BC V8W 9E2
Web site: www.barrypenner.com

Alberni-Qualicum MLA Scott Fraser.
E-mail: scott.fraser.mla@leg.bc.ca
Victoria Phone: 250 387-3655
Port Alberni Phone: 250 720-4515
Toll free: 1 866 870-4190

Friends of Cathedral Grove
Richard Boyce
E-mail: rcboyce@shaw.ca
Phone: (250) 248-3682

FRIENDS OF CATHEDRAL GROVE
INVITES YOU TO ATTEND
A ROUND TABLE PUBLIC MEETING
 7 pm Tuesday December 6, 2005
Qualicum Beach Civic Center

The objective of this meeting is to discuss alternatives to governments plans and come up with concrete options to present to media, public, and government.
MLA Scott Fraser will moderate the evening.
A potluck ‘Unity Celebration’ will start at 5:30 pm with music.

PUBLIC OBJECTIONS TO PARKING LOT TODATE:
- 10,000 people have signed a petition against that proposal which was delivered in
  person to WLAP Minister Bill Barisoff in Victoria August 2004.
- No highways plans have been made public although the claim is public safety.
- Protest camp and Tree-sits have been maintained continuously for 22 months
  preventing construction of the parking lot ion the floodplain of the Cameron River
 12 platforms at 120' to 180' in the tree canopy with traverse line to connect them.

Blue Listed Species at Risk
This is forest is the final refuge for a remnant herd of Roosevelt Elk winter in the area proposed for this parking lot .  Red Legged frogs live in a nearby pond.

Culturally Modified Trees
The Cameron Valley is home to hundreds of trees used by 1st Nations to gather Cedar Bark, Canoe timber, Planks, and Totems. These CMTs are a prominent aspect of the forest and need to be preserved.

MORE INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT:  http://cathedralgrove.se

CATHEDRAL GROVE
Brief Chronology

1885 - Stage Coach and Railway bring Europeans to the Cameron Valley on mass.  The  public  begins to lobby the government for  a park to protect “Cathedral Grove” from the peak of Mt. Arrowsmith to Mt. Horne including the Cameron Valley and Cameron Lake.  Private lumber Barons buy land from Dunsmier Railway deal.

1952 H.R. MacMillan traded 136 Hectares of land know as Cathedral Grove for a portion of Strathcona Park.  Tiny Provincial Park established on highway.

1992  the NDP Ministry of Parks approved a Management Plan for MacMillan Park to build a 200 stall parking lot adjacent to the park.

December 1997 approximately 10% of the huge Douglas Fir trees in Cathedral Grove blow over due to a combination of a Qualicum Gale, estimated to reach 160 km/hour, and the removal of upwind forest that was situated on private land but acted as a wind buffer to the park.  MacMillan Bloedel logs the blowdown, leaving only a few trees up wind of the park.  Windthrow effects blow many more trees down over the years.

1999 US logging giant Weyerhaeuser buys and takes over MacMillan Bloedel.

2000 Weyerhaeuser logs old growth adjacent to Cathedral Grove Park. Forest squirrels embarrass the logging giant in the public media and prevent further logging  - FOR THE TIME BEING!
2001 BC Parks makes public their plans to build a 200 stall parking lot adjacent to the park.  Public opposition and a $2.3 million price tag makes the Minster of Water Land Air Protection postpone the project indefinitely.

2004 February 9 private contracted Logging crew for Ministry arrives with chain saws and a massive Yarding machine to cut down trees on 2.5 hectares of land to clear the way for the parking lot and roads to connect it to the highway. Members of the public demand a public review and public input.  They refuse to leave the area. No trees were cut down.  Members of the public have been defending the forest by maintaining a constant presence at the proposed parking lot area for the past 3.5 months.

March 2004 the BC Liberal Government applied for an injunction to prevent the public from entering onto the publicly owned land but the BC Supreme Court Judge has reserved a  decision which has not been made for 10 weeks.  Tree platforms, a camp, and trail building as a constant public presence continues.

May 28,2004 The Honourable Madam Justice Quijano in the Supreme Court of BC denies the application for an injunction to prevent the public from entering the public land proposed for the parking lot.
http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/sc/04/07/...

January 2005 seasonal flooding washed over the highway and submerged the entrance road and proposed parking are under flowing water.

March 2005 under pressure by the public to Expand Cathedral Grove BC government doubled the size of the park at the cost of $5.5 million paid to logging giant Weyerhaeuser.  What was not disclosed at that time is that most of the land being paid for by the taxpayers has already been logged by Weyerhaeuser.  The stumps and tree farm that remain do not provide the tall trees inside the park with the necessary protection from high winds and species of introduced invasive vegetation.  If the ancient trees inside the park are to be protected all of the old growth trees still standing in the Cameron Valley must be protected.

August 2005 BRASCAN purchase Weyerhaeuser all logging lands on Vancouver Island and maintains plans to log old growth forest adjacent to Cathedral Grove Park.

November 2005 Ministry of Environment/BC Parks hold open houses and puts forward same proposal as 2001 including several km of gravel trail in sensitive wetland forest habitat. Pay-for-parking, flooding, and left hand turns off and onto highway on a sharp blind corner are not addressed by plans.

BC PARKS INTENT ON PARKING LOT IN CATHEDRAL GROVE
Update by Richard Boyce
November 15,2005

On Monday I attended a ‘by invitation only’ power point show where 10 of 11 proposals for parking lots were summarily rejected by the same 7 BC Parks managers making the presentation. This leaves only a version of the original parking lot proposal from 2001 that was rejected by strong public opposition causing years of public protests.  I personally handed a petition, with over 10,000 signatures, opposing that very same parking lot location to former Minister Bill Barisoff, yet today it is the only proposal that BC Parks is truly considering.

At the Ministry of Environment’s Port Alberni open house loggers, truck drivers, local government, biologists, and citizens voiced one strong united view point. Don’t touch the park! Resolve issues of safety with an alternate route for the main highway.  BC Parks manager Chris Kissinger made it clear that his staff would not be taking notes and that safety issues must be addressed to the Ministry of Transportation, who have ignored numerous requests to present their plans to the public over the past four years. BC Environment Minister Barry Penner was announced as a speaker at the event but the crowd that gathered was told he was unable to attend.  While the lights were dim and the people’s attention was fixed on the screen Barry Penner entered the back of the room where he stayed hidden for a few minutes before exiting the building.  Nobody announced his presence yet his offer now claims he was in attendance.  He has set a deadline for input from the public for December 9, 2005.

Friends of Cathedral Grove are in favour of the long term protection of Cathedral Grove Provincial Park which does not include the increase of parking lots and highway expansion every time there is an increase in traffic. For the past 22 months dedicated citizens have camped in the area to protect the fragile forest environment.  Today they continue to maintain platforms that are suspended hundreds of feet up in the giant trees with a system of traverse ropes that allows movement through the canopy from one tree to another.

Bottom line, Cathedral Grove is an endangered park.  Bulldozing a parking lot into this sensitive ecosystem will destroy it.

A MOMENT TO REMEMBER.... BEFORE CATHEDRAL GROVE IS BULLDOZED BY BC PARKS...

I have been privileged to walk in one of the rarest and sensitive ecosystems on the planet, an ancient wetland forest growing on the active floodplain of a meandering river.  This Douglas Fir/Sword Fern plant community is red-listed as endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) and is made even more rare because these giant trees grow in a wetland that is flooded by seasonal rains.

The fact is, Douglas Fir trees do not like their roots to be wet and require drainage in order to survive.  Yet some of these trees have been able to survive for over 800 years despite frequent flooding of the entire area.  Walking through the forest of Cathedral Grove along the Cameron River, I was impressed by Douglas Fir trees, 6-8 feet across at the butt, perched on mounds and ridges that kept them out of the numerous channels  filled by flood waters.

I have given tours of this wetland forest to biologists, forest technicians, silvaculturelists, the BC Minister of WLAP, and BC Parks managers.  All but the bureaucrats agreed that disturbing the ground water with gravel, roadways, and an extensive trail system may kill ancient trees that are growing so delicately throughout the wetland forest. When I asked about the kilometer-wide area between the proposed parking area and the present day viewing area the reply from BC Parks managers was that they haven’t done an impact study, environmental study, hydrological study, or vegetation study specific to that site. They did agree that the public tends to stray off designated trails, trampling new paths through the forest.

I have counted seven species of ferns growing amongst Salmon Berry, Cascara, Thimble Berry, and Nootka Rose. Thickets of Devil’s Club grow out of the rich black soil of the bottomlands surrounded by fragrant Stink Current and Red Elderberry.  Lichens and mosses hang from the lower branches and trunks of every tree.  The variety of tree species, age, thickness, and height creates a living forest that is truly diverse. Standing dead trees provide life to thousands of organisms from fungi and insects to birds.

Massive trees, leveled by the Qualicum Wind of New Year’s Day 1997, lie with their rootballs exposed and covered with a thick forest of seedling trees, Bog Cranberry, Huckleberry, and Trailing Blackberry.  Beneath these fallen giants is a reservoir of moisture that endures the drought of summer  and provides sanctuary for newts, salamanders, and frogs. A remnant herd of Roosevelt Elk, blue-listed as threatened on Vancouver Island by COSEWIC, winters in the wetland portion of Cathedral Grove. Red-Legged frogs, red-listed as endangered by COSEWIC, live in a pond directly adjacent to the proposed parking lot area.  I have also encountered owls, hawks, bear, bats, trout, and many song birds in the wetland forest where BC parks plans to put a parking lot and trail system.

MORE INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT:
http://cathedralgrove.se

Topic(s): Enviro News Releases, parks and wilderness news, policy news, Poor Performers, Tourism News

Posted By EcoBC

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