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This letter appeared twice in the Times Colonist; first on Sunday, December
17, and again on December 26th, along with two others.
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Saving Sooke Hills tract helps build eco-tourism
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The Land Conservancy
of B.C. has worked long and hard to raise money for ecologically
sensitive areas throughout the province.
The Sooke
Hills property that TLC plans to buy is an important part of a conservation
plan that will help protect the less than one per cent of coastal
Douglas fir and Garry oak habitat that remains in British Columbia.
Approximately
20 per cent of rare plant species in B.C. are found in this endangered
and sensitive habitat, and I am amazed that there is anyone who
does not support the Herculean efforts of groups like TLC to ensure
protection of this natural legacy.
As one
who works in the growing field of ecotourism here in Victoria, I
know well the economic value of retaining natural areas in and around
the city. Tourism Victoria official surveys finds year after year
that most visitors are drawn by the region's natural beauty and
environment.
These
visitors are people who help contribute over $1 billion annually
to us, the residents of Greater Victoria, and it would behoove us
to nurture and encourage that golden egg by planning wisely and
ensuring the protection of the surrounding natural capital.
Of
course the Island Rock Crawlers and other light-industrial recreationalists
are entitled to places for their sport. I suggest the hundreds of
kilometres of logging roads that crisscross most of southern (and
central and northern) Vancouver Island.
Most
of these areas run through areas that have already been transformed
by the effects of motorized vehicles preferred by the four-wheeler
crowd, and which have less ecological value than the Sooke Hills
property.
In the
meantime, let's count our blessings and act with prudence and foresight
by diverting motorized vehicles away from the Sooke Hills.
Graham
Shuley, Victoria
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Apples and oranges
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We seem to
have hit a raw nerve with the ATV users in the Sooke Hills, judging
from their recent letter writing campaign.
Why ?
Because they must feel themselves that common sense would dictate
closing the area to motorized use, once it is acquired for public
park land.
Their letters seem to suggest it is simply a matter of sharing the
land with those arrogant and elitist hikers who want to greedily
hoard it for their exclusive use.
This conveniently overlooks the fact that the impact these two uses
have on each other and on the environment is grossly unequal.
You can pack a lot of hikers into a square kilometre of natural
area before they impact on each other or on the environment (witness
Thetis Lake Park on a Sunday morning) and these hikers wouldn't
even want to get anywhere near an off-road vehicle.
Conversely, put just two ATV drivers into the same square kilometre
and their machines' noise alone will disturb the peace for anybody
on foot in the same space (and broader) as they pit the power of
their machines against Mother Nature.
The long reach of a vehicle enables the user to affect a much larger
area, and a disproportionately higher number of other users.
Further, the attraction of the four-wheel or other ATV sport is
the driving itself, not just to get from point A to point B or the
enjoyment of nature.
And the real challenge surely must be to get off the road (why else
the name Rock Crawlers?)
So, let's face it, to talk about sharing or an equal right to a
piece of land really amounts to comparing apples and oranges.
Isn't it a fact of fair social co-existence that certain freedoms
cannot continue if they disproportionately impact others or the
common good?
Hans
Roemer, Victoria
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Parks planning
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Re: The Dec.9
letter "4WD clarification" by Lori Hryniuk of the Island Rock Crawlers.
Hryniuk is correct in stating that the users (off-roaders, hikers,
cyclists, etc.) are crossing private lands to access provincial
Crown lands and Sooke Mountain Provincial Park.
The Crown-owned lands (including the provincial park) are landlocked,
as she pointed out, and have no legal public access to them.
With respect to Sooke Mountain Provincial Park, B.C. Parks has not
permitted off-road vehicles to utilize these park lands, as indicated
in her letter.
The provincial Park Act does not allow for motorized vehicles off
park roads unless specifically authorized. Such authorization has
not been given for this activity.
Decisions that affect the long-term management direction and use
of a provincial park, such as determining the type and extent of
recreational activities that may occur, are formulated through park
management planning (which includes public consultation) and impact
assessments.
These planning and impact assessment processes assist in providing
for appropriate recreational activities in the context of ensuring
that impacts associated with recreation use on the natural environment
within a park are minimized.
Currently, a park management plan for Sooke Mountain Provincial
Park does not exist.
When in place such a plan could provide long-term management direction
on the appropriate uses within the park.
Until this plan is completed (together with associated impact assessments),
it is premature to determine allowable uses or construct supporting
facilities such as trails.
Given the ongoing land acquisition efforts by The Land Conservancy
of B.C., Nature Conservancy of Canada, Capital Regional District
and others in the area surrounding Sooke Mountain Provincial Park
it is hoped that a comprehensive management planning process could
be initiated in the next one to two years for this expanded park
area.
G.
David Chater
District manager
South Vancouver Island District
B.C. Parks.
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