"New Issues"

      1....Cathedral Grove Park Additions …Woefully Inadequate…Protest
             Continues <more>

      2...CG Parking Lot under Water? Time to Rethink <more>

      2...Ingmar Lee's (Friends of Cathrdral Grove) Parking Proposal for Cathedral              Grove <more>

      3....Responses to a public meeting with MLA Gillian Trumper regarding the               parking lot <more>

      4....Photo essay of the grove by Syd Haskell <more>

      5....CFS complaint to the Association of British Columbia Forest Professionals               regarding Cindy Stern, RPF <more>

      6....BC Government looses injunction request <more>

Tiny World Famous Park Threatened by Gigantic Parking Lot

There's no other place like it in Canada. No wonder they call it Cathedral Grove. Imagine yourself in the midst of an ancient old growth forest with huge branches covered with mosses and ferns sparkling full of life. Only seconds before you were driving and impulsively you stopped. Reminiscent of the California Redwoods you find yourself standing beside the giants within a stones-throw of your vehicle. It was the right decision. This is nature at its finest, but that all about to change.

The provincial government is set to build a new parking lot, a mile away from its' present location which has successfully served millions of visitors. With the additional distances to walk, many visitors will be restricted from being able to enjoy this wonderful place. The location is poorly planned, as it will also interfere with elk habitat. To make matters worse the large Douglas fir trees that have made the park so famous, will be subjected to a greater risk of blowing over.

This is all taking place without public input and concerns are not being addressed. One might reasonably expect that some sort of major catastrophic event is driving this push for development, but there are no fatalities or serious collisions related to vehicles entering or exiting the parking areas. Maybe this is the magic of Cathedral Grove. Maybe people are more aware. Maybe they sense the peace of nature. Maybe it's the potential danger. They certainly slow down while driving through a mystical corridor lined with Douglas fir giants reaching into the heavens.

Cathedral Grove doesn't need such an abrupt and severe change, and the present area has stood the tests of time. With the increase in industrial traffic to Port Alberni and the growth of eco-tourism, the present stalls on longer adequately serve the influx of summer tourists and visitors and this problem needs to be addressed. We propose that the government provide an open, full and meaningful opportunity so that the public can work with them to create a logical plan. Such a plan should address the parking needs without affecting elk habitat, destroying the natural ambience or increasing the risk of wind damage to the forest.

There are many other options that might enhance Cathedral Grove, but BC Parks has been unwilling to share their plans and work with the public. Instead, and in true Soviet style, they have been pushing ahead, rewarding contract, then taking legal remedy against protesters, all without addressing the flaws in their plan. Protesters have blocked logging for over two months, and tens of thousands of your tax dollars have been wasted on court costs. Hundreds of letters have been published in numerous Island newspapers.

Local MLA Gillian Trumper (read a recent "nasty" press release), a former member of the anti-environmental Forest Alliance of British Columbia and former Mayor of Port Alberni is the driving force behind this plan. As Mayor, she fought to allow clearcut logging in the pristine Carmanah Valley which, in the early 90"s served as a flagship to the environmental movement. Now, she is the provincial representative of the region where Cathedral Grove is situated, and as such has exerted great influence to determine it's future. Trumper seems urgent to have this project proceed. Could it be that a public works sign, just in time for next years election, praising herself and her government, set against a backdrop of magnificent forest is her real motive? How much of this is really about "enhanced public safety"?

We met with the honourable Bill Barisoff, the newly appointed Minister of Water Land and Air Protection, and articulated the flaws in the present Cathedral Grove plan. He listened carefully, but was unwilling to re-open the planning process. When confronted by media the Premier of the province, the honourable Gordon Campbell dismissed the lack of an open public process, explaining that "decision making" was part of the process. This government is very set in it's ways, and Cathedral Grove is only the tip of the iceberg in regards to projects and policies that undermine the environmental integrity and beauty of British Columbia.

Not that the previous administration was much better, but the present government has no pretense about being a <<friend>> to conservationists. When Forest Minister, Mike deJong was guest luncheon speaker for a Sustainability Conference in Prince George, he referred to groups campaigning to influence off-shore customers not to purchase B.C. wood products as <<"eco-terrorists.">> In the provincial legislature, elected representatives made degrading remarks, referring to conservationists as being "eco-coli" (a deadly virus) and worse.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE GOVERNMENT PLAN

MISREPRESENTATION OF PUBLIC SUPPORT--Trumper claims that "public safety is the main concern of our communities and our government", and that, "Councils, regional districts, tourism associations, and business associations in the region support the project." When we investigated we discovered that four out of the nine groups (above) that Trumper used to justify support for the project had never supported or even seen the project. The local community governments of Qualicum Beach, the Nanaimo Regional District and the City of Victoria have since requested government to bring the Cathedral Grove plan to their communities in such a way that "an full, open and meaningful public review and process" takes place.

SAFETY--Trumper claims that a newly configured parking lot is necessary to "Enhance Public Safety", but no safety study has taken place. We would feel that a professional study should take place to demonstrate that this new multi-million dollar plan is safer. Many have expressed concerns that the new entrance, would be located on a fast highway with poor visibility and in busy traffic will require vehicles to precariously line up in order to make a left hand turn. Exiting would demand drivers to rapidly accelerate due to limited visibility of oncoming traffic.

VISITATION-Trumper and government feel that visitation will increase because the new lot is "safer". We disagree and anticipate that like the "fast ferries" too many assumptions and too little research has gone into this plan. We believe that visitation will decrease, possibly by more than 50% of the present 1,000,000 people who visit the big trees of Cathedral Grove annually for the following reasons.

PAY PARKING…BC Parks has a new mandate to turn a profit from parks and pay parking will discourage impulse visits or comfort stops.

DISTANCE…Due to location, visitors will be required to walk for an additional half hour to forty five minutes to visit the big trees. The elderly, frail and those will small children will lose the ability to visit Cathedral Grove's big trees because of the additional <<three kilometer hike>>. Existing parking areas have served many millions of visitors over the past 50 years, but will be closed. Emergency vehicle service for injuries or park service will be far more exposed to traffic.

SECURITY…The present site is free of vandalism and theft, but without the highway traffic, thieves, vandals and scoundrels will be free to pillage and plunder parked vehicles with little chance of being caught.

ELK HABITAT AND MIGRATION--Trumper has stated that by moving the parking lot 80 metres away from the river that elk concerns have been addressed. Not so say the specialists, and Elk winter habitat will be compromised creating additional stress. In a worst case scenario greater starvation and predication will take place as during the winter, the herd will be displaced by the public's use of the trails and huge parking area. Studies show that this herd is frightened of humans and similar animals exhibited increases in stress in distances less than 300 metre from traffic and human activity. Unlike most civilized countries Canada and British Columbia in particular have <<few laws>> to protect endangered species.

DOUGLAS FIR BLOW-DOWN-Trumper quotes the Steve Mitchell 2003 study to justify logging the 5 acres, (2 hectares) of established second growth forest will not cause any increase in the catastrophic blow-down which decimated Cathedral Grove in 1997. <<Mitchell's study>> disclaims any serious level of integrity from the onset in declaring that insufficient time and funds were available to conduct a proper study. It goes on to identify that the models used had never been tested on old growth forests in this continent or for Douglas fir in particular. A novice studying <<Hays maps>> will note that the planned location for the new lot, in the second growth forest will enhance the windthrow, causing Cathedral Grove to blow-over a little faster, contrary to the soft conclusions that Trumper states, "".

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP SAVE CATHEDRAL GROVE?

Suggest that government scrap the existing plan and legal actions to enforce building a parking lot where it doesn't belong through <<taking action>> either by letter phone of personal meeting with your political representative. Provincial representatives can be located and their correspondence addresses, phone numbers or emails by <<clicking here >>.

If they support the present plan ask them to persuade the minister to conduct a safety study before cutting trees or building road to assure that the "Safety Enhancement Project" will indeed enhance safety and not increase highway carnage.

Suggest to your elected representative that any increased risk in blowdown is unacceptable. No interference with Elk habitat. They are already sufficiently stressed and endangered having lost most of their lower elevation habitat without loosing more winter habitat and migratory corridors.

Suggest that this is the only old growth park on the Island where the disabled, fragile and young families can visit a forest with massive Douglas fir trees. It is also important to keep the West section of the park open, as it provides a different forest with unique characteristics.

Write the RCMP and insist that they monitor and force industrial and passenger vehicles to obey the speed restrictions within the park.

SUMMARY

These are some of most accessible and gigantic trees on the planet. They deserve our respect, as they nurture our spirits and offer great solace. They are the remnants of a forest system, which once stretched across the Island. It's no wonder this is the most widely used park in the province.

Other than <<letter writing, contacting media and politicians>>, If you can afford <<to help>> (volunteers are also needed) in any other way please contact Carmanah Forestry Society. We also provide <<tours>> to other old growth areas of the Island.