Minister insists parking lot will be built

Judith Lavoie - Times Colonist

Thursday, February 12, 2004

A parking lot will be built beside Cathedral Grove provincial park before the summer tourist season gets underway, even though protesters have stopped loggers from cutting trees at the site this week, says cabinet minister Bill Barisoff.

Equipment at the site of the proposed parking lot remained idle Wednesday, under the watchful eye of the ad hoc group of protesters. Western Canada Wilderness Committee spokeswoman Annette Tanner said she is hoping Barisoff will change his mind after meeting with environmentalists.

Barisoff, minister of water, land and air protection, is meeting with WCWC representatives this week to discuss spotted owl habitat, but Cathedral Grove will also be raised, she said.

Barisoff said in an interview that environmental concerns have been met, options have been reviewed for the last 12 years, and the parking lot is needed because of public safety.

"I think most people are reasonable and common sense will prevail," he said.

"All we can do is hope that cooler heads prevail and they understand that this is the best option possible."

Richard Boyce, an independent filmmaker, was on site when loggers turned up Monday to cut trees so the parking lot can be built.

Several people who said they were "legal witnesses" refused to move.

"The contractor said 'we can't work while you are here. Will you leave?' They said No." he said.

The witnesses are members of the community who turn out every day to monitor what is happening, Boyce said.

Cathedral Grove, the most famous part of MacMillan Provincial Park on central Vancouver Island, draws millions of visitors every year.

The attraction is huge old-growth Douglas firs and western red cedar trees that give visitors a taste of ancient West Coast rainforest without having to hike into the wilderness.

The two-hectare parking lot for about 200 vehicles is needed because of the danger of people parking along the sides of the busy road, Barisoff said.

The park straddles Highway 4, the main route across the Island. Since 1996 there have been 26 crashes and two fatalities within two kilometres of the park. As well, two tourists were killed last December when a tree fell across their car as it sat in the current parking lot.

Environmentalists say the new parking lot will expose old-growth trees to blowdown, and compromise critical elk habitat.

Blowdown is already a problem. In 1997, a New Year's Day gale toppled hundreds of trees, some of them more than 300 years old.

Tanner said Barisoff should hold a public review because there is a complete lack of public knowledge about the current plans.

"A lot of people feel very passionately about that park," she said.

In addition to the parking lot, concrete barriers are to be built along both sides of the road, effectively shutting off some of the park from the public, Tanner said.

"And now it looks as if they're taking out 18 old-growth trees."

Barisoff said area MLAs from both the NDP and Liberal governments have agreed for years that a parking lot is needed.

The lot will not be built in the park but in a 21-hectare parcel the province bought from MacMillan Bloedel three years ago.

Once the two-hectare lot has been built, the remaining area will be added to the 157-hectare park, Barisoff said.

"The park will actually grow."

Runoff concerns have been addressed by changing the parking lot to gravel instead of a paved surface and ministry staff say blowdown is unlikely, he said.

Six to 15 larger trees will be taken down, but it is not known how many of those are old-growth, Barisoff said.

The cost of building the parking lot and doing the road work is about $2 million, he said.

jlavoie@tc.canwest.com

© Copyright 2004 Times Colonist (Victoria)