Solutions for Cathedral Grove Parking Lot Location and BC Parks Plan

Western Canada Wilderness Committee - Mid Island Chapter

Alternative Location

The Western Canada Wilderness committee has recommended that government acquire ownership or usage of additional Weyerhaeuser land where a logging road already exists which ends at the park boundary. An existing trail from that area, created by a fibre optics right-of-way could then provide access to the West side of the park. The Western Canada Wilderness Committee does not support closing the west side of MacMillan Park because it will further threaten the large trees in the Park with overuse if more people are concentrated into a smaller potion of the park.

This location is preferable to that of BC Parks for the following reasons:

• it is outside of the elk corridor which runs along the floodplain. There will be no impact on the elk.
  
  
• it is situated on higher ground, better drained and less susceptible to flooding.
  
  
• the big trees are more stable as they are not waterlogged during the winter and therefore less susceptible to blow down.
  
  
• road access is safer, the two S bends on Highway 4 are avoided, increasing visibility and avoiding two left hand turns on the busy highway -one to turn left into the government's proposed parking lot and the other left turn to get back onto the highway and continue travelling west. (to the west coast)

We propose that an overhead pedestrian walkway as well as a crosswalk be installed in the present parking area between the East and West sections of the park, so as to provide safer movement between the two parks.

 

Carmanah Forestry Society

Background

Eventual plans for the Island Highway will divert Port Alberni traffic through Horne Lake. Highway 4 will cease to be the Industrial Route as presently exists. The alleged safety problem will cease to exist on any level at that time.

CFS Solutions

We are opposed to removing parking from the present locations, as well as BC Parks plans to close down the West section of the park and prevent public access.

The snowline on this photo demonstrates that the present parking configuration provides adequate room for vehicles to turn safely..

For additional parking and bus drop off zones, we would prefer to see the present parking lot design expanded upon on both sides of the highway into areas that will not impact the ancient Douglas firs or western red cedars.

It would appear that the main source of danger is the overly large camping vehicles, often poorly driven. We believe that safety could be enhanced if these oversized vehicles were not permitted to park in the existing lots and that additional parking be designed to keep them from being a hazard. We are sure that an open public process would deal with this problem without damaging the elk herds' winter range.

We concur that an overhead walkway and crosswalk are reasonable additions.

We would volunteer our services to provide the wooden boardwalks with expanded metal wire mesh so as to make them slip-proof. At this time injuries from slipping on these wooden structures are the most obvious danger issue we have found with the park.

 

INVITATION...GIVE US YOUR IDEAS

This space is dedicated to creative ideas that may or may not disagree from the two hosting groups, but have reason, experience and logic. Please feel free to email us at syd@cathedralgrove.com with any ideas that you have to improve upon the safety and planning for this special park.