(Here is a letter I sent to the government December 10, 2023. It is an update on the proposal I sent to the Forests Minister a year ago. I will keep you posted regarding any response I receive.)
To: Honourable Bruce Ralston, Minister of Forests, Honourable George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, Honourable David Eby, Premier, and Ms. Jillian Tougas, District Manager, Sunshine Coast Natural Resource District
This is a follow-up to a proposal we sent last year to Honourable Katrine Conroy, proposing that the Ministry of Forests reduce the amount of timber it logs each year and at the same time introduce a new program of support for forest-based recreation. At that time the Sunshine Coast District informed me that access to the forests for recreation purposes is outside its mandate. It told me that the Ministry was only concerned with maintaining access to the forests for logging purposes. In addition, it told me that protecting certain areas from logging was also outside its mandate. (For that reason, I am addressing this follow-up letter also to Minister Heyman.)
The situation now is different. You have accepted your Strategic Review Panel’s report, “A New Future for Old Forests”. The Premier has expressed his support for that report’s findings and has promised to implement them – most notably, its findings that the Ministry has not been meeting its objectives for forest conservation and that a “paradigm shift” is needed in the government’s relationship with the forests.
A paradigm shift
Your government understands that the time for this paradigm shift is now, not 10 years from now, when the environmental breakdown will have passed the tipping point. The practice of clearcutting, which began only 60 years ago, has grown into a ravenous monster that is devouring our forests. The Review Panel’s report urges you to find alternative methods of logging – ones that do not destroy the ecosystem. Also, we would urge that the reduction in clearcutting be substantial; that it be at least as substantial as the 35% reduction which the federal government has imposed on oil and gas emissions. Such a reduction, as the panel’s report explains, would not be as drastic as it sounds. Any reduction in logging jobs could be easily replaced by an expansion in forest-based recreation jobs. At the same time, any loss to the timber companies would be superseded by gains in the health of the forests, the local communities and the planet.
Increase the recreational use of forests
The 72-page report recommends promoting the use of forests for health & recreation programs. It states, “We can no longer continue to harvest timber and manage forests using the approaches we have in the past while also conserving the forest values we cherish.” It calls for development of programs aimed at developing “forest-based tourism, including improved access, facilities and interpretation, for visiting big trees and unique ecosystems.”
The Sunshine Coast District
We’re pleased to see that the Sunshine Coast District is developing a new forest management plan in cooperation with indigenous peoples, a plan that aims to prioritize ecosystem health, biodiversity, etc. And we are encouraged that the District is seeing the forest as more than merely a ‘Timber Supply Area’. We strongly urge it to take advantage of this one-time opportunity and develop a truly comprehensive plan – one that is an actual ‘paradigm shift’, in line with the Strategic Review Panel’s recommendations. It’s important to emphasize that for the new plan to be an actual paradigm shift it will need to be accompanied by very substantial reductions in the allowable annual cuts.
Our proposal
We respectfully propose that the Minister of Forests join with Premier Eby in embracing the Strategic Review Panel’s recommendations. Provincially, we recommend that the Minister immediately:
- ban all logging of old-growth forests;
- drastically reduce the amount of its allowable annual cuts;
- expand its mandate to include the promotion of outdoor recreation activities.
Here on the lower Sunshine Coast, we strongly recommend that the Ministry’s new Forest Landscape Plan include a vision for reducing the area’s timber-based economy while simultaneously promoting an expanded outdoor-recreation-based economy, one that will produce an overall net economic gain. This is a tremendous opportunity for the District and would be a true paradigm shift. To accomplish it, we recommend that the District:
- expand the designation of some forest service roads (FSRs) beyond their current FRPA and FPPA designation to include forest-based recreation activities;
- maintain those designated FSRs to a standard at which passenger vehicles can operate;
- work with local outdoor recreation groups and others to identify the best and most promising wilderness recreation trails.
- provide pullouts and parking areas at the access points to those trails, and assist the user groups with signage and trail maintenance;
- assist local forest-based hiking, cycling and other wilderness recreation groups to expand and improve their current recreation programs.
- Work with the Environment Ministry to designate the 2,000 hectares of forest around the Mt. Elphinstone Provincial Park as a new protected area.
- Develop a comprehensive strategy for supporting forest-based recreation on the lower Sunshine Coast.
With regard to the last bullet point, we would be happy to help the District (as a special offshoot of its current pilot project) to work on a comprehensive strategy for expanding forest-based recreation on the lower Sunshine Coast. The lower Coast’s proximity to Vancouver makes this an opportunity with unlimited potential. Our group has many ideas as to how such an initiative could work (for example, we would suggest working with Scouts Canada to establish an outdoor training centre at Camp Bing, which has been closed since 2019). Like the Review Panel, we, too, believe we can build a better future for our old forests. And we would be more than willing to help you, in any way you see fit, to achieve that goal.
Thank you very much for your consideration of this proposal.
(What follows below is the original proposal, entitled “A Modest Proposal”, which I submitted a year and a half ago.)
A Modest Proposal
Preamble: The Elphinstone Forest Trails
More and more British Columbians are pursuing outdoor recreation activities on the Sunshine Coast. Year after year, more cars are driving over our forest roads and parking on the side of the road to hike and bike along the hundreds of trails that interlace these spectacular forests. Outdoor recreation, unlike indoor recreation, costs the government very little. The forests are already there; and the trails are developed and maintained by volunteer organizations.
Most of our hiking groups prefer these low-impact wilderness trails to the highly developed trails in the popular parks. As they make their way on foot among ferny groves, over mossy carpets and along root-tangled ravines, they are always awe-inspired by these ancient forests.
Much has been written recently about the benefits of forest hiking. Peter Wohlleben, in his book, The Secret Life of Trees points out that the forest air is extraordinarily clean and healthy – containing far fewer hydrocarbons, germs and toxic acids than city air. Walking in the forest, he writes, is like taking a shower in oxygen. Our society has become too sedentary; we spend too much of our time indoors and in cars. We need to stand up, stretch and go for a hike. And with so many wilderness paths so close to us, more people than ever are getting out and doing that.
In addition to hiking, the popularity of mountain biking has also grown exponentially. There are more bike trails here on the Coast than anywhere else in Canada. Every weekend, hundreds of bikers go snaking through the Elphinstone Forest, darting between trees, across streams and over humps & ramps on their adrenaline-packed, backwoods journeys. On some group tours, experienced guides give the riders invaluable instructions on how to navigate the twisty trails, read the terrain and maintain stability on the downhill runs. Every so often they take a break; have a sip of water and breathe it all in. A ride through these tranquil forests is a truly memorable experience.
Another truly memorable experience is an overnight stay in one of the wilderness cabins in Tetrahedron Provincial Park. To sit out on a cabin’s deck at night with the silent wilderness all around is an unforgettable feeling.
There are so many ways of experiencing the Sunshine Coast’s exceptional outdoor environment! We should also mention the educational, artistic and school activities that take place there, including the Living Forest Institute’s forest workshops for children and Elphinstone Logging Focus’s (ELF’s) Educational Forest Project.
A Modest Proposal to the Ministry of Forests
The Elphinstone Hiking Group is calling upon the Ministry of Forests to take action to correct the appalling absence of an outdoor recreation infrastructure here on the lower Sunshine Coast. By not addressing the ever-expanding wave of outdoor recreation activity, the Ministry is failing to fulfill the most important part of its mandate. All these activities, on their own merits, are deserving of the government’s support. But there is also another reason why they are deserving of the government’s support. Studies have shown that the economic benefits of a viable outdoor recreation infrastructure can be substantial – even greater than that of logging.
For these reasons, we call upon the Ministry to designate the Elphinstone Forest as a priority area for outdoor recreation, and accordingly, to increase its commitment to developing a viable recreational infrastructure here. By helping more people gain access to these forests and these forest-based programs, the Ministry would be greatly enhancing the prosperity and future of the Sunshine Coast’s communities.
What is lacking?
With these magnificent forests in our backyard, one would think the Sunshine Coast would be known far and wide as a preeminent outdoor recreation destination. But clearly it isn’t. So, what is lacking?
For one thing, the forest service roads and their connecting branches are in terrible condition. Most of them are full of potholes and some are not driveable at all. The damage sustained by the vehicles of hikers who regularly access the trails gives one the impression that our government places little value on the use of these forests. One example (out of many) is the road to Tetrahedron Park, which is undriveable, except by high-clearance, 4-wheel-drive vehicles. This is our most spectacular destination – a world-class wilderness park. And yet it is practically inaccessible, except to a small number of people.
Another thing that’s lacking is that there is no visible system of signage in the Elphinstone Forest and no designated pull-outs or parking spots showing where the trail access points are. As a result, the people and groups who wish to use those trails need to know in advance where to find them and then need to seek out some wide spot in the road to park their cars. Also, somewhere in that forest is Mt. Elphinstone Provincial Park. Yet there is no visible way for visitors to know the location of that park.
Also lacking is government support for the groups who do the hard work of maintaining the hiking trails (trimming the brush, removing the fallen trees, constructing footbridges, etc.). That work is left completely to the local environment groups and their volunteers.
The final thing that is lacking is a commitment by the government to protect these forests from future logging. The amount of time and energy the same environment groups spend lobbying repeatedly for the protection of these forests is enormous. It would be so much more beneficial if the Ministry would engage positively with these groups; seeing them not as opponents but as proponents – valuable partners on a common mission: the mission to maintain and enhance the forest’s vibrant recreational infrastructure.
What we are proposing
The Elphinstone Hiking Group joins with the other environment groups in calling on the Minister of Forests to acknowledge the existence of the Sunshine Coast’s magnificent network of hiking trails and to work with these groups to improve the accessibility of these forests and provide a world-class infrastructure for forest-based recreation and education.
Request #1: that the Ministry of Forests adequately upgrade and maintain the roads leading to the Sunshine Coast’s outdoor recreation areas.
The most immediate thing the Ministry can do is to improve the roads, so that all people who wish to come to these forests can comfortably drive there. The roads that need improvement and reguar maintenance are: the B&K FSR, the East Wilson FSR, the Sechelt Wilson FSR, the Dakota Bowl FSR, and Largo Road, as well as all their branches.
This also includes the road to Tetrahedron Provincial Park (which is a world class hiking venue and is the Coast’s most spectacular park) and the road to Spipyus Provincial Park.
In addition to the above, we would also respectfully request that the gate to the Dakota Ridge Recreation area be kept open during the summer, so that the trails in that area are accessible to hikers.
Request #2: that a sufficient number of pullouts and parking areas be created close to the most popular trails.
Here are two important ways the Ministry can further support the people who wish to enjoy hiking in these forests:
- First, we ask that the Ministry liaise with local hiking and environment groups and make a plan for creating more pull-outs and parking areas at the entrance to the most frequently used trails.
- Secondly and related to the first, is that the Ministry liaise with local groups to create a comprehensive system of signage directing visitors to the most popular trails.
Request #3: that the Ministry of Forests assist the local environment groups in developing and maintaining the hiking trails and support them in continuing that work.
Since the use of these hundreds of trails continues to grow exponentially, it is critical that the Ministry: (1) recognize their existence & their popularity, (2) establish an ongoing communications link with the volunteer groups that develop & maintain them, and (3) look for ways to support those groups in their work.
Request #4: that the Ministry of Forests announce a moratorium on logging within the 2,000 hectares of Elphinstone Forest that ELF and others have repeatedly asked to be protected.
The Elphinstone Hiking Group strongly supports ELF’s campaign to protect the 2,000 hectares of forest that surround Mount Elphinstone Provincial Park and to incorporate it as part of that park. This small section of forest, which is so close to our communities and so vital to their health and recreation, is only a tiny fraction of the area shown on the Ministry’s map as being available for logging. It should be an easy decision to designate this tiny fraction of the map as a protected recreation area.
It should be easy!
It should be easy for the government to provide the thousands of people who regularly use these forests with first-rate infrastructure services. These services need not be elaborate or expensive. The roads are already here. The forests are here. The hiking trails are here – already developed and maintained by volunteer groups. Best of all, these forests and these recreation activities are available free of charge to everyone. All that is needed is an enthusiastic commitment from the Ministry to provide the physical infrastructure.
If one goes anywhere else in North America or Europe, the forest roads there are in much better condition than the roads here; and consequently, there are a lot more people using them. The closest example is just over the border in Washington State. The roads to the Mt. Baker National Forest are a joy to drive on. Also, they have ample signage and lots of designated parking areas. And the trails are clearly marked and well-maintained. Most importantly, hundreds of thousands of acres of the Mt. Baker Forest have been permanently protected from logging. The Sunshine Coast’s Elphinstone Forest, by contrast, does not have anything close to such a vibrant & well-supported recreation infrastructure.
Conclusion
The Elphinstone Forest is a real gem! It is an old-growth, low elevation forest that is literally in our backyard. It is a miracle that substantial sections it have somehow escaped logging (although some of those sections of it are presently being prepared for logging). All of BC’s environment groups, including the government’s own Old-growth Review Panel, have recommended protection of the Province’s remaining old-growth and emerging old-growth forests. A recent survey showed that the people of the Sunshine Coast overwhelmingly support the protection of the Elphinstone Forest. Practically every government in the world is protecting its forests. It would seem more than reasonable that the government here in BC should support this modest proposal and help turn this beautiful forest into a world-class ‘green recreation destination’.