From Wild Coast Magazine, Spring 2008, page 5
It was a great idea that came before its time.
The year was 1993 and the initial key player was Peter McGee. After kayaking much of the BC coast he saw a need for establishing a network of kayaking campsites, and began an audit of coastal campsites that eventually led to the creation of the BC Marine Trail Association (BCMTA).
The association flourished through the next few years, but as McGee moved to other ventures and the province dropped its support of new recreation sites, the interest in the concept died off and the marine trail dream lay largely dormant.
It was unfortunate timing, as the next decade proved to be a transitional one for the coast. Most regions began comprehensive land use plans, but a marine trail was left off the agenda. While the Central Coast Land and Resource Management Plan, for instance, had recommendations for 27 protected areas, 16 were to protect anchorages, the result of successful lobbying by the BC Council of Yacht Clubs, and 11 were for marine conservation. None were for recreational camping areas.
Oddly, it took the success of a single and rather small First Nations treaty negotiation to galvanize the kayaking community into renewed action. The long-expected Maa-Nulth treaty was ratified in late 2007 with some unexpected results for users of the coast. In particular, it handed over 2,500 hectares of formerly public land to four Vancouver Island First Nations, including some key recreation areas such as the Mission Group islands off Kyuquot Sound and Toquart Bay, the main entry point to the popular Broken Group islands.
While the treaty contains provisions designed to protect public recreational use, the treaty served as a wakeup call to BC kayaking groups who had taken free access to coastal land largely for granted.
The first step was an informal gathering of interested parties in Vancouver on Dec. 15, 2007 – the first meeting to flesh out a new vision for what a marine trail might entail.
The host of the meeting was the Outdoor Recreation Council (ORC), a group that had one member, Ray Pillman, working quietly behind the scenes over the past few years to gain political support for the original marine trail idea abandoned by the BCMTA, the concept being an essentially linear trail of campsites every 10 to 15 miles from Washington to the Alaskan border.
But representatives of the various BC paddling groups hoped to widen that scope, with the eventual goal to create a network of safe havens so self-propelled boaters can paddle safely anywhere along the BC coast.
Some substantial obstacles remain. A large one is the remaining unresolved coastal treaties. The Nuu-Chah-Nulth, for instance, represents a much larger population than the Maa-Nulth, and will likely receive much more public land. This could affect public access to key areas in both Nootka and Clayoquot sounds.
Another issue is the Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) strategy being played out in Johnstone Strait. This pilot project is designed to regulate the various conflicting uses in Johnstone Strait, now the top commercial kayaking destination in BC. The popularity is due in large part to growing interest in killer whale watching near Robson Bight Ecological Reserve, a key waypoint of the summer killer whale migration route through the region.
The LAC strategy has been created to answer the question: how much change should be allowed in an area before the nature that made it appealing is destroyed?
It’s a question that will likely become the basis for addressing recreational use across the BC coast, especially as congestion grows at popular locations. Meanwhile, kayaking groups will be continuing to push for formal protection of even the least-visited locations.
Find info online:
The Maa-Nulth Treaty lands: http://www.leg.bc.ca/38th3rd/1st_read/gov45/gov45-1-app-F.htm?toc=1
The West Coast Paddler discussion forum:
http://www.westcoastpaddler.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=1486
The Limits of Acceptable Change website: http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/rcsd/lac/johnstonestraitpp.html
Wild Coast Magazine updates and discussion:
http://www.wildcoastmagazine.com/MarineTrail.htm
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