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Coastal News

U.S. unveils killer whale protection plan

The final 88 resident killer whales in Puget Sound have an extra measure of protection now the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has released its recovery plan for the endangered creatures.

Steps include salmon restoration to ensure a food supply, contamination cleanup, pollution reductions, new whale-watching vessel controls and underwater sound abatement.

Oil spill prevention and research is also part of the package.

The measures will be considered successful if the killer whales reach a population of 155 orcas by 2029.

The plan restricts whale watching vessels from reaching within 100 metres of a pod and may include new measures on other vessels.

Canada began its killer whale recovery planning in 2004 under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). The plan is currently completing its consultation stage.

The southern resident killer whale population was listed as endangered in 2001. The killer whale population hit a low that year of 79. In the years prior, the orcas became popular for aquariums, resulting in the removal of many of the breeding-age females from their pods.

Historically misunderstood, the creatures became popular for aquarium shows after a killer whale was harpooned off Saturna Island in 1964. The intent was to use the corpse as a real-life model for a sculpture. The orca, named Mody Doll, survived the initial harpoon attack, and during its ill-fated recovery attempt in a pen near the Burrard Dry Dock gained fame for being an intelligent, social and peaceful creature.

- From Wild Coast Magazine, spring 2008, page 6.

Squitty Bay park expanded

Squitty Bay Provincial Park became larger by 38.5 hectares in November thanks to the province of BC and a number of conservation organizations.

Donors included the Islands Trust Fund, the Lasqueti Island Nature Conservancy, the BC Trust for Public Lands, BC Marine Parks Forever Society, Nature Trust of BC and the Land Conservancy of BC. In all, the community raised $250,000 of the $1.5 million price.

The owners, Ingrid Iversen and Terry Tyler, gifted another $178,000 worth of land through Environment Canada’s Ecological Gift program.

The acquisition quadruples the size of the park on the island’s east extent and increases the amount of protected shoreline. The park is notable for its public dock, popular with the island-bound residents, and a picnic area overlooking the park’s rocky outcroppings which shelter the dock.

There is no camping within the park, nor official camping elsewhere on Lasqueti. The only other protected area on the island is the Lasqueti Island Ecological Reserve. Other parks in the area include Jedediah Island Marine Park, Sabine Channel Marine Park, South Texada Island Provincial Park and Anderson Bay Provincial Park.
Lasqueti was one of two islands in the North Georgia Basin that saw increased protection in 2007. Earlier in the year 11.65-hectare Gerald Island in the Winchelsea Island group off Nanoose Bay was purchased for a future marine park.

- From Wild Coast Magazine, spring 2008, page 6.

Gulf Islands National Park adds Narvaez Bay camp

Dec. 4, 2007 - The Gulf Islands National Park reserve has approved the development of seven backcountry campsites at Narvaez Bay on Saturna Island.

The campsite was first recognized in park planning at the time of the park's creation in 2003, but was delayed over the need for a strategic environmental assessment. The design and assessment of locations will take place over the winter, with the tent pads and tables to be installed in spring 2008. The development may include an upland trail.

Groups to meet to discuss marine trail strategy

Dec. 4, 2007 - BC kayaking groups, the Outdoor Recreation Council, BC Marine Trail Association representatives and Ministry of Tourism officials will be meeting in Vancouver Dec. 15 to discuss strategies for protecting kayaking campsites along the BC coast.

The Outdoor Recreation Council has been working the past two years to get government assistance on creating a designated marine trail from the Washington border to Alaska, with campsites every 10-15 miles along the linear route.

Kayaking groups are seeking to widen that mandate to protect kayaking campsites along the entire BC coast.

A recreation officer for the Discovery Coast recreation area of the Ministry of Tourism Sport and the Arts is scheduled to attend.

Naka Creek reverts to provincial control

Dec. 4, 2007 - The popular whale-watching campground and kayak launch site on Johnstone Strait is now back under provincial control.

The land, formerly held by Western Forest Products, was lost from Tree Farm Licence 25 in the provincial take-back of 10% of TLF land to accommodate the BC Timber Sales auction model for setting timber prices on Crown-owned forests.

Western will retain the log sort and booming grounds, but the logging camp buildings that surrounded the campground have been removed. The Special Use Permit for the logging camp will remain in effect until environmental considerations are cleared.

Caretakers will remain on site. The campground and parking remains free from fees.

Capital Regional District ups minimum lot size

Nov. 15, 2007 - TimberWest's plans to sell forestry land between Sooke Potholes and Port Renfrew may have fallen off the rails after the Capital Regional District voted to limit the lot sizes to a minimum of 120 hectares.

The new minimum lot size affects all land between the potholes and the port. The Victoria Times-Colonist quotes a TimberWest official saying the lands won't be put back on the market if developer Ender Ilkay walks away.

Developer snaps up Western Forest lands

Oct. 31, 2007 - Ender Ilkay is the happy new owner of 1,800 hectares of property near Jordan River recently offered for sale by TimberWest.

Chances are, given the arising controversy, he and TimberWest are the only ones happy about it right now.

Ender Ilkay is a Vancouver developer and president of Ilkay Development Corp. The property around Jordan River became available for sale after the province removed 28,000 hectares from the Tree Farm Licence - a move that has placed the province under increasing fire for removing the land without public consultation of the affected communities or compensation to the province.

The BC Liberal government is refusing NDP demands for a review of the decision to remove the land from the TFL - a move that allowed TimberWest to log the lands with fewer restrictions and sell the land for development.

(An interesting footnote is that Forests Minister Rich Coleman stated the decision was made on advice by staff, and that First Nations were consulted. Coleman apparently did not elaborate on why staff advised the decision.)

Meanwhile, Ilkay is being low-key, saying he wants to listen to the community and being mum on the future of the recreation area and campsite at the Jordan River waterfront (a popular RV and surf beach).

The ramifications of the province's decision to remove the TFL land is having a wider effect, with Pope and Talbot advertising 6,400 hectares for sale in the Kootenays despite the land being in a tree forest licence that prohibits its sale. The sale is conditional on the land's removal from the TFL. While the sale seems presumptuous, Pope and Talbot has a good case on its hands. The precedence has been set, and denying them while approving TimberWest would seem like favoritsm. And we have to wonder: have the floodgates been opened?

Oops, Jordan River subdivisions an error

Oct. 19, 2007- For those who have passed by the new subdivisions being built at Jordan River adjacent to China Beach Provincial Park (west of Sooke), and felt it was too urban a development for the area, you were right! In approving the developments the Capital Regional District overlooked a bylaw setting the minimum lot size to 120 hectares (that's about 55 acres). The subdivisions that were approved has lot sizes in a range of less than a hectare to about 1.5 hectares. You can visit the development websites for Wildwood Terrace here and Shores at Jordan River here.

Naturally the work done by the developers by the time the mistake was discovered meant the CRD was in a position to be sued, so the developments were officially approved despite the error. How a municipality can break a zoning bylaw - or even approve a variance - without public hearings and due process is a bit of a mystery. Not helping is TimberWest's sale of 1,800 hectares nearby. Developers are unlikely to be happy with property that can be subdivided into just 15 homes. Here's a pretty safe prediction: the developer is going to be making a push for higher density, and don't be surprised when Wildwood Terrace and the Shores at Jordan River are pointed to as examples of why higher density should be allowed. Meanwhile, the two subdivisions already being built are expected to double the area's population. It's interesting to see how this area is going to be transformed into Victoria's newest bedroom community without any plan or vision. For anyone who has watched Bear Hill adjacent to Goldstream Provincial Park transformed from pristine mountain terrain to a sprawling urban development, the prospect is grim.

The orange property denotes the area for sale near Comox Glacier.

Sept. 28, 2007 - TimberWest expanded its sell-off of its private forest land holdings by adding a 5,111-hectare parcel at the foot of Comox Glacier to an online auction site. You can visit the auction site here, with the closing date Nov. 8 and the reserve bid of $2.86 million. This latest addition to its sell-offs by TimberWest will have conservationists scratching their heads about whether this is good news or not. The Victoria Times-Colonist quoted TimberWest officials as saying the land was marginal for forestry, due to the slopes and location - a surprising revelation, given the extent to which the surrounding area has been logged. TimberWest won't speculate on how the property might be used, only saying a resort is one possibility. A housing development is unlikely, given the marginal access which includes TimberWest blocking the Comox Lake Main at the north entrance to Comox Lake during active logging hours - essentially daylight hours during the week. This makes the land special-interest only, and a resort might actually be good news, possibly protecting the trailhead for the Comox Glacier Trail, which has in the past been threatened by logging up the first portion of the trail to the park border. This is a wonderful mature forest area, and if there's any possibility the new owners might have reason to protect it, this can only be good news for conservationists.

The possible downside of this sale is private owners could log it and could bar public entry. Or there's a slim possibility the new owner could be the government, which might use the auction to pick up an expansion of Strathcona Provincial Park at a dirt cheap price, assuming no one else steps forward to drive up the price (TimberWest hinted it could be worth as much as $25 million - a hellishly expensive outlay if something wants to build a resort). The reserve bid of $2.86 million would be a steal. The question is whether the public money or will is available to pick it up. A Nov. 8 closing date does not allow land conservation groups time to mount a public campaign to raise money to purchase it. Nor does the concept of an auction help. It's easier to raise money for an asking price, especially if the group can make a tentative offer based on fundraising expectations, then set the campaign to meet the downpayment. It's much harder to raise money for a bid with no known ceiling, even without the short notice.

Most of the parcel is set around Cape Lake and the area north of the lake and west of Cruikshank River and south of Eric Creek towards Faith Lake. I'm not familiar with the recreational potential of this land outside the Comox Glacier Trail, where most activity tends to focus. Most people will probably known this land as the viewpoint from the Forbidden Plateau trails into the Cruikshank Canyon, with access starting from Mount Washington Alpine Resort. So the losers of this land sale may be the couple of trout fishermen who venture to Cape Lake.

Possibly the best outcome of this is the uncertainty means the new owners are likely to take several years to get organized, meaning the likelihood of some short-term stability for the Comox Glacier Trail. A worst-case scenario would be the new owners logging all the mature forest as fast as they can to make back their money on the purchase price. The bottom line is no one is going to spend several million - or possibly tens of millions - on a large parcel of land and not expect a return on investment. So that means some change in the future for this area.

If the government can't act to protect it as parkland, hopefully they can negotiate formal public access for the Comox Glacier Trail. That's really all that's needed, as the best features of this area are already protected in Strathcona Provincial Park. It sounds fairly simple to achieve. So to the new owners, whoever they may be: by all means, log it, build a resort or even parcel off portions for cottages. But please, let's work together to see that the public gets continued access to the Comox Glacier, a truly special place on Vancouver Island.

It's been about a month since the spill. I did a Google news search on the spill and got 62 responses. Of those the vast majority were dated Aug. 20 to Aug. 29. I saw few entries from September (the best from the Times Colonist is here). This could be a fault of Google, but I tend to think it's representative of the general coverage.

The general web entries seemed equally short-focused. As of today (Sept. 18) the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society's main news page has a "Robson Bight oil spill update" dated August 30. And so it all goes. After a month it is ancient history.

My concern here is how it's all just been shrugged off - the slow response to the clean-up, the lack of organization of agencies involved and the business-as-usual mindset for the shipping industry and the government watchdogs. We will learn nothing. Or worse yet, we will learn that a spill like this can happen with very little long-term damage, at least on the social impact.

(I think it's interesting to note that the owner of the barge, Ted LeRoy of Ted LeRoy Trucking of Chemainus, states, "It seems to be one of those freak things that happens." I can sympathize with his feeling that the incident was not one of neglect by his company, but in my mind that only deepens my feeling that it should be more thoroughly investigated. If this sort of thing can happen when everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing, then we are simply rolling the dice with the environment every time a ship passes a sensitive area, aren't we?)

Yes, we did get off lucky in Robson Bight. It was diesel, which has a relatively short-term impact. My concern is the what-ifs. What if it wasn't diesel? What if the amount of oil was significantly larger? Would we have been able to manage it?

Migrating killer whales are one thing. But the BC coast is a unique beast. It plays a huge role in migratory and waterfowl habitat, for instance, most of which is concentrated in fairly small parcels. The coast's seabird nesting colonies, as an example, are concentrated in just a few islands such as Triangle Island, Scott Islands, Pine Islands and Solander Island. An oil spill in any of these areas could be absolutely devastating for the seabird populations. Globally significant populations could be wiped off the map.

What we should be doing is learning from instances like this and using it to set safety policies and to hone responses. What I see is business as usual. It's not. It should be a wake-up call. All we did was hit the snooze alarm. The bad spill is coming. What are we going to do about it? The response to the Robson Bight spill tells me absolutely nothing.

The north island MLAs are urging an inquiry. I wish them luck. It sounds like a worthy topic to investigate. Anyway, there a good report on the Texada Island proposal here.

Texada Island eyed for oil depot

Sept. 18, 2007 - Here's a grand item to run in tandem with the oil spill story above. Texada Island is being looked at as the sight for a 600-megawatt electricity generating facility. The electricity would be produced from liquefied natural gas. This is potentially good news for those concerned about an oil spill as it liquefied natural gas evaporates as it warms.

From a business perspective the facility makes perfect sense. It is near the Terasen gas pipeline and the BC Hydro transmission lines to Vancouver Island, with the island offering a deep-sea port. The natural gas would come from possibly Russia and Saudi Arabia. The facility makes sense as domestic supplies of natural gas are running out.

Personally, I'm less concerned about the ecological implications than I am tying my horse to an energy source reliant on countries in or surrounded by political and economic turbulence. Better that we spend the $2 billion on alternatives. Yes, I know, that's no short-term solution to fueling our domestic needs. But it rankles me that we continue to make major investments to tap into a well that is running dry while simple alternatives go unchecked. For instance, of all the new housing in BC, I have to wonder out loud how many have solar hot water heaters. This is a simple and effective technology. Why is it being ignored? It should be standard in every new home. Not to mention thermal heating. I can only conclude that the up-front cost is unattractive to the homebuilders who want to maximize profits by keeping building costs down, and to the blase attitude of home purchasers to whom the world long-term energy outlooks are a distant and hazy issue compared to the immediate needs of air conditioning, hot water and heat.

Koksilah River old-growth eyed for future park

Sept. 18, 2007 - I always love the stories about loggers finding an area of old-growth so beautiful that they put down their chainsaws and refuse to log it. So it was in 1989 that that Louie Van Beers and Don Hughes refused to cut down a stand of old-growth trees along the Koksilah River. In response Fletcher Challenge created a voluntary 4-hectare reserve. Come 2007 and new owners TimberWest have no intention of honouring that reserve. The result is the land will have to be purchased from TimberWest if it is to be saved.

So far it's a bit sketchy about who is leading the campaign to save it. The Wilderness Committee (formerly Western Canada Wilderness Committee) is rattling some chains, but so far there's no major campaign at work. Hopefully this won't fall off the map.

Read the Wilderness Committee's report here. Find directions to the old-growth here.

Huge trees in the Walbran a cause to stop logging?

Chances are you haven't been to the Upper Walbran Valley. I was actually there June 21, the day of the report by the Wilderness Committee. And I can tell you there is no doubt the Walbran is being liquidated. I was stopped on the main through the valley to await a lull in a heli-logging operation. This was one of three active logging operations Later I was on a high section of the main at what should have been a good viewpoint but I declined to take a picture because it was a checkerboard of clearcuts of various ages.

Now the WC might see its discovery as cause for reassessing logging in the Walbran. Chances are what they might do is protect these particular trees, as has been done at numerous locations (such as the Harris Spruce near Port Renfrew). But don't expect logging to come to a crashing halt. WC does this sort of thing a lot. I remember when the area around Cathedral Grove was being logged and they sent in activists to search all the trees until they found some that had been culturally modified, hoping that would end the logging.

Feb. 2, 2007 - The B.C. government has allowed Western Forest Products to remove 28,000 hectares of forestry land from tree farm licences on Vancouver Island, allowing them use the forestry land now as private land rather than provincially regulated forest land. Much of the land is in the Port Renfrew and Jordan River area near Juan de Fuca Strait and Juan de Fuca Provincial Park. This deal allows Western Forest Products to log the land with fewer environmental restrictions and then sell the land for development. The only concession on the part of the company seems to be the agreeement to refrain from exporting raw logs for three years. There is a lot of history in the tree farm licences, and WFP does have a case for stating these lands should never have been included in the licences; however, I didn't see the industry bowing down for public interests when Weyerhaeuser was paid $78 million to relinquish logging rights for publicly owned land in Clayoquot Sound to allow it to be converted to a provincial park. At every turn the taxpayers seem to take the hit, and now a huge development is in store for Vancouver Island's southwest coast. Here's a link to a news item, but it is unfortunately archived now and a fee applies.

Update, Sept. 18, 2007 - Western Forest Products has announced the sale of 1,800 hectares of the land around Jordan River for sale for development. Read the Globe and Mail article here before it is archived. Sadly this portion includes the Jordan River Recreation Site.If you're interested to see what's in store, visit the website for the development immediately adjacent to China Beach Provincial Park here. This is only about 70 hectares, so multiply that by about 25 and you get an idea of what's in store for this region in just the first flip of forestry land for development. I guess we can see this type of sale every year or two for the next 20 years until the entire area is developed. Eventually housing will be non-stop from Sooke to Port Renfrew. I say this often, and it's tongue-in-cheek: ah, progress.

I'm going to pull out my crystal ball on this one: watch for the developers to strike a deal with the municipal government to trade the recreation site and other pockets of parkland in exchange for a higher-density urban-style development of lots closer to a half-acre in size. It's becoming an old refrain used by developers: give us the concession on lot size and we'll give you parkland. If not we'll develop it all, which we are entitled to do. I can't blame the developers. And you can't blame the municipalities/regional districts for falling victim to it, as such a deal does at least protect portions for public use. But just don't think the developers are doing any favours by handing over the parkland. It's certainly not charity. Hopefully this time the municipalities don't fall for the old trick of setting aside land that can't be developed for the parks. (As an example take a look at the cliff on Ruxton Island's south shore. This is park, and I'm quite sure it's never been used by the public.)