Coastal News

Progress on the BC Marine Trail

By John Kimantas

Dec. 18, 2007 - After a flourish of activity in the mid 1990s, the BC Marine Trail concept has been simmering on the backburner, but a recent push by kayaking groups across British Columbia may help rejuvenate the 15-year-old dream.

It began in 1993 when Peter McGee first kayaked the BC coast from Alaska, and realized there were no formal campsites along the route. The timing was perfect, because McGee was in a masters program for resource management as SFU with a focus on marine protected areas, and the two concepts dovetailed nicely. An inspiration was the Washington Water Trail, and the idea was borne to create a link of campsites every 10 to 15 miles along the BC coast linking Washington and Alaska. The result was the BC Marine Trail Association, of which McGee became executive director. And at the peak it boasted about 500 members. An early success was establishing a deal to place a campsite on MacMillan Bloedel forestry property at Blackberry Point on Valdes Island in the Gulf Islands.

But two things came together to throw the marine trail momentum off track. The Ministry of Forests, responsible for the recreation efforts on provincial forest management lands, did an about-face on its policy for forest recreation sites. Rather than expanding the network, which the marine trail required, the ministry divested itself of most of the existing sites, handing management over to interested non-profit groups. Facing budget cuts, new recreation sites were no longer part of the political will of the day.

In addition, McGee departed the BCMTA and headed to Toronto. Without a strong leader, the BCMTA floundered. The association, failing to file its paperwork, eventually lost its legal status and the organization sat in limbo.

During this period other factors began to put pressure on the marine trail, with the largest the looming prospect of First Nations treaty settlements. The first was ratified in October 2007, with the deal handing 26,000 hectares of land, much of it along the coast, with many parcels in popular kayaking territories and access points. For a full list of the properties, please read my initial report here.

The initial reaction among the kayaking community seemed to be shock, but one that shouldn't be confused with criticism of the treaty process. Few would argue against the treaties or their necessity in rectifying past injustices or in handing back traditional lands to their rightful owners. But it did raise the alarm that valued kayaking areas were in peril, with particular regard to the marine trail concept.

The result was a flurry of renewed interest in the marine trail, particularly from BC kayaking groups such as PIKA, Nanaimo Paddlers and SKABC. These groups met on Dec. 15 with representatives of the Outdoor Recreation Council, whose member Ray Pillman had been working quietly behind the scenes to lobby government support for the marine trail. Also attending was Charlie Cornfield, the recreation officer for the Discovery Coast Recreation District of the Ministry of Tourism Sport and the Arts. Cornfield has also been working quietly behind the scenes in pushing forward the marine trail agenda. That work includes continuing to identify key kayaking locations with the hopes they will form a backbone of the marine trail.

Another process has also been in the works to sort out congestion issues in the Johnstone Strait region. The Limits of Acceptable Change strategy may become a model for managing recreation in other areas of the province.

While the group meeting is pressing forward with the agenda, much needs to be done, from the relatively simple step of setting a vision statement to the more time-consuming issue of identifying sites in need of protection.

So who knows - perhaps it's not impossible to have the marine trail launched, at least in part, by the 2010 Olympics.

This report and information regarding the marine trail is the views of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of others involved in the marine trail concept.

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