Dear Editor,
As I sit and wait for the decision to be made by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change on the Kent-Harrison Joint Emergency Program’s park boundary adjustment application, I wonder what exactly is happening. For years, they have been saying “it is only an old railway grade.” So what is the problem?
The railway was built in 1930s. It ran from the shore of Harrison Lake up past Trout Lake, past Deer Lake, over Mahood Creek and into Ruby Creek. There was a branch line running up to Hicks Lake. It operated until 1938 when all the valley bottom timber was gone. The following years saw the rails removed and logging trucks brought in and spur roads built to grab the big trees on the valley slopes.
This type of industrial development is relatively rare. 20 Mile Bay, Chehalis Valley are two locally-known spots where railway logging occurred. Over the years, with the advent of new and different harvesting methods, evidence of railway logging in those areas has been wiped away. Gone forever!
In the current management plan for Sasquatch Park, there is one mention of the logging history pre-park. It is found in the section called ‘Managing Natural, Cultural and Recreational Values’. It specifically identifies this cultural resource.
B.C. Parks is legislated to conserve and protect this cultural resource. It is stated in the management plan on page 8 “The role of the park is to protect cultural heritage features associated with European and Sto:lo, Chehalis, and Yale First Nation use of the park area.”
So I say to the Minister “Get on with it!”
John Coles
Agassiz