Dear Editor:
In 2022, Sasquatch Provincial Park was visited by 368,223 people. Of this number, in the neighbourhood of 97,428 people specifically visited the Deer Lake area. They enjoyed the camping, the swimming, the fishing and the hiking on the Deer Lake Trail. One can see the use on the Deer Lake Trail by the numerous worn-down, non-sanctioned trails leading from the campsite up the banks to the Deer Lake Trail. Further east along the trail, one can see the worn, non-sanctioned trails dropping back to the lake shore.
The park zoning for this Deer Lake Trail is “natural environment zone.” The objective of this zone is to provide easily-accessible, off-road outdoor recreation activities in a largely undisturbed natural environment. It is common knowledge that the land on the north side of Deer Lake was a magnificent forest prior to the 1930s. In the mid ‘30s a rail bed was constructed in the area. In late 30s and early 40s, to reach timber higher up slope, the rail was ripped up and the route rebuilt to allow for logging trucks to travel on.
Since 1986, after the Mahood Creek bridge was washed away in a powerful storm, the road was left to nature. The Deer Lake trail runs through this natural setting. This natural setting has all the attributes that make it such a precious asset.
The Deer Lake Trail fulfills every ‘role’ listed in the current 2002 management plan for the park; the conservation role, the outdoor recreation and tourism role and the cultural heritage role. We must stand together and fight to protect this precious resource.
Drop the Minister of Enviroment an email and in it tell him to do his job and protect Sasquatch Provincial Park.
John Coles
Agassiz