Re: Expansion of the Mount Elphinstone Provincial Park
To the Honorable Nathan Cullen
Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship
We reach out to you from the Sunshine Coast region, which has the lowest level of
provincially protected lands in the entire Province. It stands at only 5 – 6%. There’s a
small number of regional parks, Old Growth Management Areas, and Wildlife Habitat
Areas that bring it up to 8 -10%, well below the provincial average. This has been an
issue raised by many local conservation groups and our NDP MLA Simons for decades,
which successive provincial governments have ignored. We’re optimistic that things are
changing with the Mandate Letter that Premier David Eby issued on December 7, 2023
outlining several land use objectives, including “to achieve the Nature Agreement goals
of 30% protection of BC’s land base by 2030, including Indigenous Protected and
Conserved Areas.”
Our organization, Elphinstone Logging Focus (ELF) is an environmental/conservation
group based on the lower Sunshine Coast, that monitors and assesses the many
logging cutblocks that constantly come up by various licensees in our backyards. We
also advocate for the expansion of the Mount Elphinstone Provincial Park from its
current bizarre configuration of three separate parcels totaling only 139ha, to an
inclusive and connected 2,000ha. This is a campaign we inherited from the
original proponents who became burned out and cynical as BC Timber Sales and the
local Community Forest kept forcing cutblocks within the park expansion boundaries
against strong local opposition.
Please note that The Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) supports the expansion
of this small beloved park from the three isolated parcels to 2,000ha, as expressed in
Bylaw 641. This level of government sees long-term protection of this rare ecosystem
as the highest and best use of these low elevation forests for the future viability of the
region supporting a growing and sustainable recreational economy, securing
biodiversity, hydrological integrity and respecting First Nation values.
The park is situated a mere 20 minutes from the BC Ferry Terminal in Langdale and as
you may know, has become a world-renowned mountain bike destination. During Covid,
this area became so heavily used by the mountain bike community that BC Parks went
out of their way to place a Porta-potty at the powerlines where people assemble before
riding. The hiking trails within the park proposal area are heavily used as well. There’s
been zero dollars invested by BC Parks into this park and the surrounding intact forests
even though it’s now a destination.
The recent Mandate Letter directed to you as Minister of Water, Land and Resource
Stewardship, includes an objective to enhance B.C.’s biodiversity through the
recommendations of the Old Growth Strategic Review and the Together for Wildlife
Strategy. Our park expansion campaign is aligned with the initiatives in the Premier’s
letter.
Much of Elphinstone Forest slopes (a unit area of 9,000 ha) were selectively hand
logged for cedar shakes by early pioneers starting prior to WW1. After WW2, industrial
scale logging targeted all species as export markets opened up. However, one area of
lower elevation forest that was damaged from an 1860’s fire that rendered it
commercially unviable, was left alone to naturally regenerate. So, while most of our low
and mid-elevations forests were lost to clearcuts and tree plantations, this rare area
remains relatively intact. It still contains old-growth Douglas-fir, mature stands of Sitka
spruce and Western white pine and a rich understory. We believe this to be our last and
best chance to conserve a substantial low elevation forest on the lower Sunshine Coast.
Since 1998, some logging has occurred within the proposed park boundaries as the
trees have matured enough to attract industry attention, but 70% remains intact
providing all the linkages required to connect up the small park parcels and create a
more robust conservation zone. Opportunity awaits!
This letter requests that you as the Minister exercise your legislative power to see the
Mount Elphinstone Park Proposal area become fully protected. As much ground work
has already been completed – the Sunshine Coast Regional District is in support, a
2014-11-14 statement by the shíshálh Nation Chief & Council calls for the protection of
Mt. Elphinstone as a watershed, plus an exhaustive “Mount Elphinstone Conservation
Review” (McCrory, RPBio), it should assist in the intergovernmental process.
Please have your staff read the McCrory report.
More recently, Mr. McCrory co-published a 2018 report on the Elphinstone Forests in
collaboration with shíshálh hereditary Chief, indigenous knowledge-keeper and two-time
elected Chief Calvin Craigan, in support of a IPCA (Indigenous Protected and
Conserved Area). That report is titled “A Briefing Document for Protection of a Proposed
2,137 Hectare Joint Shíshálh (Sechelt) – Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Indigenous
Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) or Other Full Protective Designation for the
Mount Elphinstone Forest on the Sunshine Coast.”
This report can be found at our website: https://elf-tr.org/2021-research-reports/
Also, as a next step, I would like to contact your office to arrange a meeting with you in
Victoria to discuss this wonderful opportunity in person and include hiwus Calvin
Craigan. When I contact your office in mid-February, I hope they will oblige this request
and book an hour of your time to review this conservation initiative.
In terms of the timber licenses in the park expansion area, BC Timber Sales has agreed
not to issue any further cutblocks until a shíshálh-Victoria Modern Land Use Plan is
completed sometime in Fall 2023. The other licensee, the Sunshine Coast Community
Forest, recently canceled two blocks near the northernmost park parcel because the
forest conditions were seen by their Ecosystem Based Management consultant to have
sufficient old forest conditions to warrant protection.
Thank you for your time and interest in this conservation opportunity that’s sitting on
governments doorstep.
Best Regards,
Ross Muirhead
ELF: Forest Campaigner
elf-tr.org
672-999-9477
P.S. We will be following up with mailed hard copies of the two reports on the Mt.
Elphinstone Park expansion proposal linked in this email.
Note: The Ministry’s land use objectives (copied below) nicely align with this park
expansion proposal.
