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| Help save Pinecone Burke Provincial Park and Upper Pitt River | ||||||||||
| Posted on February 18th, 2008 by Rodney Hsu, webmaster | ||||||||||
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Pinecone Burke Provincial Park is under threat from a proposed private power line right of way to be cleared across the park. The deadline for public input is April 2, 2008.
Pinecone Burke Provincial Park The 38,000 hectare Pinecone Burke Provincial Park was designated in 1995 after a hard fought wilderness preservation campaign by the Burke Mountain Naturalists, the Wilderness Committee and other conservation organizations. Many thousands of people wrote in to support this parks designation. Pinecone Burke encompasses a wilderness corridor of mountains and valleys that stretch from the city of Coquitlams Burke Mountain in the south, to the popular Widgeon Slough canoe area, along the western shore of Pitt Lake to the remote Pinecone Lake alpine area, all the way north to the Boise Valley, Upper Pitt River Watershed and the boundary with Garibaldi Provincial Park. The parks wilderness habitat protects threatened populations of fish and wildlife. The area is very popular with backcountry recreationists. Its nickname is Vancouvers Backyard Wilderness, because of its wild nature in close proximity to the city. The Proposed Private Power Project The Upper Pitt hydro project, proposed by a private company, Northwest Cascade Power, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Run of River, Inc.) is a very large 180 MW (megawatt) project. The company proposes that a large portion of all eight of the major tributaries of the Upper Pitt River system be diverted into over 30 kilometres of large pipes, then run through seven powerhouses to produce electricity. A network of power line corridors would then be clearcut throughout the Upper Pitt Valley, to allow the construction of a series of power lines that would link all seven powerhouses to a main power line. The company proposes that a main power line right of way be cleared to the west, over the pristine Steve Creek/Crawford Creek Pass through the northern portion of Pinecone Burke Park in order to construct a power line that would transmit the power to a substation located just north of the town of Squamish, where it would be added to the Provincial power grid. The Provincial Government has recently started a 60 day review process of the companys proposal to clear the power line right of way through the park. So far the company has not received approval from the Provincial Government for any part of the private power project. Threats to the Upper Pitt Valley The Upper Pitt valley is remarkably rich in its wild salmon and wilderness-dependent species. It supports the largest remaining wild coho population in the lower Fraser and has a unique race of sockeye salmon that take up to 6 years to mature. It provides valuable habitat for all species of Pacific salmon plus steelhead, cutthroat trout, Dolly Varden and the largest population of bull trout remaining in the lower mainland. The Upper Pitt River Valley with its higher elevation wilderness parks (including Pinecone Burke Park, Golden Ears Park and Garibaldi Park) supports grizzly bears, wolves, marbled murrelets, wolverine and mountain goats. Because of these wilderness attributes, government biologists selected the Upper Pitt Valley for the re-introduction of Roosevelt elk in 2004. Today, the elk are thriving. Putting a cluster of private power projects in the major tributary streams feeding into this sensitive area, and clearing a spider-web of power line right of ways throughout the watershed would be an environmental disaster for the regions fish and wildlife populations. Threats to Pinecone Burke and our Provincial Park System The electricity generated by the company is proposed to be taken from the Upper Pitt Valley to a substation located just north of the town of Squamish. The main power line would cross Pinecone Burke Class A Provincial Park from one side to the other, a distance of about 4.6 km, then follow down the Mamquam Valley to the Squamish substation. Construction of a power line right of way through pristine wilderness in a Class A Park is unprecedented; in fact, it is prohibited under the BC Parks Act. Fears are high that the BC government to get around the law may actually remove park protection for the swath of land needed for the power line right of way through Pinecone Burke Park. This would set a deadly new precedent for removing park protection, and industrializing other lands within provincial parks and protected areas across the province. Construction of a power line right of way across Pinecone Burke Park in this mountain pass would interfere with wildlife movement from wilderness areas in Garibaldi Park to southern portions of Pinecone Burke Park and the adjoining protected Coquitlam drinking watershed. The Steve Creek corridor contains sensitive wetlands and critical grizzly bear habitat and the power line right of way is proposed to go straight through this area. An additional concern is that, once constructed, cleared power line corridors can often attract all terrain vehicles and snowmobiles into pristine habitat used by wilderness-dependent species. The company proposes to compensate for ruining this wildlife area by advocating that the provincial government add what appears to be mostly a high elevation rocky ridge to the Park. Here is what you can do to help save Pinecone Burke Park! BC Parks Minister Barry Penner has said that he will listen to public sentiment regarding the Pinecone Burke Park. Comments from the public are being solicited until April 2, 2008 on the proposed park boundary change to make way for the proposed power line right of way. Please submit your comments to PineconeBurke@gov.bc.ca. Or mail your comments to: Boundary Change Pinecone Burke Or fax to 1-250-387-5757. Please email a link to this notice to friends, family, co-workers, and other environmental organizations. Post this notice on other web sites, blogs and social networking sites like Facebook that you have access to. Public meetings to discuss the proposed park boundary change will be held in Squamish, Pitt Meadows and Mission only - despite requests for meetings in Coquitlam and Vancouver. The Open House portion of these meetings starts at 4 pm. Presentations will start at 6:30pm and be followed by questions and answers.
To be informed of upcoming meetings and events, email Joe Foy. Send him a copy of the letter that you have sent re: protecting Pincecone Burke as well as a list of other people, organizations and sites that you have sent this notice to. By working together we can stop the private power play for the Upper Pitt Valley, and save Pinecone Burke Provincial Park.
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