TETRAHEDRON: THE PLACE, THE PROBLEM, THE SOLUTION
Tetrahedron peak, Sunshine Coast
The Place...
Consider: three mountain peaks rising over 5500 feet, ten lakes at or above 3000 feet, alpine and sub-alpine meadows, and the last substantial accessible old growth forest remaining on the Sunshine Coast. All of this ... nearby, within an area which constitutes less than one three-hundredth of our Forest District's Timber Supply Area (TSA).
Please ask: is it reasonable to save this legacy for future generations?
Alpine wild flowers and deep snows on the summits of Panther Peak, Tetrahedron and Mount Steele seasonally compete for supremacy atop the rim of the Tetrahedron Wilderness. Here, Rock Ptarmigan, typically birds of the northern tundra, have been discovered in what is likely their most southerly breeding locale on the continent.
Down from the rocky peaks, down through the meadows and stunted trees of the sub-alpine zone, you come to the less harsh habitat of the lakes and old growth forest. Here, ancient Yellow Cedar, Mountain Hemlock and Balsam Fir trees dominate this 3000 foot high bowl of lakes, meadows, creeks and steep slopes. Here, Chapman, Edwards, Tannis and seven other lakes form the heart of the Sunshine Coast's water supply system. Here, surrounded by large Yellow Cedars in a cut block scheduled for logging this summer, lives the oldest recorded Mountain hemlock in B.C., aged over 900 years. Nearby, a recently logged stump is all that remains of a Yellow Cedar which was living 1200 years ago.
A composite view of Chapman Lake Bowl.
The wilderness value of this area was first formally acknowledged in a provincial park proposal made by local naturalist John Hind-Smith in 1976. An extensive hiking and cross-country trail system now meanders through the area, connecting four log cabins. Last year our Regional District government gave its support to a wilderness proposal for the Tetrahedron. Even the Ministry of Forests itself has recognized the area's high wilderness and recreation values by building the first hiking trails in 1982; by helping the Tetrahedron Ski Club construct cabins and new trails in 1987; and by recently proposing that the Tetrahedron be designated as a Wilderness Recreation Area.
Small by either district or provincial standards, the area proposed for the Tetrahedron Wilderness includes only 651 hectares of operable (or loggable) forest within a 5,650 hectare area, most of which is either alpine or otherwise unloggable. The operable forest of the Sunshine Coast Forest District is 227,000 hectares within a timber supply area of over one million hectares. Preserving the Tetrahedron Wilderness therefore requires that less than one third of one percent of the working forest be set aside.
Edwards Lake back-country cabin at foot of Mount Steel.
What we have here is an excellent opportunity for the Ministry of Forests to prove their concern to sustain values other than logging in our forest.
The Problem...
The details in this issue are complex but the immediate problem is simple. The Ministry of Forests has authorized logging to proceed this summer in the Tetrahedron in spite of requests from the public and the Regional Board to wait until wilderness and watershed values can be fully evaluated.
Thirty-one hectares may be logged as early as July, pending the results of a hydrology study in that small area. Wilderness and recreation will not be considered in this study.
The logging has been authorized, even though the Ministry itself has proposed the creation of a Wilderness Recreation Area. However, to be precise, the wilderness proposal has to date not been given a high enough priority for early study and may languish for years while logging proceeds.
"Our policy emphasis today ensures that the forest resource is sustainable not just for industry but for wildlife, for heritage and cultural values, for recreation, and even for the health of the globe."
- Minister of Forests Claude Richmond
The logging has been authorized even though an Integrated Watershed Management Plan Team has only just begun a study of the area. And there are no independent wilderness or outdoor recreation specialists on the Team to counterbalance logging interests.
The public meeting process which began last October was cut off in February after the Ministry announced that logging would proceed on the thirty-one hectare block. In frustration at having public and local government requests for a halt to logging ignored, the Tetrahedron Alliance was formed in March and after less than three months has already grown to about 550 members.
This problem has surely not arisen due to anyone's ill will but as a result of swiftly changing management perspectives of the B.C. forests. The Ministry of Forests is moving away from practices primarily geared to extraction towards a more balanced style which will consider values such as watershed, recreation and wilderness. Moreover, this process is moving quickly - perhaps too quickly for government agencies to keep up.
The Ministry has committed itself to Integrated Resource Management. However, here on the Sunshine Coast, according to the Minister of Forests "the timber allocation is fully committed." But why? And how can wilderness or other values even begin to receive consideration? Must other interests pay for the over-commitment of provincial forests to logging? Is the Ministry interested in applying Integrated Management only in the small area which the local government and people want preserved?
We live here. We don't want to see jobs lost. We understand the need to log in B.C. - but surely not at the expense of this high elevation ancient forest, where sustainable harvesting is questionable and where other values like wilderness and watersheds should take precedence.
Interfor, the logging company most affected, is in the difficult position of having other strong interests focused in part of its logging area. However, they are attempting to find a solution to this problem. The logging company and we need the full and protective support of the Ministry of Forests to find practical solutions to this unnecessary conflict.
The Solution...
"Is it unreasonable to ask to set aside less than one three-hundredth (1/300) of our District timber supply for wildlife, for our heritage, our spiritual and recreational life and the health of the globe?"
- Tetrahedron Alliance
To Claude Richmond, Minister of Forests:
4
Thank you.
Tetrahedron Alliance
Click on map to enlarge. Text
