The Mt. Elphinstone forest needs protection, but time is running out!
Mt. Elphinstone is the scenic backdrop to the town of Gibsons on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast. One hundred years ago a velvet tapestry of oldgrowth forests blanketed all of B.C.'s southern coast; today, due to human settlement and industrial timber extraction, nothing but scraps remain of this remarkable, biodiversity-rich ancient forest.
Many people on the Sunshine Coast share the belief that we must preserve wild forest ecosystems as a part of our heritage -- a treasure to be respected, studied, cared for and shared by the community. But time is running out. Commercial clearcut logging has fragmented and reduced our wild forests, replacing biodiversity-rich, naturally regenerating oldgrowth forest ecosystems with uniform life-impoverished tree plantations. The intact area of oldgrowth and mature second growth forest on Mt. Elphinstone grows smaller each year. Even one more year of logging will have a disastrous effect. To create a meaningful park on Mt. Elphinstone – one that will protect rare species and popular forest trails — we must act now.
"Even one more year of logging will have disastrous effect. To create a meaningful park on Mt. Elphinstone... we must act now."
Mt. Elphinstone's gently sloping south-facing shoulder was extensively burned in a series of naturally occurring forest fires in the late 1800s. Fire cleared the understory but left many veteran oldgrowth (primarily Douglas fir) survivors. After the fire, standing deadwood provided nesting habitat and living space for a fabulous variety of birds and small mammals. The forest floor blossomed with biodiversity normally found only in oldgrowth environments. Some salvage logging took place during the 1920s and 1940s, leaving a network of jeep tracks, now perfect for hiking along, in the gently-sloping, mossy forest floor.
People established homes and communities along Mt. Elphinstone's lower slopes and coastline. Many residents drew their domestic water from the streams that run down Mt. Elphinstone. Until the 1970s, logging was primarily focused on the unburned forest at middle elevations. In the early 1980s, however, road construction and logging moved into the naturally regenerating forest areas. In 1983, mass soil erosion and extensive flooding caused damage and disruption in the downslope communities. In 1990 logging posed another threat: logging plans called for chemical weed suppression in a part of Mt. Elphinstone that served as a community drinking watershed. Residents blockaded and the spray plans were cancelled.
Throughout the 1980s and until 1997 many caring and concerned citizens worked to protect Mt. Elphinstone by participating in several government planning processes -specifically the Local Resource Use Plan (LRUP) and Protected Area Strategy (PAS). Although the LRUP process at first excluded public input, after it opened up in 1992, many community groups forwarded submissions advocating that the B.C. Government protect Mt. Elphinstone as a source of clean water and a habitat for rare species. These groups included Concerned Coast Residents, Elphinstone Electors Association, Elphinstone Living Forest, Forest Watch Sunshine Coast, the Roberts Creek Community Association and the Davis Bay/Wilson Creek Community Association. Many residents also pointed out that Mt. Elphinstone is extensively used for recreation, biology education and ecotourism, and that industrial timber extraction destroys the possibility of sustaining and enhancing these important forest values.
None of the citizen groups ever demanded the elimination of all logging on Mt. Elphinstone. Instead, they consistently asked for protection of a 1,500 hectare area of species-rich oldgrowth and mature second growth forest. They also advocated a change from clearcut and other unsustainable logging methods to sustainable ecoforestry practices on the rest of Mt. Elphinstone.
"Protecting Mt. Elphinstone... makes good sense for the environment and the economy. "
In 1996, the Protected Area Strategy established only three tiny protected areas on Mt. Elphinstone, totalling a mere 140 hectares. In 1997, the B.C. Ministry of Forests shut down the LRUP public planning process and continued to award road building permits and timber extraction licenses within the area on Mt. Elphinstone that had been identified by community groups as most highly valued for protection.
Government's lack of leadership on creating a 1,500 hectare Mt. Elphinstone Park is appalling. Protecting Mt. Elphinstone's rare forest makes good sense for the environment and the economy. Mt. Elphinstone is a domestic water source. The 1,500 hectares are just one-one thousandth (1/1000) of the Forest District's total land base.
The proposed Mt. Elphinstone Class A Provincial Park area already hosts up to 30,000 recreation user visits a year. Existing neighbouring parks are crowded beyond their capacity. The emerging ecotourism industry needs this accessible, protected wilderness resource base.
