Hon. Gordon Campbell, Premier of BC:

I wish to register my opinion regarding the threat to Lost Valley's ecological and cultural values posed by the provincial government's BC Timber Sales Program. Lost Valley has numerous cultural features which demonstrate a long history of sustainable use by aboriginal people, including redcedar trees scarred by past bark and wood harvesting, cache pits used by native hunters to store food and supplies, and an ancient trail that traverses the length of the valley. It has long been recognized by various Provincial government agencies and planning processes for its extremely high wildlife and aboriginal cultural values. In 1993 the BC government's Kamloops Regional Protected Areas Team proposed the Melvin and adjacent Lost Valley for protection because of high wildlife values. In April 2001, the NDP government of Premier Ujjal Dosanjh announced that as a result of the government's recently completed Lillooet land and resource management plan, Lost Valley would become a First Nations' deferral area, where no development could take place pending negotiations with the St'át'imc. However, the provincial government through its BC Timber Sales program now has plans to log Lost Valley. The St'at'imc have produced a land use plan for the northern part of their territory which includes Lost Valley and Melvin Creek, designating significant areas of the territory as Protection Areas, which are off limits to industrial developments such as logging and mining. Western Canada Wilderness Committee strongly supports the St'át'imc land use plan and opposes the plans by BC Timber Sales to log Lost Valley.