GREATER RECREATIONAL DEMAND, LESS WILDERNESS AND MORE ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION
Boardwalk trail constructed by WCWC volunteers in the upper Carmanah Valley. Kerry Dawson
Clearing winter storm clouds over the central Walbran Valley Randy Stoltmann
Hikers answering call of the West Coast Trail only get busy signal
Anne Mullens (Vancouver Island Reporter), The Vancouver Sun, March 6 1992
VICTORIA - Thousands of callers, phoning from as far away as Germany, jammed telephone lines to the village of Ucluelet this week, trying to make reservations to hike the famous West Coast Trail this summer.
The volume of calls was so great B.C. Tel had to step in to restrict the calls by half "to protect the rest of the network from overloading," B.C Tel representative Maureen Kirkbride said.
This is the first year that the Pacific Rim National Park is using a reservation system to limit the number of people hiking the popular but rugged 75-km trail that stretches from Port Renfrew north to Bamfield along the west coast of Vancouver Island.
"We had no idea so many people would be trying to get through," said Howie Hambleton, chief of visitor services at the park.
By Thursday, all reservation spots allotted for the trail this year had been booked, said Hambleton.
B.C. Tel was also overwhelmed - Ucluelet's telephone lines can only handle between 40 to 50 calls at one time, "which is usually ample," said Kirkbride.
Some hikers say the new system is frustrating. Gary Schall of Victoria and two of his friends " called continuously" for three days trying to reserve a spot for a week this summer.
TOTAL HIKERS ON THE WEST COAST TRAIL
A study concluded that the "social capacity" of the trail was 7,800 people annually.
That comfort zone was exceeded, and now reservations are required to hike the trail.
Click on image for detail.
The park began the reservation system because in recent years the trail has become too popular, with 9,000 people hiking it last year, threatening the trail's natural environment, Hambleton said.
MORE WILDERNESS TRAILS NEEDED
The West Coast Trail has become extremely popular in recent years. Between 1986 and 1989, recreational use increased by 56 percent. In 1990, there was a dramatic 40 percent increase over the previous year.
Research has shown that for hikers to have a quality wilderness experience, no more than 7,800 people should hike the trail spread out over the 5-month hiking season. With the reservation system now in place, additional wilderness trail networks through the ancient rainforest are urgently needed. This would provide a "supernatural" wilderness experience for the thousands of hikers who will no longer be permitted on the West Coast Trail.
At least 15,000 people visited the adjacent Carmanah Pacific Provincial Park in 1989. No figures are available for the Nitinat Triangle, upper Carmanah and Walbran Valley areas, or for off-season hikers on the West Coast Trail. Clearly there is great potential for a local wilderness tourism-based economy. Twenty-four commercial tour operators already use the West Coast Trail. These new jobs will complement a scaled-down, sustainable forestry economy in the adjacent forest lands.
Fletcher Challenge's salmon stream damaging roadbuilding, Gordon River, Vancouver Island, April 1990 Photo: Randy Stoltmann
