We in the Kootenays are fortunate to live amongst relatively untouched mountain wilderness. Forests still exist which support a diversity of flora and fauna, where streams run clear and birdsong dominates the soundscape.
Yet, in the South Purcell Mountains all that we most value in nature is being threatened. Retallack, an adventure tourism co., supported by Yaqan nu? Kiy Lower Kootenay Band, has proposed a year-round helicopter biking/skiing/hiking tenure in a large swath of this area. The enterprise would involve bringing in scores of tourists each day, tens of thousands of uses annually. It would necessitate a fuelling station serviced by truck and the removal of endangered whitebark pine for 100-200 kilometers of trails.
If this proposal is approved, mountain goats will spend much of their time in panicked exhaustion seeking higher ground from the perceived predator helicopter — grizzlies will suffer disrupted corridors, fragmented forests and high human traffic; the four remaining caribou of a once robust herd will be pushed over the brink.- For that reason alone, and with the supposed clout of the Species at Risk Act, this proposal should be dismissed out of hand.
The instinct of animals is to move out of the area of offense. Where can wilderness itself go when its homespace has become too inhospitable for its very survival? Displacement followed by mortality is the scenario for large animals who lack contiguous, intact mt. systems.
The wilderness is not a playground. The intention of Retallack to cut in the remote mountain forest, habitually inflict helicopter presence, gas fumes and concentrations of people in an area which seldom sees humans, demonstrates a hubris which would cause incalculable harm to us all. Are we willing to let this happen to the only true wealth that remains?
Please express your concerns to:
Christine Lohr, Land Officer, Kootenay Boundary
Christine.Lohr@gov.bc.ca
CC: Doug Donaldson, FLNRORD Minister,
FLNR. Minister@gov.bc.ca
Other contacts: your local MLA, Regional District, and Wildsight for more info.
Pamella Wik
Kimberley