For two years there has been plenty of talk about a comprehensive land-use and marine management plan for Howe Sound.
A group called the Future of Howe Sound Society has worked diligently to bring local and senior governments together on the idea, and positive steps have been taken through the Howe Sound Community Forum and, most recently, the Suzuki Foundation’s Howe Sound Aquatic Forum.
The last event, held April 12 at Furry Creek south of Britannia Beach, brought together about 100 people from 70 different government bodies and organizations, including First Nations. “There was a really strong assembly of people fighting for a marine protection area,” said organizer Stephen Foster, who called the forum “a significant step,” but admitted, “It’s early days.”
These efforts are admirable and needed, but the immediate issues facing Howe Sound are not going to wait for a plan that could be years in the making, if it ever comes together at all.
For those who see the fjord as one of Canada’s most valuable (and beautiful) recreational assets, Howe Sound is under siege from all sides.
Nowhere is this more apparent than on Gambier Island, one-quarter of which will be logged out if the province goes ahead with its ill-conceived plan to issue two woodlot licences for Crown land on the northeast section of the island. The area includes the bulk of the island’s world-class trail networks and the prime destination site of Gambier Lake, as well as the community watershed.
Even from a solely economic angle, as Gambier Island Conservancy president Peter Scholefield points out, flattening 25 per cent of the island makes absolutely no sense. The province, however, seems to be on autopilot in proceeding with plans that exclude the public and lay waste to public assets. It’s not about the economy, but rather about adhering to a particularly destructive corporate ideology. We see this also with BC Ferries.
The Gambier woodlots could become a reality any day. But major proposals are also in the hopper for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility at Woodfibre, near Squamish; a $500-million waste-to-energy incinerator on Squamish Nation lands at Port Mellon; and the Burnco gravel mine at McNab Creek, directly north of Gambier. Realistically, it’s unlikely that a comprehensive management plan would be in place before decisions on any of these projects are taken.
What’s needed instead is a plan for the present. The province, in particular, has to wake up and stop looking at Howe Sound in fragments. The big question is whether Howe Sound will continue to recover from decades of industrial abuse and grow as an ecological and recreational treasure for all Canadians, or whether it will revert to an industrial extraction and disposal grounds for the Lower Mainland.
Political wisdom is needed and, unfortunately, that is the problem.
