Elphinstone Community Association had a great turnout to its AGM May 21 at Frank West Hall. I’m telling you it’s worth attending just to hear Donna McMahon tell-it-like-it-is about the state of our regional district. You have to hear it from her lips to believe it.
The subject of water was on the agenda, both the kind we need to drink and the kind that has washed out at least one road (and a few of our wells and basements) in recent years. The two kinds are, perhaps ironically, connected by –– you guessed it –– forests!
In my second Elphi Chronicle on March 28, I mentioned that BC Timber Sales (BCTS) agreed to come to ECA’s meeting on March 19 to present its plan for partial logging in Cutblock TA0519. These 38.4 hectares are in the heart of the Aquifer 560 recharge zone and directly upland of the 2021 Lower Road/Smales Creek washout. Because that meeting was held, “in camera,” no official minutes were recorded. I can say, however, the initial cautious optimism about their outreach program was short lived. ECA members soon expressed concern that the BCTS proposal to harvest in the Elphinstone watershed was a done deal dressed up to look like community consultation.
These concerns have been expressed in a strongly worded letter that the ECA, in collaboration with the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association (SCCA) sent on April 30 to Premier David Eby and four of his ministers, including our own Randene Neill, Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, plus the Squamish Nation, SCRD and Town of Gibsons. The letter makes it clear that in no way does ECA or SCCA agree with or support the BCTS proposal to log partially instead of clearcut Block TA0519. They say any logging in the Elphinstone Watershed poses too high a risk to the drinking water supply in Elphinstone, including the Town of Gibsons. As well, the root causes of flooding and washouts that occurred in 2021 and the severe water shortage in 2022 have not been adequately identified. And their final point: BCTS’s proposed “partial harvest” is an “unproven experiment within a vital aquifer recharge zone. Without plans to monitor impacts on groundwater, soil or surface runoff, this approach is untested in similar terrain, and overlooks the area’s complex hydrological system.”
The letter urges the premier and ministers to use existing legislation available only to the Cabinet to defer all logging in the Elphinstone Watershed area until a Water Sustainability Plan is developed for our region.
This cutblock has been in BCTS’s crosshairs since 2020, with an initial harvest set for 2027. Now the auction date has been moved ahead to July 2025, making the issue urgent. We have learned BCTS conducts no ground water assessments as part of their evaluations of potential harvest blocks. It’s not in their mandate. But Randene Neill, who now holds such a mandate, appears to be taking notice. I look forward to seeing how this will play out in the next weeks.
The entire letter is available to anyone on the ECA website, elphinstonecommunity.ca. Hey, don’t despair. It’s summer! Stay tuned for ECA’s Summer Social TBA one Sunday this summer! It’s a great time to get to know who lives near you. All welcome at Chaster House.
