Editor:
In a March 17 letter, Glen Bonderud, chair of Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SCCF), cites how this logging company is attempting to support the Trails Society’s objective of managing trails in the region (“Trails prove otherwise”). He claims that the establishment of the New Frogger Trail is an outstanding example of SCCF working with the bike community.
However, this statement requires clarification before anyone jumps to applaud it. Granted, New Frogger’s route makes for an easier climb up-slope than the original Frogger, and has provided culverts over streams; however, the fact is that New Frogger now runs through a clearcut, while the original Frogger was built underneath an intact forest, making for an entirely different biking experience and trail maintenance situation. This route is necessary to connect up other trails on either end of Frogger, so bikers didn’t really have much of a choice but to replace Frogger through this clearcut.
This past weekend, I walked the length of New Frogger (through cutblock HM48) following the route uphill. As suspected, extended sections of the trail on steeper sections have become channelized by erosion. Various size gravels have now jammed the route – not what a mountain bike designer wants to see. Fact of the matter is that an existing recreational trail was erased by logging when it could have been provided with a forest buffer.
New Frogger will not stand up over time to the full impact of West Coast rains until the forest recovers (60 to 80 years), providing the trail with a protective canopy. The forests behind Halfmoon Bay are getting hit hard by continuous logging.
Some permanent protection of this area is required or else the opportunity for securing bio-diversity and recreational values will be lost.
Ross Muirhead, Elphinstone Logging Focus ( ELF)
