While some Squamish residents celebrate logger sports at one end of the corridor, others will make merry alongside some of the oldest living trees in Canada. The Western Wilderness Committee is holding a gathering in the Elaho Valley to commemorate the conservation group's 25th anniversary. The party coincides with Squamish Logger Days, but the committee didn't give the event a thought when they chose the BC Day weekend for their celebration, said Wilderness Committee national campaign director Joe Foy.
"The reason is it rains a lot in this province," laughed Foy. "And there's one - and I mean one - long weekend in the year when you can pretty well count on good weather."
Foy acknowledges that logging has an important place in Squamish's past, present and future.
"We've always known and always said that Squamish has a fantastic future, that it's a community that's rapidly changing and that while logging will always be there, it will by necessity be a smaller and smaller part of the economy and a smaller and smaller percentage of what people work for," he said. "But it's an important, huge part of the history of Squamish, and it's going to be a part of the future of Squamish, and it's a great thing to celebrate."
But needless to say, the committee's efforts do, on occasion, conflict with logging interests. Organizers decided to hold the gathering in the Elaho in order to draw attention to an on-going campaign supporting the Squamish Nation's negotiations with the province to recognize the "Wild Spirit Places" as designated in the 2001 Xay Temixw, or Sacred Land, the Nation's land use plan.
The committee first became involved with the Elaho in 1995, when it was determined that the area was among the largest unlogged territories in the Lower Mainland. They sought permission from the Squamish Nation to begin a conservation campaign and the groups combined their efforts, recently publishing the four-page newspaper Kwa Kwayex Welh-Aynexws, or Wild Spirits, which outlines the campaign, now in its tenth year.
"Because it is the BC government that grants permits for logging and other industrial uses, the fear is that the Wild Spirit Places could be developed and destroyed under a BC government permit at some future date," stated the newspaper.
The Nation has designated the Upper Elaho Valley, Sims Creek, the west side of Squamish River, west Callaghan Valley, Upper Cheakamus, Brohm Ridge and Upper Soo as Wild Spirit and sensitive areas for a total of 99,788 hectares. But the Nation doesn't oppose logging outright. In fact, their land use plan designates more areas for logging than for protection, said Foy, adding that the Nation wants to participate in the logging industry.
The Wilderness Committee 25th anniversary celebration begins with a convoy from the Extra Foods parking lot on Saturday, July 30. The celebration will include further discussions on Wild Spirit Places as well as past successful campaigns and current endeavours. There will also be bannock cook-offs, blueberry picking, hikes and a series of fireside talks.
For more information on the Wilderness Committee 25th anniversary celebrations, go to www.wildernesscommittee.org.
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