Some Paradise Valley residents are trying to press pause on a plan for logging in their neighbourhood.
Members of the Paradise Valley Community Association are circulating a petition demanding the department of forestry not permit logging of Lot 107, located above many of the association members’ homes.
“For years, due to high rainfall quantities in winter and early spring, we are only able to enter or leave our properties through deep water flows,” reads the petition drafted by Ferdinand Vondruska, who lives in Paradise Valley.
“Any tampering with the ecology in Lot 107 will cause water levels to rise further, making access to our properties impossible. Fish habitat, value of property and ecology will, therefore be diminished and destroyed.”
About 140 families live in the area that would be impacted by the logging, according to Vondruska.
The proposed Garibaldi at Squamish resort also has plans to draw water from the area.
The association wants an in-depth analysis of the potential release of water as a consequence of the proposed logging.
The target date for auction of the lot is no later than Feb. 15, according to Tom Johnson of B.C. Timber Sales.
B.C. Timber Sales is a provincial government body mandated to benchmark, through auctions, the price of timber harvested from public land. It also has an operational and forest management role.
The association also wants to be sure whoever is ultimately chosen to log the lot, if the auction goes ahead, respects the sensitivity of the area, Vondruska said.
“We want somebody who knows the area and feels responsible.”
An association member questioned the need to log the area at all.
“Is there not a lot somewhere that does not affect a whole bunch of people on the bottom?” asked Clint John Mitchell. “Isn’t there something on the other side of the valley where they could go get some trees from, is there nothing anywhere that is less destructive to people?”
Provincial government woodlands supervisor Susan Lee said the area is predetermined.
“B.C. Timber Sales, this is our chart area, this is what we have been given,” she said at the stakeholder meeting Dec. 9. “This is where we get to go operate. We can’t go outside of our chart area because then it is impacting other licensees.”
In and around Squamish, there aren’t any areas left that don’t interface with homes and people, Lee said.
So far, the association has met three times with representatives from B.C. Timber Sales at stakeholder meetings.
A report by an independent hydrologist commissioned by B.C. Timber Sales was done on the area five years ago.
Johnson told The Squamish Chief a hydrologist and other B.C. Timber Sales representatives will soon go out to the area to investigate water and visual impact concerns. A representative from the organization will also review the hydrology report and then set up one more stakeholder meeting to discuss the report with a hydrologist on hand.
“Once we have gone through those steps, the Timber Sales manager has to determine that the consultation process is complete and if he makes that determination at the time, then it will proceed to tender,” said Johnson.
In the meantime, association members plan to continue to circulate their petition, which they will present at the next stakeholder meeting.
