Trail users are voicing outrage after a popular municipal park trail in the Garibaldi Highlands was scarred by the removal of hazardous trees.
"It was just pathetic what they did," said trails advocate Cliff Miller. "They may have taken 16 hazard trees down, but what about the 150-200 other trees they had to take down?
"It was quite a nice walking trail that was properly graveled, you could stroll on it almost, now you need to be a Billy goat."A letter from environmental advocate Edith Tobe that was published in the Dec. 15 issue of The Chief stated it was hypocritical to criticize the logging of the popular Powerhouse Plunge trail while doing the same thing in Merrill Park.
The complaints seem to be falling on deaf ears, according to Squamish Trails Society (STS) president Bob Brant who said letters outlining concerns were sent to the district in November and December, but the society has yet to receive a response.
"While we believe staff that undertook this operation did so with best intentions, the course of action taken raises many serious community concerns," said Brant in a written statement. "We are concerned about the seeming lack of process and consultation prior to this project being undertaken. STS knew nothing about it - essentially we heard of it as the operation began in November. We are concerned that a logging operation was used to remove danger trees when there were other, much less intrusive means of handling this problem."
Immediate neighbours were given notices that the removal of trees in Merrill Park would take place late last year, according to Mayor Ian Sutherland, but the district did not provide information to the community as a whole.
Lack of information on the issue has led to questions among residents over whether the tree removal is, in fact, entirely for safety or whether the work involves commercial logging. Other questions arose over where the funds generated from a possible sale of timber would end up.
Sutherland said the work is entirely for safety reasons and district operations manager Gord Prescott has informed him that the removed trees have "no opportunity for revenue".
"If there was, it would simply go back into general revenue," he said.
Better communication should have involved the district trails coordinator, said Miller, but he was told the coordinator was unaware of the issue until very shortly before the work took place.
"It just doesn't seem as though the left hand knows what the right hand is doing," said Miller. "It's just one more piece to add to the pile of what's wrong with this town."
Sutherland said he'd heard of concerns in early January, but "nothing since then". He said the district could have done a better job at communicating the plan for the municipal park.
"I think in hindsight we learned that there was a wider use of the area than just the immediate residents," he said. "So that's a lesson learned for next time. When it comes to any kind of park space, instead of narrowing it down to assuming it has neighbourhood-type use, we're going to make sure that we do a wider communication plan and get more people involved in it."
Prescott said the tree removal was necessary for safety reasons and he acknowledged that the work was "uglier than anyone anticipated". He said the trail will require substantial reseeding and rebuilding to bring it back to its former state, but there will be improvements on the former trail with the addition of culverts along some sections.
Prescott agreed there was a communication gap and reminded concerned trail users that the district trails coordinator position was created only shortly before the tree removal began.
Sutherland said a plan is in place to rehabilitate the trail. "There's a plan in place and as spring approaches it's to try to get it back to what it was before."
