A truck pulls up at Newport Beach and a couple of guys jump out and load up the truck bed with wood, including logs, off the beach. A child picks up a unique looking, twisted piece of driftwood and wants to drag it home.
Scenarios like these play out in various waterfront spots in and around Squamish.
But is what these beachgoers are doing legal?
Well, it depends.
It turns out the issue of taking wood off the beach isn’t as clear-cut as one might assume.
First, it must be determined if the beach in question is public or private.
Newport Beach, formerly Nexon Beach, is owned by Newport Beach Developments, which bought not just the dry land, but water lots as well in February 2016.
The beach area is within their jurisdiction. No right of access to the beach wood is given or implied on private land or on First Nations reserves.
So, the beachcombers at Newport are wrong to take the wood.
With other beach areas that are on provincial Crown land, there is a distinction between wood that is above or below the high tide line.
Wood in the area of beach that is regularly washed over by the tides is below the high tide line. A Vancouver Log Salvage permit, which has a fee attached, is required to take that wood, according to the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. (Go to www.bclaws.ca for more information.)
Wood that is above the high tide line on Crown land can be taken — with a free use permit — if it is for personal use only and will not be sold; is less than three metres long; is water-worn and has no bark on it; does not have a hammer mark or timber brand on it and is not within an ecological reserve, government park or leased area.
Complicated, isn’t it.
There’s more.
Best practices for taking wood off beaches where it is permitted include that sawdust or debris from collecting the wood should be limited and is not allowed to pile up. Special care should be paid to ensure no oil or grease from chainsaws or other equipment used to cut the wood gets into the water.
Motorized vehicles are not allowed on the foreshore or beach and can’t block paths or walkways nearby.
So, bottom line is if your kids want to drag a piece of worn driftwood home for their room, it is probably OK to let them.
For anyone else, it might be best to leave the wood where it lies.
