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Anti-gondola appeal

Editor's note: This a copy of a letter to Hon. Christy Clark, Premier of British Columbia. It was copied to The Chief for publication. I'm writing you to express my strong opposition to the proposed Sea to Sky Gondola.

Editor's note: This a copy of a letter to Hon. Christy Clark, Premier of British Columbia. It was copied to The Chief for publication.

I'm writing you to express my strong opposition to the proposed Sea to Sky Gondola. I have hiked and climbed in both the Stawamus Chief Provincial Park and Shannon Falls Provincial Park for more than 20 years and believe that the experience of visitors to those parks would be severely degraded by the existence of the proposed Sea to Sky Gondola. I strongly oppose removing any portion of either or both of these provincial parks for any reason.

I contributed to the effort by The Land Conservancy to purchase the gravel pit in 2004 and I'm disappointed that the developers and various levels of government are circumventing the covenant placed on that land, where the proposed base of the gondola would be.

My reasons for opposing this proposal are that the gondola and its construction would damage a long swath of protected land, negatively impact hiking trails, detract from the experience of climbing and hiking in the two provincial parks and would spur ecological degradation of the terminal lands as a greatly increased number of people travel in the higher elevation regions.

The Stawamus Chief and Shannon Falls parks are well established, with hundreds of thousands of annual user-days already, and make a huge contribution to the culture and economy of the area. They should be kept intact for future generations to enjoy. This area has outstanding natural, scenic and recreational values. The priority should be protecting those values. I often take my young children to enjoy these parks. I ask that the province protects them, as they currently are, for tomorrow's outdoor enthusiasts.

If the project proceeds, and fails, who will clean up the mess that will likely be left behind? What financial guarantees would the developers provide? Think of the awful precedent set by removing protected parkland to allow a commercial, mechanized development to intrude on previously protected natural lands.

Steven Berger

Vancouver

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