Sea kayak tour guides in Desolation Sound and the Copeland Islands are raising concerns over the process the BC government has taken with its decision to tighten restrictions on marine provincial park use.
BC Parks has implemented a number of changes that will fundamentally alter how recreational and commercial operators use four area parks: Desolation Sound and the Copeland Islands marine provincial parks and Malaspina and Okeover Arm provincial parks.
Where previously park visitors were permitted to go anywhere and camp throughout the parks, they are now required to stay in designated sites. In addition to banning all campfires, wooden fences have been erected to cordon off sites of archaeological significance, such as burial grounds and midden piles.
Over the winter, the park service developed 11 designated camping areas each with approximately nine raised wooden tent platforms. Each platform is designed to accommodate a three- to four-person-sized tent. Depending on the location, some sites also include picnic tables and self-contained pit toilets, according to information from BC Park’s website.
Erik Blaney heads up the Guardian Watchmen, a Tla’amin (Sliammon) First Nation group which monitors natural resources and heritage and cultural sites throughout the region. He said the park policy changes come as a result of the need to protect over 300 documented archaeological sites throughout the Tla’amin traditional territory.
The Guardian Watchmen’s job turned mostly to cultural site protection when BC Parks’ budget was slashed and the area lost its full-time park ranger in 2009, he said. By 2012 the majority of the work the group did was site protection.
“We saw some bodies go missing and burial boxes being cut up,” said Blaney. “All out desecration of sites.”
In 2011, Tla’amin sent a strongly worded letter to BC Parks about the band’s concerns.
Archeological assessments of the area were undertaken to determine areas of high cultural value throughout the parks and a project was commenced “to map out culturally appropriate areas where people could camp,” he said.
The current locations of the designated campgrounds are in the areas where there will be no impact on archaeological sites. Paddlers and other recreational boaters will find the campgrounds at Nuxwum Island (Middle Copeland Island), North Copeland Island, Sarah Point, Feather Cove, Hare Point, Grace Harbour, Bold Head, Tenedos Bay and three on the Curme Islands.
“The campsites are stunning,” said Blaney. “They’ve got great facilities and tent platforms with really nice views.”
Adam Vallance of Powell River Sea Kayak is concerned that despite the beauty of the new sites, local tour companies, like his, will lose their local competitive edge. He markets his tours internationally and highlights the coast’s rugged beauty. He aims to give his clients a wilderness experience in “the quiet hidden gems of Desolation Sound.”
“It is somewhat bittersweet because we have to herd into those areas like everyone else,” he said. “It has made the park quite a bit smaller. But it’s not all doom and gloom.”
Vallance said that he is happy to see the provincial government put money into developing the facilities. “It’s great to see that,” he said. “We never see money going into parks.”
Vallance and other area kayak tour operators like Hugh Prichard of Terracentric Coastal Adventures said they support the idea of preserving cultural values throughout the parks, but they would have preferred that the changes be more open to public input.
“It seemed like a pretty quiet process,” said Vallance.
This was in stark contrast to the development of the management plan for Desolation Sound, the Copeland Islands and Tux’wnech Okeover Provincial Park which was published by BC Parks in February 2008. It was compiled through engagement with a broad range of over 30 stakeholders from first nations, recreational users and commercial interests.
Both Vallance and Prichard said they were approached by BC Parks individually to look over the changes before the project began in the winter but at the time did not fully appreciate the scope of the project.
“As far as the changes that have been made, the management plan of 2008 does basically call for some of this work,” said Prichard, a signing participant of the plan. “But these changes, as they appear in the plan, were meant to have a more universal consultation.”
He said he thinks that the decision jumps over necessary steps in the process and that the management plan called for developing benchmarks to measure the impacts of public use in the area and from there move to developing designated campsites.
“We seem to have jumped to this without looking at a more user-friendly measure that would be in line with how recreational users have been using the parks since their inception,” said Prichard. “It’s like a knee-jerk reaction.” One possible solution that was discussed during the development of the management plan was to cap middens with gravel brought in on a barge.
“But that would be quite expensive,” said Prichard.
Blaney said that these changes should come as no surprise. “[Tour operators] have known about this issue for years, their signatures are on the park management plan and they’ve agreed to not go to these sites, yet year after year we’ve been finding them [there].”
In addition to process problems, both Prichard and Vallance question the safety of accessing some of the new sites located on tall rocky bluffs with steep narrow trails leading up to them.
Prichard is concerned that these changes are a missed opportunity to engage park visitors with Tla’amin stories and culture. “When we put up fences without some kind of engaging educational strategy and tell people to go away, we make them feel like they’re not welcome,” he explained. “If we don’t share the stories they disappear. That’s a great concern for me having worked in Sliammon.”
Blaney said that while a sign package was created to explain why areas were being fenced off, the recent provincial election restricted the park service from putting them up. “It was just a case of bad timing,” he said.
The Peak contacted BC Parks for an interview but the parks service responded by saying it would be unable to comment before deadline.
