MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Fall Winter 2018

84 MLCM FALL/WINTER 2018 economy, and that weir can no longer get the job done. Each summer, the district reaches Stage 4 drought, leading to limitations on water usage. With this added stress on the Chapman Lake water source, the short-term solution put forth by the SCRD is daunting: spend five million dollars to blast out and dredge Chapman Lake to provide extra water for late summer when Gibsons, Sechelt, Half Moon Bay, and more communities on the Sunshine Coast reach drought. Because of the heavy work and equipment needed to execute this plan, BC Parks has put forth three possible options: declassify the park, redraw the boundaries, or simply reject to the plan altogether. Many residents and organizations, such as the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association (SSCA), are making a strong push for the latter. With the abundance of snowfall and opportunities for reservoirs elsewhere, they see no need for a drought management plan. Rather, the SCCA claims that the SCRD has routinely ignored the community’s concerns about future potable water supplies while simultaneously agreeing to supply water to new developments. To them, dredging Chapman Lake is a short-sighted, band-aid solution. “It’s a dangerous shortcut,” agrees SCRD Mayor Bruce Milne. “It is dangerous to the ecosystem of Chapman Lake, and to our financial abilities because we are putting money into something we hope we will never use. It’s a drought management plan. Why would you put your money into a drought management plan when you could put the same amount of money into avoiding the drought by having reservoirs in place?” Beyond the water issue, the declassification or redrawing of the park boundaries opens the area up to logging and other industry which could certainly harm a fragile ecosystem. As well, if the lake is dredged, there is a chance the organic matter from the lakebed could infiltrate the water supply and cause problems. The prospect of this seems to be enough to galvanize the community and many are calling to preserve the only protected piece of the Sunshine Coast, a region that is seeing rapid growth as more and more people flee Greater Vancouver. With a robust tourism industry, growing population and the increasingly hot dry summers of global warming, any solutions for the Sunshine Coast will be costly for residents, but the issue opens up a much larger conversation regarding our impacts as recreationalists and inhabitants of the earth. To find an area that isn’t over-crowded, over- Instagrammed, and ecologically over-pressured by humans is tough these days, especially within a half day’s drive of Greater Vancouver. It feels like Tetrahedron Park is at a crossroads. And while it may be simplistic to compare a crowded backcountry hut to the stress on a local community’s water supply, these issues are intertwined. So, how do we balance the enjoyment of our wild places with the needs of a blooming population? Locally, provincially and on the federal level, there seem to be few simple answers that appease all sides. It’s becoming more apparent, however, that tourism is an extraction industry and from each and everyone’s weekend plans all the way up to the Canadian Prime Minister’s political agenda, it’s well past time to ask the tough questions. "These huts are works of art.We arrived at the Mt. Steele shelter to find it looking more like a four bedroom home in Pemberton—double walled windows, a mudroom, and even a GT Snow Racer! Posh living for certain, and proof of the power of a community engaged." PETER WOJNAR