From: Minister, ENV ENV:EX [mailto:ENV.Minister@gov.bc.ca]
Sent: June 22, 2012 4:52 PM
Reference: 169517i

June 22, 2012

Dear (sir):

Thank you for your letters of May 23 and 29, and June 1 and 13, 2012, regarding the Sea to Sky Gondola Corporation’s application to adjust the boundary of Stawamus Chief Park.

This email is to acknowledge the receipt of your correspondence and to assure you that a detailed response will be provided once I have had the opportunity to review with ministry staff the issues you have raised.

Thank you again for taking the time to write.

Sincerely,

Terry Lake
Minister of Environment

All in good time, grasshopper. Tomorrow there will be a meeting that may resolve some of these matters. I'll report so soon as I can, though it may not be right away. Patience!

As to the possible responses of FOSC and its allies to various outcomes, we've considered that also. You'll learn soon enough what is decided.

You're a climber - you know determination and tenacity are important. Plus the opera ain't over until the fat lady sings, eh?

Thank you again for taking the time to write.

Sea to Sky declined to give an interview or provide the project’s environmental reports to the Straight at this time. Ministry of Environment staff also didn’t make a B.C. Parks representative available for an interview today.

Though Lake repeatedly emphasizes the project's consistency with the park's management plan, Ourum claims the proposal is actually contrary to that plan. Ourum says he was involved with the study team that led to the original creation of the park in 1997.

**While the team was creating the master plan, someone actually mentioned there are "gondolas on things like this in Europe," and that the team might want to consider allowing for a similar development in Stawamus Chief park, Ourum said.

That idea was "turned down without much discussion."**

The management plan's Visitor Services section describes one of its major themes as providing "non-mechanized recreation opportunities" for visitors to experience the park. Ourum points to that line (at the top of page 32 of the document) as proof that the gondola proposal goes against the master plan of the park.

Minister Lake, however, is focusing on the main goals outlined in the plan. He says there are different types of parks under the management of the province, and while some are mainly for conservation, the Stawamus Chief Management Plan lists recreation as one of its main values.

"This is a park that has recreation high on its goals," Lake said.

"I think that this is basically Disney-fication of the area. And unfortunately I think it would sort of take away from what makes Squamish special," she said. "I think it's special because it's kind of rugged around the edges."

Faulkner thinks helping as many people as possible experience wilderness areas will help them "see a value in preservation" which will help further conservation efforts.

"If you want to protect wild places, you have to do so with a measured responsibility of getting people to understand why they are important to protect in the first place," he said.