Closing all Forestry Campsites |
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Has anyone hear the great liberal government is going to close all forestry campsites in the form of taking out all outhouses and picnic tables Plus the word is they may even dig up the entrance roads so no vehicles can get down into the forestry camp sites. If you are going to want to camp it will be provincial sites only at $20 bucks a night. Of course we have already heard the liberals are not going to maintain any forestry roads as well. Cheers Rifle
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Yeah, I heard something about that. I thought that what they did to the road going to gold creek beside allouette lake in Feb. Went to go fishing and was driveing along abd I noticed all these cars parked along side the road, and next thing you know, it's ABS time as there was a big yellow gate right in the middle of nowhere. But now it's opened and I caught a nice 14.5" rainbow outta there.
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The reason given for closing the gate at the entrance to Golden Ears Park is dangerous road conditions. Parks Branch is broke. This is resulting in no sand, salt or plowing under winter conditions. Further, there will be no more wood supplied to BC Parks in the summer. WAC Bennett- Social Credit gov. started B.C. Parks Motorized Camping access in the 50's when this province didn't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of. Bennett saw prov.park camping as a cheap holiday for the poor working classes and they were free to start with, then moved up to a dollar a day! These city bred Liberals, 50 years later, seem to place little value on the outdoors, fishing and camping or the needs of a poor and lately unemployed class of people. But gee didn't you enjoy that tax break. Oh, and by the way, the tax cuts were given to the public to spur financial recovery. Tell this to Tourism B.C. when the complaints come in from tourists who say "no thanks BC we won't be back"
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Mar 11, Thank you, for your questions concerning Ministry of Forests recreation passes. Government's Core services review has determined that managing recreation sites and trails is no longer a Ministry of Forests core priority. The Ministry of Forests will search for other parties to take over the maintenance and management responsibilities for sites and trails. This process is beginning immediately and will be completed by March 31, . Sites and trails not transferred will no longer be maintained by the Ministry of Forests. The public will be able to access and use these areas just as vacant Crown land can be used now. Removal of some structures and the closure of some sites and trails will begin this spring at locations where public safety or environmental risks are high. Ministry of Forests staff are currently assessing sites and trails to determine potential for transfer and public safety and environmental issues if the site or trail were cancelled. Once this information is available the Ministry plans on meeting with stakeholders and other parties in March to discuss transferring sites and trails. The Ministry of Forests plans to eliminate the camping pass program effective April . Overnight camping fees at approximately 40 supervised sites and trail fees for enhanced services at approximately 50 trails will remain in effect during the transition as these facilities are tranferred to other parties. In addition the Ministry will operate a small number of recreation sites and trails in to keep opportunities open for transfer to other parties. District staff are currently identifying which sites and trails have the most potential for transfer to other parties as well as public safety and environmental issues at sites and trails that will not be maintained. By the end of March , we will have an indication of how each recreation site or trail may be managed in and in subsequent years. As more information becomes available on opportunities to transfer sites and trails and which facilities will be open in , this information will be posted on the Ministry of Forests recreation website.
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It's a long read but here it is anyway...got this from www.bc4x4.com THE DISMANTLING OF BC'S OUTDOOR RECREATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE Apr 3, By Pat Harrison, Executive Director Federation of Mountain Clubs of BC I have sat through many frustrating meetings as a member of the Federation of Mountain Clubs of BC, but few as frustrating as the one at Richmond Inn on Thursday, 28 March . The meeting was organized by the MOF (Ministry of Forests) and LWBC (Land and Water BC, formally BCAL [BC Assets and Land Corporation]). I am not frustrated at the messengers, but at the message they carried: The government is going to dismantle the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure of BC and sell it off to the highest bidder. As Ed Mankelow, member of the BC Wildlife Federation Conservation Committee mentioned "It's all about money". The only mandate of MOF after the 'Core Review Process" (which did not involve the public) is production of fibre. I am outraged that this government believes that public crown land is a private reserve for the wealthy. Let's remember, this is our land, and we should be stating (dictating) what the core functions on our land are. No longer is Outdoor Recreation considered a core function of MOF. The entire Outdoor Recreation operation for the province costs the taxpayers between 5-7 million dollars per year including salaries; one of the lowest in Canada. So here are the specifics: MOF has a reduced budget of $188 million per year ($538 down to $350 million). This translates into a loss of 1,433 MOF employees (4,061 down to 2,628). Forest Service Roads (FSRs) are no longer considered a core function. It costs 10-20 million to maintain the 45,000 kilometres of FSRs. Here are options for the 45,000 kilometres of FSRs: 35,000 km to be maintained by industry. These are classified as Industrial Roads (reminiscent of the 1960's). 1,300 km to be maintained by MOF as Community Roads (if a First Nation's Reserve, post office, or school are serviced). The remainder will be left to decay. MOF will check annually (with what employees?) the remaining 8,000 km of road to see if they are safe. These will be classified as Wilderness Use Roads (do wildernesses have roads in them?). MOF will not brush or grade these roads, but will determine if they are needed for environmental protection (forest fires fighting). MOF now expects these roads to be used primarily by people owning 4X4 s. That's 8,000 km of road not available to people who can not afford these types of vehicles or choose not to own these types of vehicles. If MOF determines that it is cheaper to pull a culvert than replace it on WURs, then the WURs will be deactivated. Questions arising from participants at the meeting were: As government is currently in the process of making government not liable on crown land, who is liable if someone is injured on Crown Land because of poor road conditions? What staff are left to check WURs each year? Who will be doing enforcement of any kind? Who will be reporting environmental degradation? MWLP? Probably not as they have so few biologists left. MOF did state that if a user pay mechanism were put into place, they would be willing to buy back services and maintain liability. Huh? MOF also stated that all recreation sites and trails will be transferred to private organizations utilizing the services of LWBC (Land and Water BC). In other words, privatization of our public lands to the highest bidder. One must remember that LWBC is mandated to increase its revenue through sales and leases by 75% this year! While MOF states none of the roads will be private, nor access denied, nor roads gated, the highest bidder will get control and can charge a fee for access. Now there is a plan for complete inequity from region to region, valley to valley, trail to trail. This process will ensure total fragmentation of our Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure. So, when is this going to take place? Now! Here are the timelines: March : analysis of potential for land transfer. April : LWBC to help implement transfer. May : Public notification (absolutely no public input). June : expression of interest in taking on road, trail, and recreational sites. March : All recreational roads, sites, and trails to be transferred. All for the savings of 5-7 million dollars per year for recreational sites and trails! After forty years of hard work by many, many organizations to have access to our lands, all of hard work is to go down the toilet in the next few months. I believe this government must have looked at the New Zealand model of privatization: "Do it hard and do it fast before Jo and Joanna Q. Public has a clue what's going on." By the time Mr. and Ms. Public go to their favourite recreational site, trail, or road, it will be too late. Their favourite site will have either been privatized or closed (if not vendor is found). Another problem that arose was that of risk of assessment. All roads, sites, and trails will have a risk assessment completed by June . If bridges or other structures are deemed unsafe, then the trails will be declassified as trails. That means that any type of activity can now occur on a trail that was previously classified as non-motorized or wilderness. All risk assessment will be done in house with no public input. How many trails do you know in the backcountry that are free of snow before June ? How will the government have a clue what shape the trails or their structures are in? By June , removal of MOF signs will commence. At this moment of writing, MOF officials were unable to give us the criteria for risk assessment. For organizations having agreements with MOF, those agreements are null and void as of 1 April . BC Hydro, BC Federation of Snowmobiles, the Four Wheel Drive Association of BC, and the Federation of Mountain Clubs of BC no longer have any agreements with MOF. When asked by Gerry Bolduc of the Four Wheel Drive Association of BC and Pat Harrison of the Federation of Mountain Clubs of BC how volunteer work would fit into the transfer, they did not have an answer. They seemed unaware of all the volunteer work worth millions of dollars even existing. Is the government willing to give up this valuable service to the public by privatizing the backcountry? MOF will continue to set recreational standards (even though they no longer have any recreationalists on staff) and will be responsible for "visual recreation that needs management". What the heck does that mean? Land and Water BC were present at the meeting "to assist" in the transfer. Let's not forget their mandate as a company (with Stan Hagen the lone stockholder): to increase economic development. Alex Walllace, Co-Chair of the FMCBC Trails Committee, asked the LWBC spokesperson about LWBC's role in land stewardship. LWBC spokeperson responded that he did not know what stewardship meant noR does LWBC have any recreational mandate and as such will not participate in Outdoor Recreation activities. Their sole involvement is getting people a commercial tenure on our public land. This means the more favourite sites will be up for grabs by the organizations with the deepest pockets. That ought to cause an all out war among user groups! As LWBC spokesperson stated "We only charge a nominal fee for tenures: as little as $500. We really don't make any money off of this process." Let's do the math: 650 hiking trails times $500 equals?, well, you know, nothing we or any other non-profit organization can afford. Furthermore, all commercial tenure groups will have to pay for liability insurance, as the government can no longer be held accountable. LWBC says after all "It's all about performance-based government". I'm suggesting that we give government "performance-based writing". Before going to bed tonight, I am calling on all 4,000 members of the Federation of Mountain Clubs of BC, and CEO's and owners of outdoor recreational stores to say to government "No Way!" We don't want our Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure fragmented. We want government to operate it. We made enough fuss at the meeting last Thursday that government will continue to fund some of the recreational sites this summer. When the senior citizens raised a fuss over losing their bus privileges, the government recanted. Please write today, not tomorrow. Tell Premier Campbell and Stan Hagen to lay off the Outdoor Recreational Infrastructure. We can make a difference. Tell non-FMCBC people to contact: naturalists, snowmobilers, mountain bikers, ATVers, horseriders, hunters, fishers, and others to write. We all have a stake in this. And don't forget the health benefits from outdoor recreation that save the government money. Pat Harrison Executive Director Federation of Mountain Clubs of BC
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