The problem in a nutshell. Government tinkering has granted Whistler Blackcomb 33 km2 of prime alpine terrain in Garibaldi Park. Mountain Resorts Branch is the provincial agency that oversees resort development and approvals for the province. In 2017, the provincial agency approved further expansion of Whistler Blackcomb resort. Meanwhile, the agency ignored binding provisions that would have restored and maintained the public road and parking lot up Fitzsimmons Creek. Park goers now walk an additional 4 or 5 kilometers on a boring logging road with potential hazards before reaching the old parking lot. In another slap in the face, Whistler Blackcomb offers what it calls "privileged access" for $56 per person to use its lift system to access Singing Pass. Christy Clark of the recently defeated provincial Liberal government is tilting the Scales of Justice towards "Pay 2 Play" with her right hand. In her left, Ms. Clark grasps hefty political donations to "party with the premier" as the Globe and Mail newspaper had termed it. Vail Resorts, the new American owner of Whistler Blackcomb, registered lobbyists with Elections BC and those lobbyists made significant donations to the BC Liberals. Further donations came from Whistler Blackcomb, its subsidiary Whistler Heliskiing and Blackcomb Aviation, the heliskiing contractor. The donations are perceived by some as elements of the "cash for access" election issue that helped bring down the Liberal government. Was there political meddling that impaired objective decision-making? That's the innuendo of the cartoon. Now, the New Democratic Party forms government with support of the BC Green Party. Isn't it time to end the political cronyism, backroom deals and perceived culture of cash for favors? Abate what amounts to a public nuisance. Re-establish the public road and parking at the Singing Pass gateway to Garibaldi Park.
Read about the human history of Signing Pass access and the complex political and corporate machinations beneath the pleasant veneer of a mountain resort town here Singing Pass Access Summary 1900-2017. The summary chronicles the 40-year long, systematic erosion of park access by a now foreign-owned megacorporation devoted to profit-making and compliant governments beholden to tax dollars. Connect the dots between hefty political donations and government actions or inaction. See large chunks of Garibaldi Park given away 5 or 10 square kilometers at a time to maximize terrain and profit at Whistler Blackcomb. Check for conflict of interest. Watch as public parking and park access withers contrary to binding agreements that would protect it. Marvel how government agencies are compelled to ignore their own policies and master plans and allow park access and infrastructure to deteriorate while tax revenue and private profits increase, massively rewarding insiders and shareholders.
Support the parking proposal of the B.C. Mountaineering Club. Click here Singing Pass Issue Summary and Parking Proposal to view the full proposal.
Get involved. Write to the Minister of Environment, the Honourable George Heyman. See our talking points here Singing Pass Talking Points.
Issue Lead Advocate - Paul Kubik
November 15, 2017
Whistler Blackcomb has raised alarmist predictions that public parking up Fitzsimmons Creek would lead to wildfires on Blackcomb Mountain. Wildfire prevention practices used in Cheakamus Community Forest and Resort Municipality of Whistler are applicable in Fitzsimmons Creek.
Risk from public access is manageable by what is called stand thinning according to programs dubbed "fire smart" in British Columbia. To date, no stakeholders, be it Whistler Blackcomb, Whistler Sliding Centre or the Province, have followed this fire prevention practice in Fitzsimmons Creek.
At a public open house October 27th in Whistler on wildfire prevention in Cheakamus Community Forest, Jeff Fisher, registered professional forester, at Sqomish Forestry LP explained how it works. Deciduous and large trees are not harvested. Rather, the stands are thinned to a spacing of between 230 and 350 trees per hectare. It leaves enough shade to reduce underbrush while making it hard for fire to jump from tree to tree. Skilled employees from RMOW, Lil'wat and Squamish Nations do the work.
More information on the open house is available in this Pique newsmagazine article: Wildfire prevention top of list for CCF in 2018
Dr. Michael Feller, a retired UBC forestry professor, states it is also necessary that the thinning slash be removed.
In January, RMOW released its Wildfire Protection Strategy to the public. In the strategy, it states "fuel thinning projects reduce the ability of fire to spread from the forest into the community and vice versa, while maintaining a healthy forest ecosystem." Surface erosion, sedimentation and potential debris flows can last decades following a wildfire according to the strategy.
The section of Fitzsimmons Creek proposed for public parking lies entirely within the RMOW boundary. This is the road and weir that services the Innergex power project on the Blackcomb side. The road on the Whistler side is the Singing Pass trail designated as a recreation trail under Section 56(1) of the Forest and Range Practices Act. A secondary objective of the wildfire protection strategy is to "protect critical infrastructure and facilities in Whistler." When the parking lot and footbridge across Fitzsimmons Creek is in place, our interpretation is that both the power project and trailhead facilities would constitute critical infrastructure along with assets of Whistler Sliding Centre and Whistler Blackcomb in the area.
The wildfire protection strategy shows the roaded areas of Fitzsimmons Creek (see map below) as predominantly areas of C3 and C4 fuel types both of which are considered hazardous.
The C3 fuel type is characterized by fully stocked, late young forests with crowns separated from the ground. Fires occurring under high wildfire danger levels are generally surface and crown fires with low to very high fire intensity and rate of spread. Finally, the C4 fuel type is characterized by dense pole-sapling forest and young plantations with heavy standing dead and down, dead woody fuel accumulation and continuous vertical crown fuel continuity. Under high wildfire danger level, wildfire behaviour for this fuel type is almost always crown fire with high to very high fire intensity and rate of spread.
The wildfire protection strategy designates the upper portion of Fitzsimmons Creek as a Priority 2 area. Priority 1 areas are within 500 meters of structures and are highest priority.
In terms of funding the strategy, the report suggests it would take 60 years at current funding levels to tackle just the Priority 1 areas using the current level of funding available to RMOW. However, Priority 2 areas could be addressed using another funding stream. A funding stream is available for Landscape fuel breaks on Crown land that typically do not qualify for funding by Union of BC Municipalities members such as RMOW.
[It] is the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) Forest Enhancement Program (FEP). The qualification and prioritization of wildfire risk reduction/mitigation projects for FESBC funding is less restrictive than the [UBCM Strategic Wildfire Prevention Initiative] criteria and is based on reduction of wildfire threat to communities, critical infrastructure, First Nation cultural values, timber supply and special features (i.e., parks and protected areas).
We submit that Fitzsimmons Creek public parking and footbridge would qualify under the FEP criteria. Also of note, the Fitzsimmons Creek road on the Blackcomb side runs parallel to the Innergex pipeline right-of-way, which is currently without forest cover as it was recently constructed and sowed with grass. The pipeline right-of-way would not require immediate treatment. Dr. Feller states,
In terms of the public causing fires, a strip perhaps 30-100 m wide on either side of the road might suffice. There is no definitive width but I notice that Fitzsimmons Creek is not too far from the road. As creekside areas tend not to burn very well, perhaps only a 20m strip on the creek side of the road could be thinned (note that stream protection guidelines in BC could mean that little thinning would be possible within 30m of the creek - see BC's riparian area regulations). This would mean that only one side of the road would need a wider (perhaps up to 50-100m) thinning. A fire could still be lit there but it would move slowly, theoretically allowing it to be controlled more easily.
Access to the Singing Pass Trail in Garibaldi Park near Whistler was blocked by a landslide about 25 years ago. Hikers had used the access route - which is an old mining/logging road for many years to drive to the trailhead five km up Fitzimmons Creek from Whistler Village. The landslide blocked the road about two km from Whistler and then Whistler Blackcomb built a bike park and closed the road for vehicles. This increases the total round trip to 26 km to Singing Pass or 32 km to Russet Lake.
The Singing Pass area is an alpine paradise in Garibaldi Provincial Park just east of Whistler. It joins the “Musical Bumps” (Oboe, Flute, Piccolo and Whistler) to the Fitzsimmons and Spearhead area. The Singing Pass trail starts in large mature timber and follows Fitzsimmons Creek to the alpine pass where it splits to trails to Russet Lake and the Musical Bumps. Russet Lake is the location of a BC Parks hut built in 1968 by the BC Mountaineering Club and will soon be the site of a larger hut presently being built by the Alpine Club of Canada and the BCMC.
The FMCBC has been working with government agencies for many years trying to get the road fixed. About 10 years ago Innergex Renewable Energy built a small dam on Fitzsimmons Creek close to the old trailhead. They fixed an old logging road on the north (Blackcomb) side of the creek to provide access to the IPP. We recommended that this road be used for access to the trail and BC Parks agreed with that idea.
However 10 years later the government has taken very little action. They have tried to fix up the old road to make it easier to hike but that doesn’t do anything for the extra distance.
Call to Action
At recent meetings with BC Parks and other stakeholders the FMCBC has had very little support for our request to get the new road opened for private vehicles.
We would really appreciate a letter asking for the IPP Access Road to be open to private vehicles and that a bridge be built over Fitzsimmons Creek.
Please send an email or letter to the following government representatives:
The problem in a nutshell. Government tinkering has granted Whistler Blackcomb 33 km2 of prime alpine terrain in Garibaldi Park. Mountain Resorts Branch is the provincial agency that oversees resort development and approvals for the province. In 2017, the provincial agency approved further expansion of Whistler Blackcomb resort. Meanwhile, the agency ignored binding provisions that would have restored and maintained the public road and parking lot up Fitzsimmons Creek. Park goers now walk an additional 4 or 5 kilometers on a boring logging road with potential hazards before reaching the old parking lot. In another slap in the face, Whistler Blackcomb offers what it calls "privileged access" for $56 per person to use its lift system to access Singing Pass. Christy Clark of the recently defeated provincial Liberal government is tilting the Scales of Justice towards "Pay 2 Play" with her right hand. In her left, Ms. Clark grasps hefty political donations to "party with the premier" as the Globe and Mail newspaper had termed it. Vail Resorts, the new American owner of Whistler Blackcomb, registered lobbyists with Elections BC and those lobbyists made significant donations to the BC Liberals. Further donations came from Whistler Blackcomb, its subsidiary Whistler Heliskiing and Blackcomb Aviation, the heliskiing contractor. The donations are perceived by some as elements of the "cash for access" election issue that helped bring down the Liberal government. Was there political meddling that impaired objective decision-making? That's the innuendo of the cartoon. Now, the New Democratic Party forms government with support of the BC Green Party. Isn't it time to end the political cronyism, backroom deals and perceived culture of cash for favors? Abate what amounts to a public nuisance. Re-establish the public road and parking at the Singing Pass gateway to Garibaldi Park.
Click image for a larger version.
All through the 1960s through 1980s the public were able to drive to the Singing Pass trailhead at the Garibaldi Provincial Park boundary up Fitzsimmons Creek. The right to do so was assured by Ken Kiernan, Minister of Parks and Recreation as early as 1968 and enshrined as a legal right in the 1982 Master Development Agreement between Whistler Mountain and the Ministry of Lands, Parks and Housing. The right has never been extinguished. It is in the public interest and the public entrusts our government to ensure that Whistler-Blackcomb lives up to its obligations. Rupert Merer of ACC Whistler explains.
September 30, 2017
Click image for larger version.
A number of factors show that action on the Singing Pass access issue is urgently needed.