A local organization determined to save the Lac des Roches area from a proposed large scale development project recently discovered they’re not alone in their fight.
The Friends of Lac des Roches and Birch Lake group is now one of several similar grassroots organizations found at www.lwbcwatch.org, a Web site designed to unite those engaged in a similar struggle with Land and Water British Columbia, Inc. (LWBC.) The crown corporation is charged with the provincial government’s mandate to accelerate economic development by increasing access to Crown lands and resources.
“I was getting calls from all over B.C. – people such as your community who have gone through these things,” said the Web site’s creator Ed Jewer.
For the past 10 months he has been fighting to prevent the LWBC sale of public land on Vancouver Island.
“We’re going to try and develop it in a way that helps connect these different communities and give them maybe better ideas of how they can deal with LWBC…. In the end really, by law, they have the right to do what they’re doing, so we have very few options, but we do have some options. We’re hoping we can share some of these ideas with people.”
Friends formed September 2004 in response to a series of LWBC consultation meetings. LWBC representatives explained their intent to enhance the value of property around Lac des Roches, along with neighbouring Birch Lake and Montana Lake, and make it attractive for developers. The proposal includes the development of residential units, two hotels and a golf course.
Concerned residents packed the Roe Lake Hall Aug. 25 for one of the meetings. Robin Levesque, the regional manager of Development and Marketing for LWBC, indicated there was little residents could do to stop LWBC.
“You cannot simply tell me to walk away because I will not,” Levesque said last August. “It’s not my job to walk away.”
Since their formation the opposition group has kept busy circulating petitions to stop the project due to environmental concerns.
“In fact. Lac des Roches at 1,166 meters, is known as the second most photographed lake in B.C.,” said Bill Jollymore, the spokesperson for the group. “This development is far too massive for this sensitive area.”
The struggle recently took on new life with the discovery of Jewer’s site.
Jewer is the co-coordinator for the Lost Trials Wetlands, an organization on East Vancouver Island engaged in a fight against LWBC to save what they’ve determined to be a 142.5 hectare, ecologically sensitive area north of Qualicum Beach. Along with blue- and red-listed plant species, the land also contains close to 300 of the province’s rapidly diminishing old growth Douglas Fir.
“It’s a bit different here than it is in your area, because on the east coast of Vancouver Island, we had what was called the ENN Land Grant in 1880, and (the community of) Dunsmuir was basically given the east coast of Vancouver Island, 20 kilometers on either side of the railway as payment for the railway,” Jewer said. “So a lot of it is private land. We only have five per cent of Crown land within this area, and because it’s such a popular place for people to move right now, LWBC is aggressively selling off that five per cent.
In the rest of B.C., I believe about 95 per cent of the land base is Crown, and five per cent is private, but here it’s reverse. But even that argument isn’t of any value to them whatsoever.”
Andrew Gage is a lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law who has taken interest in LWBC. Gage said LWBC began as the Whistler Land Corp., which in 1983 oversaw the development and marketing of Crown land in the Village of Whistler. In 1997 the provincial government expanded its mandate, around the same time the company changed its name to the BC Assets and Land Corp. (BCAL). In 2002 BCAL became LWBC.
“With BCAL, the idea was that whenever they wanted to sell surplus land that they really should have someone there to aggressively market it and make sure the public gets the best return for their money,” said Gage. “…What LWBC has effectively done is declared anything that they aren’t restricted under the Lands Act from selling – which is almost everything – open for business. They actually say that in their policy as a general rule, public lands are available for sale or lease.”
Gage said that LWBC has a mandate to maximize the government revenue from public lands. LWBC receives a percentage based on how much it sells. Forecasts in LWBC’s Service Plan for 1005/2006 to 2007/2008 said the province will receive between at least $87,879 and up to $91,432 each year from 2004 – 2008 from LWBC sales.
“So there’s a strong incentive for LWBC to be more than just a neutral arbitrator of what the public should be selling and not selling, and much more of a ‘where can se get the biggest buck?'” Gage said.
A major concern shared by Gage, Jollymore and Jewer Is the speed at which LWBC operates. Jewer said he didn’t know LWBC’s plans for the Lost Trail Wetlands property until he saw ‘For Sale’ signs posted.
“And at the time we were seeing the signs go up, I was informed there was only a two week listing date, and after two weeks they would have basically picked the highest bidder,” Jewer said.
Gage added the Friends of Lac des Roches group is lucky to have had the luxury of public consultation.
“The fact that they held these public meetings before they went to try and do a rezoning is actually an improvement over some areas,” said Gage. “It’s good that they’re having public meetings in advance, even if they have no intention of changing their mind.”
George Abbott, the province’s Sustainable Resource Management Minister, said that “LWBC is operating at a fast pace.” Yet according to the LWBC communications person, Gayle Downey, the amount of land that is being sold is 10,000 to 11,000 hectares per year.
“It’s not like there’s a huge increase in the amount of land that’s for sale,” she said. “In 2004, there were 150,000 hectares of Crown land set aside for parks, ecological reserves, and expanded parks. And by comparison, only 10,000 hectares of Crown land sold.”
LWBC’s Service Plan said that in addition to accelerating economic development in key sectors, “the corporation is committed to reducing the regulatory burden and providing a more streamlined business approach in order to achieve improved investor confidence and economic growth.”
Gage added that LWBC invests significant time and public dollars before making its intentions public.
“It’s not that LWBC won’t consider alternatives and tailor things a bit differently when/if there’s another public opposition,” Gage said. “What’s more of concern is just that they’ve actually done so much before even notifying the public about what’s going on so it’s got this momentum, and the public has already spent a lot of money getting them to where they are before the public never gets a chance to comment on whether that’s’s the appropriate direction.”
Downey said the public has opportunity for input through the process, but there have been no further consultation meetings scheduled as there is not proponent.
Jollymore recently returned from the Kamloops Gun and Antique Show March 19-20, where he and the Friends of Lac des Roches and Birch Lake had a booth and petitions.
“My wife put up a gook with pages of all the other Web sites and all the other problems in the province and this one and pictures of the lake from the air and the schematics of the proposed buildings,” Jollymore said. “We got about 300 signatures Saturday, and yesterday…we had about another 100. People are just burned up. Some of them have never heard of it. Some who have heard didn’t know really what was going on.”
So far 700 signatures have been gathered. He was invited to speak next month to the Kamloops Fish and Game Association. It’s members are gathering more signatures.