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Province, Squamish Nation reach land use agreement

Agreement enhances protection of Elaho, West Squamish
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Old Growth Hikers walk past one of the famed Elaho giants, a stand of trees that are more than a thousand years old.

After nearly two years of negotiations, the provincial government and Squamish Nation reached a land use agreement last week that recognizes and protects cultural areas and sets a framework for future land use decisions in Sea to Sky.

The agreement does not give Squamish Nation ownership of any land and is separate from the band’s treaty negotiations, but was hailed by Chief Bill Williams as an important first step.

“It outlines an effective framework for land use in our traditional territories and helps us move forward in local economic development as well as establishing new conservancies and cultural management areas,” Williams said.

There are several components of the agreement, but one of the most significant is the creation of two new conservancies totaling more than 11,000 hectares where no development of any kind will take place. The largest at 10,112 hectares is in the upper the Elaho Valley, adjacent to Clendinning Provincial Park — an old growth forest that has been hotly contested in the past by environmentalists and logging companies.

The agreement also protects more than 1,082 hectares in West Squamish, in an area adjacent to Tantalus Provincial Park.

The Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC), which has worked to preserve the Elaho Valley in a park since 1995, hailed the land use agreement.

“All of us here at the Wilderness Committee are literally jumping for joy,” said Joy Foy, national campaign director for the WCWC.

“Of course not everything that we hoped for was protected in the announcement today. In the coming days and years we will work for improvements — but today is for celebrating great progress made on protecting some amazing and much loved wilderness areas, thanks to the Squamish Nation and the B.C. government.”

In 2000, International Forest Products, which had tenure to log in the Elaho, agreed to cease logging in the area until the Squamish Nation could complete their land use plan. The Squamish Nation compiled a list of areas of cultural importance over the next few years, and submitted their plan to the province in 2005 for review.

In addition to protecting more than 11,000 hectares of land — an area roughly 30 times the size of Stanley Park — the agreement includes the creation of other land use designations that will be incorporated into the Sea to Sky Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP) area.

That includes recognition of 22 cultural sites that range in size from 60 to 410 hectares, for a total area of 3,063 hectares. The list of sites includes traditional use areas, villages, and other sacred places.

There is also a provision for three Special Cultural Management Areas where resource development is permitted according to specific rules that conserve habitat and cultural features; Wildland Zones that allow commercial recreation and mining but not forestry; and Wildlife Focus areas that are of special interest to wildlife such as eagles, grizzly bears, and peregrine falcons. As well, the province and Squamish Nation have pledged to work together on collaborative fish and wildlife management through a Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee that will advise the Ministry of the Environment.

The Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment (AWARE) is enthusiastic about the Squamish land use plan. AWARE has been part of the campaign to save the Elaho for the past eight years.

“For years and years we were told that there was no way the Elaho would be protected, and to see the perseverance and to see Squamish Nation step up and work with the government to make this happen is a thing of beauty,” said Brad Kasselman, a director and past-president of AWARE.

“People have been working on this for 20 years, since the days of Randy Stoltmann, so we’re just thrilled. Anyone who hasn’t had a chance to hike in the Upper Elaho should get out there and check it out. This was a major victory.

“It’s not perfect, but very, very good and certainly it represents an important type of ecosystem that is under-represented in the Parks system in B.C.,” Kasselman continued. “Most B.C. parks are water, rock and ice… so it’s nice to see some true, old-growth forest protected.”

The Elaho boasts some of the oldest trees found in the southwest part of the province, many of which are more than 1,000 years old.

Kasselman said the outcome of the Squamish Nation plan gives hope to AWARE’s campaign to protect other old growth forests — specifically in the Upper Soo Valley. That area falls outside of the Squamish Nation’s land use planning area, but would be protected in a land use plan being tabled by the Lil’wat Nation.

Last month the province and the In-SHUCK-ch First Nation signed a land-use agreement that created three new land conservancies in their traditional territories, which cover the eastern portion of the Sea to Sky LRMP. Discussions between the province and other First Nations are expected to complete the LRMP over the next few months.

To enact all the provisions of the Squamish Nation land use plan, the Ministry of Environment and Squamish Nation signed an agreement that specifies how the new protective areas and conservancies will be managed.

“We are building a new relationship with Aboriginal people based on mutual respect, recognition, and reconciliation,” said Mike de Jong, Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation. “This agreement is a perfect example of how we can work collaboratively.”

The area covered by the land use agreement extends past Porteau Cove in the south, to the Indian River Valley in the southwest, the southwestern part of Garibaldi Provincial Park, and the Elaho Valley.

According to Chief Williams, the protected areas represent just eight per cent of Squamish Nation traditional territories, and the remaining 92 per cent is open for business — with the Squamish Nation as a stakeholder in economic development. That stipulation goes back to a unanimous 2004 decision by the Supreme Court of Canada that First Nations must be consulted by governments on all development taking place on First Nations territory while the treaty process is ongoing.

The acceptance of the Squamish Nation plan will allow the Sea to Sky LRMP to continue to the next stage. The consultation process wrapped up more than two years ago, but approval was put on hold until First Nations could complete their land use plan. The Lil-wat tabled the first stage of their land use plan last year as a starting point in negotiations with the province and other stakeholders.

A map showing the land-use designations in the Squamish Nation’s territory can be seen at: www.mediaroom.gov.bc.ca/DisplayEventDetails.aspx?eventId=386