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Snowmobilers banned from upper Callaghan Valley

Province decrees new land use plan effective immediately
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Ski Don't Snowmobilers will no longer have access to the Pemberton Icecap through the Callaghan after a new provincial ban is put into place. Photo by Coast Mountain.

Snowmobilers are up in arms about a new provincial ban that prevents them from getting into the upper Callaghan Valley, one of their favourite snowmobile routes to the alpine.

“There’s going to be some fur and paint flying soon,” said Lincoln Ferguson, president of the Pemberton Valley Snowmobile Club.

“We’re fighting as hard as we can.”

Ferguson is referring to the brand new ban which prevents any winter recreation motorized use in the mid- to upper Callaghan Valley from Nov. 1 to May 15. This prevents snowmobilers from accessing the Pemberton Icecap via the Callaghan, forcing them to access their winter playground via the Brandywine to the south or the Rutherford to the north.

The ban is welcome news to Carson, one of the board members of the Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment.

“People want to go back there and enjoy the quiet,” he said,

The ban is effective immediately according to an ad in last week’s Pique Newsmagazine.

When asked to comment on the Section 58 order, the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts issued a press release, which states in part that:

“The new recreation order will help reduce conflicts between snowmobilers, cross country skiers and other users.

“Government is committed to providing solutions to recreation resource use that satisfy the greatest number of users and provide for the long term sustainability of recreation trails.”

Mike Blomfield, of the Black Tusk Snowmobile Club, said he wants to see the numbers that support that.

Snowmobiling is a growing sport and an extensive economic generator to the region, spending money on gas, accommodation and food.

“We’re not about shutting other groups out,” he said. “Everyone wants to shut us out.”

The Callaghan is a popular thoroughfare to the renowned Pemberton Icecap, a breathtakingly huge expanse of glaciers connected through mountain valleys and ridges. It covers several hundred square miles of terrain.

Snowmobilers have long had access to that area through the Callaghan Provincial Park, across the Callaghan Lake.

But things changed significantly in recent years after Vancouver and Whistler won the right to host the 2010 Olympic Games and the Callaghan Valley become the official site of the Nordic competition venue, now called Whistler Olympic Park.

The plan is that the Olympic park will become a cross country skiing Mecca with dozens of kilometres of trails winding through the forest.

The non-motorized ban includes Whistler Olympic Park and parts of the Squamish Nation Wild Spirit Place Payakentsut.

But forcing snowmobiling to the Brandywine or the Rutherford creates some problems, said Blomfield, not the least of which is that the Brandywine route is through an avalanche area. He is concerned about the safety of snowmobilers using that area. He is also worried about overloading that route.

“You don’t want to be clustering snowmobile traffic,” he said.

The province has already spent $300,000 on improvements to the Brandywine Snowmobile Trail and further upgrades will occur next year in consultation with local users and the local club.

In addition, the province will also be funding improvements to the Rutherford Snowmobile Trail and parking areas.

It will also be working with the Canadian Avalanche Centre to improve avalanche safety in the corridor by analyzing terrain and promoting safe backcountry use over the winter season.

This ban effectively keeps the Callaghan’s two main winter recreation groups separated.

“I think it’s high time that we defined the zones… where motorized recreation is permitted and where it’s not,” said Whistler Councillor Eckhard Zeidler, who has long taken an active interest in the future of the Callaghan Valley.

He said the Section 58 order is a step in the right direction.

“It gives snowmobilers certainty as to where they can recreate as well as giving non-motorized users certainty that they can enjoy a great experience.”

The two uses are incongruent by their very nature said Brad Sills, owner of the cross country ski lodge Callaghan Country. He has witnessed the conflicts first hand over his years operating in the valley.

“Just by the very definition there’s conflict,” said Sills, who pointed out that this ban is a land use decision by the provincial government.

People cross country ski to be out in nature, free from noise, pollution, and even the tracks of motorized vehicles.

“If that’s impacted… it’s just completely out of keeping the reasons why they undertake the sport.

“It just goes to the very core of why people cross country ski.”

But Blomfield believes the two groups can co-exist in the same area if a parallel road is established for the snowmobilers, separated by roughly half a mile.

It is not clear how many snowmobilers, particularly those who are not affiliated with clubs or tour groups, are aware that they can no longer access the Callaghan Valley.

But in his conversations to date, Nelson Bastien, president of the Powder Mountain Snowmobile Club in Whistler and director with the B.C. Snowmobile Federation said a lot of people are not happy.

“There are a lot of snowmobilers who are saying ‘baloney, we’re not settling for this,’” he said.

The ban will be enforced with signage, pamphlets and enforcement officers.