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The art of compromise

by G. D. Maxwell

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Page 3 of 3

But it's really not BC Parks' mandate to turn the province's parks into amusement parks. Their more important job is striking a balance between public lands that can tolerate extensive and varied uses and those lands that need to be protected from the ravages of overuse. Garibaldi Park clearly falls further along the spectrum towards land that needs to be protected.

Skiing, hiking and, yes, even heliskiing are pretty low-impact uses, notwithstanding the noise of helicopters. Mountain biking, snowmobiling, ATV riding aren't. Ironically, neither is horseback riding but the survey didn't ask about that permitted activity. Anyone who's hiked the park's trails know how much horses chew them up and then try to fill the divots with their poop. But some uses clearly fall into the historical anomaly category.

So mountain bikers are pissed off. Ski tourers are kind of pissed off. Dog owners are still pissed off. WHS is happy but thinkin' it better make peace with the tourers. Unless you're one of those rugged, if misguided, individualists who mistakenly believe Ayn Rand really espoused a reasonable philosophy — "There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil" — it's a compromise we can live with. After all, the majority doesn't always rule.

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