After more than a decade of uncertainty, the residents of Lillooet Lake Estates (LLE) are celebrating a turning point in their fight against landslides.
On Aug. 23, the lakeside neighbourhood announced Pemberton/Whistler-based Coastal Mountain Excavations Ltd. had been awarded the contract to remediate Catiline Creek—a project community leaders say will finally bring safety to the landslide-prone area.
“This marks a real milestone,” said LLE president Gary Young in a press release. “We have been working on the Catiline Project since 2013 when a debris torrent swept through our community—destroying property and putting community members at risk. Now we could have shovels in the ground as early as this October, and a new creek channel in 2026.”
A decade of risk
The danger posed by Catiline Creek has loomed large over the community southeast of Pemberton since at least 2004, when the first of several debris flows off Twin Goat Mountain tore through the area. A particularly destructive event in 2013 deposited more than 25,000 cubic metres of material and forced an extended evacuation.
In the years since, residents have been living in limbo, waiting for another disaster.
A 2015 geotechnical assessment commissioned by the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) outlined multiple mitigation options, from widening the creek to constructing costly debris retention barriers, but no clear path forward emerged. The district also recommended evacuation, a directive many homeowners resisted.
"I don't think there's very many people who want to leave," longtime resident Chris Malthaner said at the time. "To leave your primary or principal asset behind and just walk away and basically start from zero? Is that what they're asking for us to do? That's pretty tough."
So, the community pushed for help from higher levels of government. In 2023, residents approved a local service area that allowed the SLRD to borrow $4 million toward the project, to be repaid by affected homeowners.
Grants from the federal Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program ($5.7 million) and the provincial Community Emergency Preparedness Fund ($2 million) followed, bringing the total project budget to nearly $12 million.
“A few years ago, LLE asked the SLRD to partner with us because the grant programs shifted and required a local government to manage the funding,” Young said. “The SLRD agreed and at the end of 2023 we received two grants and secured a community loan of up to $4 million to finance the project.”
Getting started
The contract awarded to Coastal Mountain Excavations will see approximately 900 metres of Catiline Creek widened, deepened, straightened and reinforced with training berms to safely direct debris flows through the community and into Lillooet Lake. A diversion channel will also be installed near the top of the creek. More than 180,000 cubic metres of material will be moved in the process.
A new bridge will also be constructed on the In-SHUCK-ch Forest Service Road, with a temporary crossing slated for this winter and permanent replacement expected in early April, 2026. The SLRD will manage the project, oversee permitting and establish a long-term maintenance program.
Work is expected to take about 18 months, with the bulk of construction scheduled for a one-year period dependent on weather conditions.
For Young and others, having a local contractor at the helm is a point of pride.
“We are really glad the contract went to a local firm,” he said. “We know the people in this valley share the LLE commitment to doing the project right, and it makes sense that the work should stay in the Whistler/Pemberton community as well.”
He said the project’s approval marks a new chapter for a community that has lived under the shadow of debris flow risk for too long.
“This is an affordable, close-knit community of families who love this mountain life,” Young said. “Working together with all three levels of government, and our residents, we’ll now be able to give them all a safer future.”
