Efforts underway to create a UNESCO Geopark in the Sea to Sky

What is a geopark? Imagine a trail leading to new interpretive signs that describe the geological formations in the area and that detail the First Nations’ history of the land. 

With the UNESCO moniker, the sites would carry the global prestige and thus protection the organization's status provides. 

The idea is to have purposeful tourism that raises awareness of sites’ significance and fosters conservation.

Work is underway, led by the Resort Municipality of Whistler, to create the first four geopark sites in that community. 

The so-called Sea to Sky Fire and Ice Geopark was recently recognized as an “aspiring” Geopark by the Canadian Geoparks Network (CGN). 

This is the first step in the process of achieving UNESCO designation.

In total, a feasibility study found 60 possible sites in the Sea to Sky region from Mount Meager to Howe Sound. 

Whistler Mayor Jack Crompton, who is the local media spokesperson for the project, told The Chief that it is perfectly suited for the Sea to Sky. 

“The geological features of this incredible region just begged us to celebrate them,” he said. 

According to the Sea to Sky Fire and Ice Aspiring Geopark website, the south coast of B.C. is Canada’s most geologically active area. 

“It’s a land shaped by tectonic uplift, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, ongoing glaciation and erosion — including debris flows, avalanches, flooding, and the catastrophic landslides resulting from the interaction of geomorphology and the increasingly radical weather of a changing climate.”

Crompton said to understand what these locations will look like here, think of the places through the Rockies where you can access interpretive information about the land. 

“This will be much like that,” he said. “All of those natural features that make this place so unique will be explained, interpreted, and managed for viewing and interaction with the public.” 

The first phase of the Geopark will see four geosites in Whistler developed:

• The Lava escarpment at Cheakamus Crossing;
• The Volcanic crater at Loggers Lake;
• The Basalt eskers at Cal-Cheak North, and the Lava-glacier-bedrock contact gorge at Cal-Cheak South. 

A new proposed trail would link the Sea to Sky Trail near the Whistler Train Wreck site to the geosite adjacent to Cheakamus Crossing and on to Loggers Lake, forming a loop with other existing trails.

“This is an initial foray into a much larger multi-year plan,” Crompton said. 

The project will be funded through the Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI), and any grants received from other levels of government.

The larger plan includes Garibaldi Lake, Black Tusk, Mount. Currie, the Tantalus Range, Lake Lovely Water, Keyhole Falls, and Howe Sound, among other sites.

These sites create purposeful tourism, meaning that it is controlled and hopefully directs people to a site rather than having them throughout the backcountry, Crompton noted. 

“The Sea to Sky Geopark intends to be built along the backbone of the Sea to Sky Trail and hopefully encourages more tourists [to visit] that well serviced and managed piece of tourism infrastructure.” 

The pending official designation legitimizes the park and co-ordinates the effort, helps promote it, and makes it part of a larger network of parks. 

The proposed timeframe would see the site at the Basalt eskers at Cal-Cheak North complete by September, with the other three completed between 2022 and 2024, according to Crompton.

“The opportunity here is enormous and, in my opinion, exciting,” said Crompton. “Long-term plans for the geopark would develop a corridor-wide Sea to Sky geopark in co-ordination with neighbouring jurisdictions if everyone shared the vision and decided this is something we should partner on.”

So far, other governing bodies in the corridor seem keen to know more.

Squamish Nation

Syeta’xtn (Chris) Lewis, Squamish Nation council member, and spokesperson told The Chief, “the Squamish Nation holds title to all of the lands within the Sea to Sky Corridor, and the Squamish people have used these lands and sites since time immemorial to practice our rights. We have many stories and connections that link to the creation of these dynamic landscapes,” he said. 

“We take an active role in protecting the integrity of these valued lands and habitats. We look forward to hearing more about and participating in this proposal, so we can ensure that our homelands can be appreciated by visitors in a way that both respects our rights and title and honours our history, traditions, and culture.”

District of Squamish

Mayor Karen Elliott told The Chief members of The Sea to Sky Fire and Ice Aspiring Geopark group have not yet presented to District of Squamish council.

“However, the project appears to complement the current Átl’ḵa7tsem Howe Sound Biosphere Reserve efforts underway for UNESCO designation, and I look forward to learning more as the geopark concept continues to evolve,” she said. 

Big picture

At this stage in the process, the Sea to Sky Aspiring Geopark is getting its ducks in a row, so to speak, building community support for the park. Next, local proponents will submit an application to the Canadian Geoparks Network. 

Geologist John Calder, Chair of the Canadian Geoparks Network, told The Chief his organization acts as coaches to help proponents get official designation from UNESCO. 

A team receives a draft application and works with proponents to get the application to the state it can be sent on further with a better chance of getting approval from UNESCO.

“If it is at a point where we can then do a field mission, two members of the Canadian Geoparks Network will come and perform a field mission where we will basically act exactly... mimicking when it goes to UNESCO,” Calder said, adding that the organization then submits the completed application to the Canadian Commission for UNESCO with their recommendation. From there, the commission sends it off for the final approval process. 

The process can take 18 months to two years or more to complete.

Currently, there are 161 UNESCO Global Geoparks in in 44 countries.

There are five geoparks in Canada. 

Each park is unique, but there is also networking between them, according to Calder. 

He explained that with geoparks there is no legislation attached — as there is with provincial or federal park —  it is a designation, so it doesn’t mean other user groups can’t access the area. 

“It has very strict requirements to maintain status as a UNESCO Global Geopark, but it is not about imposing rules and regulations. It is about making sure that you are celebrating the area, educating [about] the area, about the natural values of the area and its links to people and culture," he said. 

He also was one of the main proponents for one of Canada’s newest geoparks, Nova Scotia’s Cliffs of Fundy. 

“They are all about sustainable economic development that draws in an area’s culture and linking it to its geological heritage,” he said. “Looking at ways the local community can benefit from truly sustainable economic development.” 

He said eco-tours can be incorporated, for example. 

Indigenous partnership is central to the process, he said. 

Calder said that so far, he has been impressed with what he has seen of the Sea to Sky’s efforts toward designation. 

“At this time when the world is so fractured... it warms my heart as it is a real example of how the world can come together. The idea of the Global Geopark Network is just that, it is a network. It is all about connecting to other places around the world. It is a really wonderful program. I think the Sea to Sky has the potential to be one of the landmark geoparks in the world."