As promised last year, the B.C. Assets and Lands Corporation has started posting on their Web site information on the status of applications for commercial backcountry recreation tenures in Sea to Sky country.
Operators who currently run recreation businesses on Crown land in the Squamish Forest District had until Dec. 29, 2000 to submit tenure applications. But to date, it is only the older ones that are up on the BCAL Web site.
There are currently an estimated 100 businesses in Sea to Sky country operating without licence. BCAL is not yet in a position to say how many have complied with the application deadline but the Crown corporation has posted a chart on their Web site listing 14 applications.
They include Cougar Mountain’s application made in May 1999 to house sled dogs and run dog sled tours in the Soo Valley, and another for horseback riding and stables. According to the BCAL status report, Cougar Mountain built the stables without approval. Proposed trails still need review, as does the company’s revised management plan.
The chart also lists applications from Canadian Snowmobile Adventures Blackcomb Snowmobiles, the Rainer Water Company, Whistler Jet Boat, Whistler ATV, Blackcomb Helicopters, PV Services/Tricouni Forest Management, Cayoosh Helisports, Whistler Heli Skiing expansion proposals and Outward Bound.
According to the chart, Canadian Snowmobile has made significant changes to its original management plan and is at this time only applying for tenure in the Lower Callaghan Valley. Canadian also applied for tenure for a base facility off Highway 99 and the main Callaghan forest service road. Sproatt and the Madeley Lake area are not part of this particular CSA application.
The Rainer Water Company has applied to run a bungy jumping facility in the Callaghan but BCAL states the proposal does not fit with the type of activities envisioned for the Callaghan Valley. There are also issues with potential Olympic venues in the same area.
Blackcomb Helicopters has applied to run heli-skiing, heli-fishing and heli-picnics in the Lillooet, Mount Currie, Ipsoot, Callaghan, Tricouni, Beverley Lake, Rainbow and Phantom/Jimmy Jimmy areas.
PV Services has applied to operate an RV park at Brandywine, within the Whistler municipal boundaries. BCAL states that bed units are an issue here and the application was forwarded to the RMOW planning department.
Cayoosh Helisports is looking to do heli-skiing, heli-fishing, heli-hiking and heli-touring in the Snowspider, Cayoosh, Birkenhead and Fowl Lakes areas. The BCAL chart states that some of these proposed areas fall within the proposed Cayoosh resort grizzly bear boundary and additional assessment work may be needed. There are also competing commercial recreation interests.
Whistle Heli Skiing is looking to expand operations in the Ipsoot, Rutherford Ridge, Grouty and Rainbow areas, some of which overlap with other applications.
Outward Bound has applied to run outdoor survival courses in a wide range of areas including Tenquille-Semaphore, Rohr, Lizzie, Blowdown, the Chilcotins, Stein Valley, Downton Creek, North Bendor Range, Bridge Glacier and Overseer Mountain.
Some of these areas overlap with other applications and some are located in both the Lower Mainland and Kamloops regions, which in turn falls into the Lillooet Land Resource Management Plan boundary area.
