by Jennifer Miller, Feature Story Whistler Question, Oct.26, 2006

Bear habitat should take precedence over Olympic ‘legacy’ in Callaghan, environmental group says

With new evidence of grizzly bears living in the Callaghan Valley, environmental groups and cross country skiing enthusiasts are at odds over whether recreational “legacy” Nordic trails should be built at the Whistler Nordic Centre now under construction for the 2010 Olympics.

If the trails are not built, it will be the second Olympic legacy taken away from Whistler — the other being Council’s decision earlier this year not to proceed with plans for a Paralympic sledge-hockey arena.

But environmentalists say biodiversity should take precedence over recreation in this case and that the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee (VANOC) could turn the situation into a positive legacy of environmental protection.

While the local cross country skiing club, the Whistler Nordics, have not formally discussed the new evidence of grizzlies in the Callaghan and what that could mean for the legacy trails, club president Tom Barratt said his personal opinion is that the recreational trails are necessary for the facility to be a draw for visitors.

“I don’t think reducing the amount of trails is an option,” he said. “If they want to make a viable legacy, it will be severely limited if they don’t build the recreational trails.”

Relatively easy, recreational trails are needed in the Whistler area to stage cross-country events and also to complement the Lost Lake trails, he said.

The area proposed for the recreational trails already has existing logging roads, so it’s not “pristine wilderness,” he said. Barratt also questioned whether grizzlies would be present on the trails during the winter and suggested the trails could be closed during the summer.

Though she said she’s not familiar with the local issues, Georgia Manhard of Cross Country British Columbia said the whole idea of cross-country skiing is to spend time in wilderness. All the cross-country trails in B.C. are in forested areas where wildlife lives, she said.

“It’s very, very low impact on the environment,” Manhard said. “It’s normal for cross-country trails to go into the forest.”

But RMOW Councillor Eckhard Zeidler said other options for the recreational trails need to be explored in light of a recent study showing evidence of grizzlies living in the upper Callaghan. He suggested perhaps the recreational trails could be built south of the Nordic Centre instead of to the north, or that the competition trails could be de-tuned to make them into easier recreational trails.

“I’m personally not convinced that all the opportunities have been exhausted,” he said.

“Now that we have the evidence of resident grizzlies, they need to look at this with new eyes.”

He said many Whistlerites would not want to see the legacy trails built if they negatively affect the environment. “I think that people in this community value the natural environment above all else and they’ve shown that over and over (through) the years,” Zeidler said.

While the Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC) strongly supports “self-propelled” recreation in the bush, in this case the group has taken a stand against recreational trails at the Nordic Centre, said Joe Foy, WCWC national campaign director.

“We are opposed to the legacy trails. We do not think they should be built. In this case biodiversity trumps recreation,” he said.

Creating trails in grizzly territory could cause the bears to avoid the area, and limiting available bear habitat could eventually lead to compromised health and decreased populations. Another risk is that a grizzly could end up killing a human in the area, Foy said. Despite the low environmental impact of cross-country skiing, the trails would still invite activity in the Callaghan.

“It’s pretty hard to roll back trails once they’re put in. You’re going to have some sort of increased use through the year,” he said.

With grizzly populations historically being pushed further and further north along the west coast of North America, it’s important to nurture the re-emergence of the population in the Callaghan now that there is new evidence of two mothers and cubs in the area, Foy said.

VANOC has the opportunity to create a legacy of protecting biodiversity by forgoing the legacy trails. The Callaghan is the farthest south grizzlies can be found now, he said.

“VANOC could make something of that (and) say ‘we’re proud of our status as the grizzly bear front line and we’re going to help,’” he said.

VANOC released a statement this week stating that its officials and those of other stakeholders will complete an environmental assessment process to determine whether the legacy trails will be built.

“Legacy trails will only be developed if, through this process, and in light of all available findings, responsible government authorities are confident that design plans and mitigation measures meet and exceed environmental assessment requirements and VANOC’s sustainability goals,” said Linda Coady, vice president of sustainability for VANOC.

Environmental approval for the Nordic Centre was granted in April 2005 but that did not include approval for the proposed legacy trails. A separate environmental review process is planned for the recreational trails.

The Nordic Centre includes 14 km of competition trails, two ski jumps, a biathlon loop and three temporary stadiums. An additional 50 to 75 km of recreational trails was originally proposed, but current plans have been scaled back to include only 20 to 25 km of legacy trails.