People in Nakusp overwhelmingly say they don’t want to see logging near the hiking trails on Saddle Mountain near the community.
Those are the results of a survey taken by the Saddle Mountain Trail Group released last week.
“We were a little surprised that there was really a strong voice against the proposed plan,” said Wulf Mense, a member of the group. “Because we are in Nakusp, and it’s traditionally a logging community, there are a lot of people who support any logging. They don’t ask for the details.”
The survey asked residents what they thought of a plan by Interfor to harvest a 22-hectare block of forest on the mountain. The plan was made after a windstorm blew down about four hectares of mature forest in the same area last year.
The cut area would intersect a popular hiking trail to a lookout on the mountain.
While Mense says they took pains not to bias the results, he notes the plan was given a thumbs-down by most people who responded to the online and emailed survey.
Just under 70 per cent — 69.68 — of respondents said they opposed the plan. More than half — 51.13 — said they were strongly opposed to it. About 22 per cent either agreed or strongly agreed with the logging company’s plans.
The rest had no opinion or wanted more information.
A total of 222 people responded to the survey, and 83 per cent said they had hiked the Saddle Mountain Trail.
Interfor’s plans concede their work will affect the trail.
The proposal, as described by an Interfor representative, “includes timber removal along approximately 800 meters of existing Lookout Trail and requires two roads to be constructed … the upper road actually crosses the trail in order to access blowdown in the northern portion of the block and the trail will have to be crossed a minimum [of] three times in order to facilitate harvest,” the trail group’s release says.
That’s what concerns the trail group, says Mense.
“The trail is 90 years old. It’s a heritage trail and a lot of people go up there,” he says.
Interfor plans to move the trailhead and create a parking area, kiosk, and pit toilet to allow trail users to bypass the harvested area.
But the trail group cautions readers not just to see the results as a knee-jerk reaction to logging. They say many comments appended to the survey give a more nuanced view of the issue (see sidebar).
“It was open to supporters to voice their opinion, and that’s exactly what came out of it,” he says. “It’s not a cut-and-dry issue. We didn’t know. We could have had opposite results and act accordingly. But this shows there are a lot of people who don’t want logging on the trail.”
Mensa says the group will use the results to promote protection of the mountain trail.
“With the information gathered from this survey, we will coordinate accordingly to the perspectives. This may include forming a larger Saddle Mountain interest group and/or forming a coordinated response,” a release states.
The Saddle Mountain Trail group says their survey results have been shared with the Nakusp and Area Trails Society and will be shared with anyone who asked for additional communication.
Mense says they don’t know if the survey will make a difference in the planned logging.
“You can never be sure because it’s a survey, and we are kind of an informal group, so we don’t really know,” he says.
The group also plans to forward it to the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Interfor.