Timeline
- May of 2022, several stakeholders, including the Nature Conservancy of Canada, submitted emails of concern and request for inclusion in the BCTS Harvest Project. We have been asking for a Certified Groundwater Hydrologist to assess the area since the onset.
- We have been in close contact with Todd Stone’s office since spring of 2022, providing documentation and asking questions. They verified that “the public cannot be denied access to a meeting regarding public land.”
- Many residents sent letters of concern to BCTS, asking for onsite meetings, inclusion and ongoing updates during the interim.
- Stakeholders and interested individuals requested inclusion in the targeted 30% of land to be protected, as outlined in the the Biodiversity, Habitat, and Species at Risk Protection Agreement. This is part of the Tripartite Framework agreement from November 2023.
- December 2023, a letter was sent to Premier Eby’s office, asking for a 5 Year Deferral from Logging Activity in the Skimikin/Ptarmigan Hills Range. The goal of this request was to allow for these updated regulations to become integrated into Forest Management. This area is currently under the jurisdiction of BC Timber Sales and is at an extreme risk of being irreversibly altered by existing forestry practices, just steps behind the implementation of change.
This was the statement to Eby regarding the aquifer system:
The Aquifer System, within this range, is not yet governed by the policy changes outlined in the Old Growth Strategic Review or the current agreement with the federal government and indigenous leaders to Protect Biodiversity in the fight against climate change, signed early November, 2023.” - The proposed area for logging houses an undocumented aquifer system. It provides fresh water delivery to a wide range of residents, farms and water systems, culminating in the South Thompson River below. It also supports the wealth of biodiversity existing within this forest ecosystem. More than a century has passed, long before current clear cutting practices became common, since the balance of this forest was disturbed.
- February 6, 2024, first official meeting between stakeholders, interested individuals, and the BCTS.
- At the recommendation of a Ministry Wildlife Biologist, we cited statements and recommendations in the Old Growth Strategic Review, submitted April 30, 2020. The findings directly relate to our concerns regarding the deforestation of this terrain.
The endangered species list cited included:
American Badger – Red Listed
Fisher – Red Listed
Long-tailed Weasel – Red Listed
Flammulated Owl – Blue Listed
Western Painted Turtle – Blue Listed
Pine Grosbeak, Carlottae – Blue Listed
- Currently the FLNR has refused to answer our riparian concerns documented in the Riparian Area Regulations as it applies to private land owners. Attempted contact with the FLNR have been passed back to the BCTS, undermining our ability to express our concerns higher up the chain of command.
- Melissa Wade, Ministry Groundwater Hydrologist, issued a statement supporting the existence of the aquifer system in our area.
- February 2024, resident Chris Adderson created an accurate presentation of the watershed system as it supports the shallow aquifer system beneath, presented at the stakeholders’ meeting with BCTS in Chase, BC on February 6, 2024. In the meeting, the impact of the recent wildfire devastation was tabled, along with the fact that our natural forest, which is not a monoculture like the Adams Lake area, is naturally fire resistant
The ecological impacts of the vast wildfire destruction of recent years has yet to be
evaluated. This loss, exacerbated by the intensity in clearcutting activities, has created a very probable imbalance in ecosystem health, loss of wildlife habitat, changes in water coursing, flooding and risk of landslides. Wildlife displaced by wildfires and intense clearcutting activity is an easily overlooked reality This area needs to be left intact based on documented evidence regarding the intrinsic value of viable, healthy forests.
Greater than 41,000 hectares of forests were lost to our neighboring Bush Creek fire alone.
“Canada has lost more trees to wildfires this year than in any other year on record. Canada
has lost more than17 million hectares of forest this year — more than two times the previous record of 7.6 million hectares in 1989”.
- February 2024, our BCTS contact liaison and her supervisor were calling people who attended the meeting, indicating they were not allowed to the followup meeting because they did not reside in close proximity to the cut blocks.
- We have been in contact with the the Ministry of Transportation, the CVSE and Forest Lands Natural Resources.
- Aimee Barre, Ministry of Transportation Manager has provided a statement of ownership along Butler Road.
- Extensive mapping done to show Old Growth Forest within the proposed cutblocks and the degree of current deforestation within the Chum Creek Watershed.
- Association formed January 3, 2025 – Upper Chum Creek Water Users Association, UCCWUA. This association was formed to take the place of the Chase Uplands Watershed Protectors because there was a name conflict and quick action needed to be taken.
- The association hired environmental lawyer, Ben Isitt, to present litigation to BCTS.
- BCTS gave no response to several letters from the lawyer and subsequently pushed the auctioning of the blocks to post on December 20, 2024 , just minutes before the end of day before the Christmas and New Years’ break.
- BCTS awarded permit to log and road permit to logging company.
- Extremely intensive work from the lawyer and stakeholder throughout the holiday break concluded in litigation presented to both the logging company and BCTS.
- Injunction hearing scheduled.
- Interim injunction until next injunction hearing on March 7, 2024.