Editor:
Eminent local birder Tony Greenfield’s recollection of times gone by touched on how Tetrahedron Provincial Park came to be but didn’t get to the bigger story, which may be of interest to your readers.
Tetrahedron Provincial Park was the end result of the Tetrahedron Local Resource Use Plan (LRUP), a 1990’s “roundtable” planning process where diverse local and provincial “stakeholder” organizations were represented. The planning table included the Ministries of Forests and Environment, Canfor, Interfor, Fleetwood and Independent Forest Products, the former IWA and Integrated Use Coalition, Forest Watch, shíshálh Nation, Sunshine Coast Regional District, District of Sechelt, Sechelt Rod and Gun Club and Outdoor Recreation Council of BC, plus the Tetrahedron Alliance, Tetrahedron Ski Club, Elphinstone Electors and Tuwanek Ratepayers Association.
The Tetrahedron LRUP final report was submitted to the shíshálh and Skwxwú7mesh Nations and the province for review. The entire study area including the extensive cabin and trail system built by the Tetrahedron Ski Club prior to the LRUP was subsequently designated under the provincial Protected Areas Strategy in June 1995.
LRUP Jobs Subcommittee advocacy for local forest industry workers also resulted in more than $800,000 of federal industrial adjustment funding for the Sunshine Coast.
Ironically, the Ministry of Forests had removed the Chapman Lake basin from the “working forest” 20 years previously to protect the sensitive community watershed headwaters but institutionally lost track of the information and “forgot.”
Tetrahedron Provincial Class A Park now permanently protects the Chapman and Gray Creeks community watershed headwaters – including one of Canada’s oldest known forest stands – and offers high quality, low impact non-motorized backcountry recreation while continuing to supply over 85 per cent of the Sunshine Coast’s drinking water.
Linda Williams, Tuwanek
