Text and photos ©Colin Payne
Another chapter in the epic battle over logging on Perry Ridge in the Slocan Valley has unfolded with recent protests, blockades, and litigation over plans to build a road and further log the much-contested Kootenay land.
For about 32 kilometres Perry Ridge forms the steep western wall of the Slocan Valley and houses watersheds for many of the communities in its shadow. For decades it has been the subject of repeated, heated protest around logging and road-building activity – with protests in the mid-1980s and again in the mid-1990s that saw some dragged off to jail by police.
When it was announced in early October 2010 that Kaslo-based Sunshine Logging was awarded a timber license by BC Timber Sales (BCTS) to build five kilometres of permanent roads and log four cut-blocks of 20- 38 hectares each on the west side of Perry Ridge, protest from residents erupted once again.
Marilyn Burgoon of the Perry Ridge Water Users Association (PRWUA) has been involved in the struggle to protect Perry Ridge since the 1980s, with the ultimate goal of seeing the area turned into an ecological reserve. Burgoon said the logging activity could have a significant impact on both land stability and water quality for Slocan Valley residents who live near the ridge and beyond.
“They’re moving into headwater areas of these steeply-inclined creeks and our concern is that the creeks won’t be able to hold the runoff. The plan is to put a road straight through lakes and headwaters of steep creeks. We live on the alluvial fan where the water comes and water will be a problem. It’s naturally unstable and we think adding more instability is unacceptable.”
Burgoon added that landslides have become the norm throughout the Slocan Valley and the logging could create a landslide hazard for residents of the sparsely populated west side of the ridge, which sits above the Little Slocan Valley.
Burgoon and others asked BCTS to allow an independent hydrology and slope stability study on the cut blocks, to verify the studies already conducted by BCTS. Those opposed say the logging planned for Perry Ridge is a losing proposition for BCTS and the provincial government. “We had a costbenefit analysis done in 2000 that counted the economic benefit if they could get every tree off Perry Ridge,” Burgoon said. “They were going to lose $2.25 million dollars. Why are they doing it at a loss?” But the requests for a further study fell on deaf ears and Sunshine Logging took steps to start road building.
Blockade Goes Up
In late October 2010, the protest took a twist when the Sinixt Nation, along with other area residents, blockaded the Perry Ridge Forest Service road, stating they would not allow any logging activity to take place until the Sinixt were consulted.
The Sinixt, a people considered extinct by the federal and provincial governments, claim the Slocan Valley and a large expanse of the BC Southern Interior as their traditional lands and, despite their “extinct” status, launched a land claim with the federal and provincial governments in 2008 to regain title.
Perry Ridge is part of that territory, and Sinixt-appointed spokesperson, Marilyn James, said there are important values that need to be preserved on that land.
“There are heritage, cultural, and environmental values on Perry Ridge that are very important and consultation is a necessity,” James said. “We can’t just let people go in carte blanche, hammering away at these key wilderness areas.”
The blockade was put up as a short-term solution to keep loggers off the land while Nelson-based lawyer for the Sinixt, David Aaron, launched a constitutional challenge against the provincial government over rights to consultation.
“The duty to consult arises when the Crown has knowledge of a potential Aboriginal claim or right,” said Aaron. “One such pending claim is the Sinixt aboriginal title claim.”
The constitutional challenge effectively stopped an attempt by Sunshine Logging to get an injunction against the people blockading the road, and put a temporary halt to road building in mid-November, until after the case could be heard in BC Supreme Court.
No Consultation, Says BCTS
Area forester, Al Skakun, says BCTS follows government direction with regard to First Nations consultation.
“Who is or isn’t considered a First Nation is not a local determination; it involves senior levels of government. Neither the federal nor provincial governments presently consider the Sinixt to be an “aboriginal peoples of Canada” under the meaning of the Constitution Act.” Skakun also says claims that the logging will cause problems with watersheds and slope stability along the ridge are unfounded.
“A terrain stability assessment was done on every cut block and every road proposed, as well as a hydrology assessment,” he says. “Those studies have all concluded that there is a low likelihood of impacting any water flows and a low likelihood of any hazardous landslides.” He adds that the price of the timber sale doesn’t result in a net loss for the province and the work has many additional “benefits.” “The stumpage rate was set at a level that covers our development costs,” Skakun says. “There’s a whole multiplier effect of spinoff benefits in terms of taxes and road infrastructure that the Crown inherits – like five kilometres of permanent road construction for silviculture access, fire access, and future development.” The road will be built by Sunshine Logging and then inherited by the province at a $100,000 to $200,000 value.
The Trial
After weeks of furious fundraising in early January of 2011, the Sinixt began their constitutional challenge in front of BC Supreme Court Justice Willcock against representatives of the provincial government and Sunshine Logging.
The outcome was that the province has no duty to consult with the Sinixt because Marilyn James and others named on the petition “are not a group capable of sufficiently precise definition with respect to their group membership.” This dealt a blow not only to the cause to protect Perry Ridge, but also to the Sinixt quest for recognition as a nation within Canada.
“I am disappointed in this decision,” said James. “But I have been an Indian all my life, so I didn’t really expect anything else. We are losers, but we’re in really good company. So were our ancestors. So why would I expect anything else. This is the way Canada has treated our people.”
Sinixt members, Burgoon, and other community members began a vigil at the foot of the snow-covered forest service road that accesses Perry Ridge the day after the decision came down. Sunshine Logging got an injunction against the protestors and soon the RCMP was called in to break up the blockade. Protesters left the area peacefully. Undaunted, the Sinixt filed a notice of appeal in the BC Court of Appeal, and Burgoon is in the process of bringing a petition and a stack of research on Perry Ridge to BC Premier, Christy Clark.
“I’m trying to give them an option for some kind of protective category,” Burgoon said. “I have several hundred letters and thousands of signatures to that effect. “I still have faith that government can change things. Government can change things with the stroke of a pen.”
PRWUA recently received funding from West Coast Environmental Law to have a preliminary assessment of the cut blocks conducted by an independent hydrologist and terrain specialist to determine if there are any problems with the government’s assessment.
There is still a long way to go in the fight, with high legal costs and finding funds is proving increasingly difficult, despite continual backing by the local community. And, while no one is currently obstructing the work on Perry Ridge, Burgoon said people are constantly observing the work and documenting anything they feel is suspect.
No matter what happens, Burgoon said the goal for Perry Ridge will remain the same. “We want a watershed reserve, a wilderness reserve, to protect it from development that would affect our homes.”
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Colin Payne is a freelance writer, editor and photographer based in the beautiful West Kootenays.
