Petition by Friends of Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park (click)The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure is proposing to remove a 30 metre right of way along the existing Cosens Bay Road through Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park. The right of way would enable widening and upgrade of the road and would accommodate potential future utilities.
The "potential future utilities" would service private properties south of the park and could include a hydro line. Cosens Bay Road ends at the private properties; it is not a through road.
A Ministry roadway through the park would divide the park into two halves and have serious negative impacts on wildlife, grasslands and park user safety.
The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure is proposing to remove a 30 metre right of way along the existing Cosens Bay Road through Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park. The right of way would enable widening and upgrade of the road and would accommodate potential future utilities.
The "potential future utilities" would service private properties south of the park and could include a hydro line. Cosens Bay Road ends at the private properties; it is not a through road.
A Ministry roadway through the park would divide the park into two halves and have serious negative impacts on wildlife, grasslands and park user safety.
You can find extensive coverage of our concerns by reading our media release on our website, www.kalamalkapark.ca
We also have a quick survey on the website.
Thanks!
The Friends of Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park
Simone Runyan, MSc, RPBio
Coldstream, BC
Sign the petition by clicking on the link above and filling out the petition form.
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5 comments:
Really good comments on the petition.
How many times will we have to defend the integrity of our park? We need legislation that protects the park once and for all.
Road safety is a red herring...Reid Road in Lavington is in rough condition, and has blind turns, the road connecting the Commonage to Okanagan Landing road is a narrow switchback, there are many examples of narrow country lanes that are easily negotiated using common sense.
When you can't see what's ahead of you a couple of courtesy honks lets other drivers know you are coming. In any case, if drivers are driving the park speed, and are driving with due care and attention the road will be no more dangerous than others. The road that needs major safety engineering is 97.
Creighton Valley Road, Mable Lake Road, Lumby side have eroding shoulders and no concrete barriers between the road and steep drop-offs, and there is far more traffic there.
This is a shameless land grab, clothed in the "public interest". I call moose beans on this!
Words of wisdom from Edward Abbey:
"Wilderness and motors are incompatible and the former can best be experienced, understood and enjoyed when the machines are left behind where they belong -- on the superhighways and in the parking lots, on the reservoirs and in the marinas."
― Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
"No more cars in national parks. Let the people walk. Or ride horses, bicycles, mules, wild pigs--anything--but keep the automobiles and the motorcycles and all their motorized relatives out. We have agreed not to drive our automobiles into cathedrals, concert halls, art museums, legislative assemblies, private bedrooms and the other sanctums of our culture; we should treat our national parks with the same deference, for they, too, are holy places. An increasingly pagan and hedonistic people (thank God!), we are learning finally that the forests and mountains and desert canyons are holier than our churches. Therefore let us behave accordingly."
― Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
The automobile, which began as a transportation convenience, has become a bloody tyrant (50,000 lives a year), and it is the responsibility of the park service, as well as that of everyone else concerned with preserving both wilderness and civilization, to begin a campaign of resistance."
― Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
"A man could be a lover and defender of the wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled surfaces. We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may never need to set foot in it. We need the possibility of escape as surely as we need hope; without it the life of the cities would drive all men into crime or drugs or psychoanalysis."
― Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
Here! Here!
Just back from a drive to see the lovely river along Shuswap River Road, near the Hydro Dam. We saw the police ribbon and a memorial at the spot where a driver left the road and plunged into the river weeks ago. Several places along that very narrow road had no barrier from a sheer, deep drop to the river, and this road provides year round access to many homes.
Closer to home, yesterday morning, just south of the Vernon Golf Course, an elderly man had driven his truck into the ditch. Several people were with him, and he appeared to be fine. If he had gone over the edge just meters south, he and his passenger would have come to great harm.
If money is to be spent on roads, they should be spent were the most people will benefit, not a tiny, but persistent squeaky wheel.
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