The Province of BC and the Lil’wat Nation signed a historic land-use agreement that encompasses just under 800,000 hectares of land in April 2008.
"Through the land-use agreements that make up the Sea-to-Sky region, the Province has clearly demonstrated that it is a world leader in land-use planning, and we are excited to move forward in partnership with the Province as we look to ensure local economic development and the establishment of new conservancies and cultural management areas,"said Chief Leonard Andrew.
The agreement commits to:
- Creating 6 new conservancies (Callaghan, 100 Lakes Plateau, Upper Soo, Upper Birkenhead, Twin Two and Cerise Creek).
- Doubling the size of Duffey Lake Provincial Park.
- Establishing wildland zones and cultural management areas.
- Protecting 59 Lil’wat Spirited Ground Areas.
- Creating new environmentally sensitive areas and old growth management areas.
- Offering a lease and license of occupation that will facilitate the development of cultural education facilities in Owl Creek
According to Minister of Agriculture and Lands Pat Bell, the agreement also makes allowances for the growing population in the region. "This area is under a severe strain as a result of its proximity to the Lower Mainland and three million people… and this is one of the fastest growing areas of the province," he said. "What this does is provide a high level of certainty to all stakeholders in the region, and it’s a big reason why land use plans are so important for British Columbia."
Chief Andrew explained the significance of the new conservation areas to the Lil’wat Nation. "That means a lot to our people, those are the very areas we wanted to protect from the beginning, and now we have an agreement in place that does that. The whole plan is very good, but those areas in particular are something we can be proud of."
One of the areas the plan protects is the upper Soo Valley, which is of particular interest to the Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment (AWARE).
In 2003 AWARE put forward a plan that would protect the Upper Soo as an Olympic legacy and offset the Olympic development in the neighbouring Callaghan Valley. The concept was adopted by most of the stakeholders at the LRMP planning table, but was rejected by the Olympic organizers who view "protection of land" as outside their mandate.
"The process has taken six long years and all of us are very, very happy," said RMOW Councillor Eckhard Zeidler, the former AWARE director who suggested the legacy. "To my mind it’s absolutely an Olympic legacy, only because without the Olympics coming I’m not sure we would have been able to present this kind of plan and move it forward as far as we did."
Johnny Mikes was hired by AWARE to represent the environment at the LRMP table during negotiations, and was also impressed by the Lil’wat land use plan. "…We were told in 2002 that the LRMP couldn’t create any more protected areas, that all of the protected areas were done in the 1990s in the Protected Areas Strategy… but now we have new protected areas in the Squamish and Lil’wat land use plans, wildlands, the floodplain management plans for sensitive valley bottom wetlands through the corridor."
To view the Lil’wat First Nation land use agreement and for more details, please click here: <http://cts.vresp.com/c/?SmartGrowthBC/4970b61059/1d4a25a556/3c66df30f7>