Friends of The Rossland Range ask for help in protecting the Rossland Range

Rossland Range - Andrew Zwicker Photo

Is it possible to love an area to death? Is it possible to have a recreational resource so well-loved and used that ultimately that use and overuse takes away from and/or destroys the original reason for loving an area? The Rossland Range could be in danger from just such an onslaught of affection. With a dramatic rise in backcountry use (snowmobilers, snowshoers, backcountry skiers, bikers and hikers) in recent years a new effort has begun to protect and preserve the recreational resource that is the Rossland Range high country.

Efforts have been made to protect the natural playground that is the Rossland Range for almost as long as people have been recreating in the region. As early as the 1930s when the fire lookout tower (and later meteorological station) were built on Old Glory, folks have been horse packing, hiking and skiing Rossland’s neighbouring peaks. The Friends of the Rossland Range Society (FORR) are now in the process of building community support and engagement for an in depth community consultation prior to making another stab at gaining some form of protection for the area.

“We’ve got an incredible setup with blacktop just a few kilometres out of town right to touring off the highway to some excellent backcountry terrain. The ease of access and changing of cultures towards more backcountry use in concert with equpiment that makes it easier and quicker to get into the backcountry have dramatically increased the use of the area in the last few years,” said Kim Deane of the FORR when asked why the region needs protection. “We’re not just starting this. We’re continuing on the path of a long journey. This goes back generations.”

Going back a couple of generations, there was a big push in the late 50s and 60s by Nancy Greene’s father to get the area designated as a provincial park. Following a community-wide effort, the Nancy Greene Recreational area (which has very nearly the same plan and mandate as the FORR’s current effort) was established. Thirty years later, in the late 1990s, the recreation aera was abolished. At that time, Red Mountin was developing a master plan to make the resort more saleable and working towards establishing a larger tenure. “Partly it (Nancy Greene Recreational Area) was done away with to help create the new Red tenure and the provincial government didn’t want any complications in that process,” added Deane.

When the recreation area was abolished, it was replaced with a community consultation called the Nancy Greene Highlands Forest Management Plan, which again follows a very similar mandate to what FORR is proposing. When Red Resorts got their tenure, it was originally set to stretch most of the way to the junction with Highway Three, but was ultimately dialed back to the current Mt. Roberts to Mt. Plewman area. At that time, Red proposed a cat skiing tenure in the Old Glory alpine area which was denied after a community uprising. It was that cat skiing application which led to the formation of Friends of the Rossland Range in 2003. Next, Big Red Cats applied for a cat skiing tenure, again in the Old Glory Alpine, and again the community spoke out. Ultimately, a win-win situation came about as Big Red Cats moved across the highway. This move kept the Old Glory alpine area intact and also gave Big Red Cats more north-facing basins with better snow conditions.

That brings us up to 2009. With support from the municiaplity, stakeholders and a number of businesses in town, the FORR applied for a community tenure on approxiamatley 7,000 hectares, encompassing most of the Rossland Range not covered by the Red Resort or Big Red Cats tenures. The province rejected that proposal, saying that it “did not fit.” Suspicions were that the government was not in the business of creating tenures unless they were money-making tenures such as cat skiing or heli skiing operations.

Now the group is back at it again and beginning a new round, starting with an in depth community consultation program.

“There is really quite a history here,” added Deane. “ I called up Les Carter when we started this new effort and asked him if he had the energy to go one more round, and here we are.”

This most recent effort will work towards gaining official recognition of the Nancy Greene Pass area highcountry as a Designated Recreation Area under the mandate of the Minstry of Forests, similar to the designations managed by the Castlegar Nordic club at the Paulson Summit and the Kooteny Mountaineering Club in the Bonnington Range.

Starting with a series of workshops and public consultations, the group intends to present the government with a complete proposed agreement describing how the commuity wants to manage the Designated Recreation Area, particularly for winter recreation.

“This designated recreation area and the tenure within it would belong to the community, not the FORR. We are simply facilitating the community creating its plan on how we are going to protect the excellent recreational resource we have in the Rossland Range High Country,” explained Les Carter.

The aim is not to make the zone non-motorized or to limit forestry, but rather to work with all stakeholders to find ways in which people of all modes of transportation can enjoy the area together.

If you wish to get involved, the FORR would love to hear from you and invites everyone to their workshop on May 20th from 7:00-9:00 P.M. at the Miners' Hall.

“It’s not just an open house drop in and criticize," noted Carter. "It’s designed as a workshop. We’ll have a real game-plan for the evening laid out. People will go through maybe half a dozen stations where you can talk in a small group and discuss particular issues. It’s going to be fairly structured--a real working workshop."

FORR is also asking for the city’s assistance in the project as a large portion of the area lies within the city of Rossland’s municipal boundaries.

“We want the city to participate in the thinking process. What should this proposal say? What are the issues in question? And they are going to focus, I think, in particular on the watershed issues. As we carry on with the draft, we’d like the city to eventually sign off on it so we can go to the province and say, 'we have the backing of one of the major local municiaplities that hold zoning power over the area. They’d like to see it happen'. We want to do the same thing with the Regional District and Area B,” explained Deane.

Area B’s support will be critical to the plan as a large portion of the land also resides in that jurisdiction.

Among the issues the FORR are facing and want support, ideas and thoughts on are balancing use and protecion, recognizing economic values, addressing parking and access, glading and brushing, managing the day use cabins and shelters, working in Rossland’s watershed, resolving potential conflicts between recreational users and deciding on the size and scope of the designated recreation area.

All of those issues have some contentious sides to them. The FORR believes, however, that there is a road forward and that it's possible to meet the needs of all of the stakeholders involved.

The ultimate goal, of course, is to make sure that residents and visitors to the area can still get out into 7000 hetcares of unspoiled backcountry and enjoy themselves.

It’s an effort 70 plus years in the making. If you want to get involved in this historic effort, turn up at the meeting May 20th at the Miners' Hall.