Lions Bay trailheads closure remains in place through the long weekend
While there was hope for the Village of Lions Bay to reopen trailheads and parking to popular hiking routes in the area; on Thursday, the council voted to keep the closure in place.
The trailheads and public parking were closed last week to reduce wildfire risk, which meant hikers couldn’t enjoy the Tunnel Bluffs or access harder routes, including the West Lion, Brunswick Mountain, and Mount Harvey.
The decision to restrict access to public trails has been widely criticized.
Hikers said the move was unjustified, especially given that restricting hiking has never been recommended by the BC Wildfire Service or other public safety agencies.
However, areas have been closed to the public in the past due to wildfire risks.
“We hiked the Lions this week, where conditions were exactly the same as the Grouse Grind and Seymour Watershed – grounds for caution, but certainly not closure,” R Benson wrote Daily Hive in an email. He was planning a protest hike “simply on principle” once the smoke cleared.
Other hikers noted Lions Bay has a history of using public emergencies to restrict access to nature near the village.
“People of Lions Bay live in expensive houses and feel they own the area while beaches and trails belong to the people of BC,” Gary Parsons wrote. “Lions Bay took advantage of COVID-19 to close its beaches and trails to [the] public in the past. This has to stop.”
The trails travel through Crown land and connect to others in Cypress Provincial Park, but the parking at the trailheads is controlled by the municipality.
During the council meeting, Councillor Marcus Reuter said that given there has not been enough rainfall over the past few days, he does not feel weather conditions have changed enough to reopen the area.
“We are not yet in the wet season that we wish to be in and I just remind everybody last fall was very, very dry into October. That’s not the case here. But I see that the danger is still very, very present. I am concerned about the water supply as well. And, of course, the effect on our watershed should something happen,” he said.
The closure remains in place and will be reviewed at the next meeting.
“I think that the wise move is to keep this in place,” Reuter said.
Several other popular hiking routes have also been closed to the public this month for various reasons. The two First Nations whose territory on which Joffre Lakes Provincial Park lies shut off public access on short notice last week for a harvest celebration, and a public forest in Mission was also closed due to wildfire risk.
On Thursday, the province announced that Joffre Lake Provincial Park would reopen after a mutual agreement was reached between the ministry and the Lil’wat and N’Quatqua First Nations — which is good news for visitors hoping to check it out for the long weekend.
But following Labour Day, the park will then close again temporarily to allow the two First Nations to harvest the land.
“The park will then be inaccessible for a three-day period starting Tuesday, September 5 as, together, we continue to chart out a plan that will provide space and privacy for cultural activities while ensuring public access to the park in a responsible and sustainable manner,” George Heyman, minister of environment and climate change strategy, said in a statement.
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