Environmentalist Harry Nielsen points to a feature in the South Okanagan grasslands. Off-road vehicle users, he says, violate laws requiring them to stay on roads in the provincial park, sometimes engaging in “mud bogging” and the province doesn’t enforce the laws. He doesn’t want ATVs on the Osoyoos West Bench. (Richard McGuire file photo)
A handful of local environmentalists sat quietly through a recent meeting about the use of off-road vehicles on the Osoyoos West Bench.
Now they’re speaking up.
The March 11 meeting was held by the B.C. Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (FLNRO) to begin a dialogue about the environmental impact of off-roading on this ecologically sensitive area.
“They didn’t give us much of a chance to say anything,” said Doreen Olson, an environmentalist who lives in the White Lake Road area south of Kaleden and has been active in efforts to create a national park in the South Okanagan-Similkameen grasslands.
She said she came as an interested individual.
“We were there to listen and to hear,” said Olson. “It was supposed to be the province giving an overview of what they see.”
Most of the roughly 50 people attending the meeting were off-road vehicle enthusiasts and a number of them interrupted a presentation by FLNRO biologist Grant Furness to express their fear that the government is planning to close the areas where they like to ride.
Roslyn Cassells, who moved to Osoyoos from Vancouver last fall, came with a prepared statement condemning the environmental damage caused by off-roaders.
Although she asked at the start of the meeting for a chance to speak, she didn’t get that chance and ended up giving the ministry a written copy of her submission.
“I was afraid those guys from the ministry were going to get lynched or something,” Cassells said, referring to the testy tone of the meeting. “I would be scared to be in their shoes. It seemed very hostile.”
Cassells said she was disappointed that no one at the meeting spoke up for impacted animals or the environment.
Ministry staff, she said, presented some information about environmental concerns, but they have to stay neutral in the discussion.
“What ended up happening was people were giving verbal input, but in a sort of Lord of the Flies fashion where the biggest and loudest got the floor and the last word,” said Cassells. “I really feel that in a democracy we have to allow all the voices to be heard. Especially in Osoyoos, it’s such a precious place. It’s got all these wonderful creatures and ecosystems that don’t exist anywhere else. I was so at a loss to understand why people who grew up here don’t seem to have any understanding of the creatures in their midst, how they need to survive and the impact of their activities.”
At one point in the meeting, Cassells tried to speak up to say that if those in the audience loved nature so much, they should get off their ATVs and walk.
“I had about 10 guys in the room just about jump on me,” she said. “Most of the people in the room were able-bodied large men and they are able to walk.”
Harry Nielsen, who moved more than a year ago to Penticton from Kilpoola Estates, sat silently through the Osoyoos meeting despite usually having a lot to say on environmental issues.
“It appears to me that the people who spoke aren’t really aware of much,” said Nielsen, suggesting the off-roaders at the meeting are going onto land where they’re not allowed to go.
“They can’t just go anywhere,” he said. “And in the (provincial) park they’ve got to stay on the road.”
The land on Osoyoos West Bench is just a narrow strip, said Nielsen, and he doesn’t believe off-roaders are staying on this strip without crossing illegally into the park.
“It’s the most endangered place in Canada,” Nielsen said. “One third of the most endangered species live up there. The community is responsible for looking after this.”
Nielsen said off-road vehicle users engage in “mud bogging” around Kilpoola Lake. He’s also seen tire tracks on the mud flats around Blue Lake, which is in the provincial park, where motorized vehicles must stay on the roads.
The problem, he said, is that the province doesn’t enforce the laws preventing quads and four-wheel-drive vehicles from going off the road in the park.
At the recent meeting, FLNRO biologist Furness pointed out that the Osoyoos West Bench is at a lower elevation than the area in the provincial park. This means it has species of plants and animals that don’t live higher up the mountain.
Olson believes that off-road vehicle users should have a place where they can ride.
“On the other hand, I don’t think they should be allowed to just go wherever they want,” she said, pointing to the fragile nature of the ecosystem.
Cassells, however, takes a harder line, suggesting that ATVs should be banned from all public lands and should be heavily regulated elsewhere.
“It’s a recreational activity and my concern is that it’s a destructive one,” she said. “We need to promote positive ones. It’s not a safe sport, it’s not an accessible sport and kids don’t get any exercise doing it. They learn to disrespect the environment.”
Nielsen thinks off-roaders should be kept off the Osoyoos West Bench, but he questions whether this can realistically be enforced.
Olson said she attended a second meeting on the issue in Oliver the following night and found the off-road vehicle users more respectful at that meeting.
Bryn White, program manager at the South Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Program (SOSCP), acknowledged that changes were made to the format of the Oliver meeting after the experience in Osoyoos. White’s group was contracted by FLNRO to organize and publicize the meetings.
Questions were taken in a more orderly fashion at the second meeting so that people weren’t speaking at the same time as others and questions were kept to the end, she said.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
Grant Furness of the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations spoke to an audience of about 50 people in Osoyoos recently about the challenges to the environment posed by off-road vehicles on the Osoyoos West Bench. Many in the audience had their backs up, suspecting a government agenda to close areas they use for recreation, but Furness insisted he was just there to seek input. (Richard McGuire file photo)
