ACTION ALERT!
Hand-write a letter to the Mountain Resorts Branch,
the Ministry of Forests & Ministry of Environment:
Mountain Resorts Branch
Victoria Office:
PO BOX 9852 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria BC V8W 9T5
Kamloops Office:
510-175 2nd Avenue
Kamloops, BC V2C 5W1
Honourable Katrine Conroy
Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations
and Rural Development
PO Box 9049 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, BC V8W 9E2
Honourable George Heyman
Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
PO Box 9047 Stn Prov Govt
Rm 112, Parliament Buildings
Victoria BC, V8W9E2
The proposed Crown land tenure for the resort town covers almost the entire area of slopes in the above photograph. Fish and Bear Lakes at the bottom lie close outside the proposal.
Along the scenic Highway 31A, between New Denver and Kaslo, a developer has proposed a luxury resort for skiing and mountain biking, with a capacity for 1,750 guests a day. Gondolas would carry up to 1,500 guests a day onto London and Whitewater Ridges.
The whole area is prime grizzly bear and mountain goat habitat, and is frequently used by many residents of the region for noncommercial recreation. It also supports several commercial tourism businesses, although on a far smaller scale than the proposed Zincton Resort.
A wildlife impact assessment by registered professional biologist and grizzly bear expert Wayne McCrory has found that the project will significantly diminish, and could eventually wipe out, three provincially blue-listed species: grizzly bears, mountain goats and wolverines. Western toads would also suffer increased mortalities.
Grizzly bear viewing in Whitewater Valley, within the Zincton application for Crown land tenure.
LETTERS URGENTLY NEEDED!
Download the wildlife impact assessment by Wayne McCrory.
Download the VWS submission to government.
Key points from the VWS submission.
Update: March 10, 2021
Click here to read Valhalla Wilderness Society’s Reply to Zincton Proponent’s “Summary of Public Comments and Preliminary Response”
Update: Winter, 2021/2022
In absence of an Environmental Impact Assessment and despite the many voices of local people and scientists in opposition, Zincton Farms Inc. has been allowed by the province to progress with a formal proposal after the first public comment period. Valhalla Wilderness Society made a submission in response to the Formal Proposal and commissioned grizzly bear expert Dr. Brian Horejsi to review the proposal and make a submission to government.
Click here to read Valhalla Wilderness Society’s Submission to Government on
the Formal Proposal for an All Seasons Resort at Zincton.
Click here to read Dr. Brian Horejsi’s review of the proposal and submission to the BC government.
Click here to read “Western Toads, Their Migration and Mortalities in Relation to Three Forks, Zincton and London Ridge,” by VWS biologist Amber Peters and Wayne McCrory, RPBio.
Click here to read the November 12 publication: “The Dark Shocking Side of Ski Resort Economics.”