Paul H. Jones, 3563 West 32nd Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V6S 1Z1

Discovery's December 1994 article Caren Range, an ancient Canadian forest provided a map and described in some detail the major attributes of the ancient forests and the surrounding buffer zones around them as being eminently suitable for park status. That article stated

..." the major reasons for preserving the Caren are its priceless ancient forests, its unique wildlife, the important Marbled Murrelet habitat, and the hydrological importance of this area to the streams, lakes, and aquifers on both sides of the Caren. There is lots of room for winter sports, cycling trails, sightseeing, and picnicking in the area outside the old-growth forest... Many see it as a ready-made park, complete with roads which need little upgrading. Nowhere else in Canada is there a forest more deserving of protection."

Canada's first active nest was found on the Caren Range in August 1993. As well, tree stump growth rings in the adjacent clearcuts identified a yellow cedar at 1825 + years and a western hemlock at 1245 + years, both world records for those species. The sub-alpine forest and the series of small lakes within it is also breeding habitat for Vaux swifts, Barrow's goldeneyes, Mew gulls, four kinds of woodpeckers and other birds. Bear, cougar, the rare Bay lynx, black tailed deer and the reintroduced Roosevelt elk roam the slopes where berries are abundant at 1300 m in summer and the lower slopes provide browse in winter. Both slopes support salmon streams, those on the East still await rehabilitation after early logging. The West slope provides aquifers which feed community water systems and all the lakes of Pender Harbour including Ruby and Sakinaw Lakes.

The accompanying map shows three separate boundaries for the proposed park. The smallest boundary comprising 2825 hectares represents the Regional Public Advisory Committee's proposal to Cabinet, as recently released by the Provincial Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks. This area is too small to allow for recreation without seriously damaging Marbled Murrelet habitat.

The next largest area of 6000 hectares as proposed by Friends of Caren allows for both habitat preservation and a large range of recreational activities. This proposal would create BC's first shore-to-summit park and would link birds and animals with their marine and terrestrial habitats. Biodiversity would be preserved also from shore to summit in a continuous corridor.

The third boundary proposal of 8500 hectares was made by the Western Canada Wilderness Committee and supported by the Vancouver Natural History Society's Conservation and Education Committee in a unanimous resolution. Both groups acted on the need to bring some degree of balance to the Lower Mainland Region, knowing that the Sunshine Coast Forest District was seriously underrepresented in terms of parks and other protected areas.

Three separate Forest Districts make up the Lower Mainland Region. These are the Soo, the Fraser and the Sunshine Coast all with similar total areas of land but with vastly different areas set aside for protection. Under the new proposals put forward to Cabinet by the RPAC the Sunshine Coast would end up with only 3.5 percent protected while the other two Districts would each have some 18 percent of its area in parks and other set-asides. This is why WCWC and VNHS proposed 8500 hectares for the Caren.

At their September 12 meeting the VNHS Conservation and Education Committee again voted unanimously to have the Caren protected. The proposals of WCWC and VNHS will make it possible to create a brand new West Coast trail along Sechelt Inlet with the promise of Killer Whale watching and fine vistas into Narrows and Salmon Inlets. Here is an exciting opportunity for developing the potential of one of Canada's newest parks where wildlife and recreation can be carefully managed, with steady guidance from local naturalists and biologists. It is not too much to ask that the Government set aside 8500 hectares for the Caren. This would only raise the percentage of areas set aside for protection in the Sunshine Coast Forest District to 4.0 percent.

Both WCWC and FOC have placed the Caren and the Marbled Murrelets on the WWW. The Caren in now on the Internet. Our E-mail address is friends_of_caren@sunshine.net and our Web page address is: http://www.sunshine.net/www/700/sn0774/

Letters supporting the creation of a new park on the Caren should be addressed to: The Honorable Paul Ramsey, Minister of Environment, Lands and Parks, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, BC, V8V 1X4. Click here to see a sample letter and a mailto to the Minister.