Dear Editor:
I am responding to a letter about the Jumbo issue that appeared in your March 4th edition. The writer claimed that the CORE process in the early 1990s designated that the Jumbo Valley best be used as a ski resort.
That is a distortion of the truth. What really came from the CORE table was that in polygon 15-17, which includes the Jumbo Valley/Upper Horsethief area, there should be no grazing, crop production, coal exploration, general industrial commercial, oil and gas exploration, consumptive use of water sheds, urban and rural settlement.
The CORE table could not reach a consensus regarding a resort within the Jumbo Valley. In 1994, that CORE report was sent to Stephen Owen in Victoria, who then wrote his recommendations in the form of the East Kootenay Land Use Plan. Because there was no clear consensus about Jumbo, Mr. Owen wrote in a compromise recommendation that if a resort was to be considered, there must be a provincial environmental assessment and local input. There was not a recommendation from Mr. Owen that the proposed Jumbo Resort be approved.
Jim Galloway
Brisco
