By Steve Hubrecht
[email protected]
The Columbia Valley Recreation Planning Initiative (CVRPI) is seeking public input in helping to develop a recreation strategy for the Steamboat Mountain area.
Backcountry recreation has long been a contentious issue in virtually every part of B.C., and the Columbia Valley is no exception, with regular controversies breaking out over trail use, environmental protection, and recreation user group conflicts. Several attempts have been made during the past decade and a half to bring some kind of organization to backcountry recreation here in the valley, through an overarching plan, most recently about four or five years ago with the Columbia Valley Recreation Access Management Plan (CV RAMP), but none of these efforts have yet come to fruition, and the Columbia Valley currently does not have a bona fide umbrella recreation strategy.
It is precisely this gap that the CVRPI is trying to fill, and instead of trying to come up with a single-valley wide plan all at once, the initiative is taking a step-by-step approach, concentrating first on one specific part of the valley, then eventually moving on to others.
The first area the CVRPI is looking at is the Steamboat Mountain area, which lies to the north and west of Radium Hot Springs, stretching from there up to the north of Edgewater, centred on the eponymous Steamboat Mountain. It was chosen first because it is the site of quite a lot of backcountry recreation, almost all of it unmanaged, and because it contains important wildlife habitat and environmentally sensitive areas.
As an initial step, the initiative has launched an online survey on recreation use, issues, impacts, stewardship and management.
“We are seeing increasing recreation pressures in the Columbia Valley. It’s time to be proactive about safeguarding the core values that make this region an exceptional destination for a wide range of outdoor recreation activities,” said initiative co-chair and Village of Radium Mayor, Clara Reinhardt, in a press release. Many of these pressures have been heightened by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has prompted more people than ever to get outdoors.
The Steamboat area includes six public recreation sites (with a total of 15 campsites), as well as many informal campsites (especially near Radium), the designated Forster Creek Trail winter recreation trail (managed by the Windermere Valley Snowmobile Society), some 17 kilometres of unauthorized non-motorized trails (often used by mountain bikers), 81 kilometres of unauthorized single-track motorized trails used by dirt bikers, and five kilometres of double-track trails used by ATVs.
A total of 84 per cent of the Steamboat area (28,000 hectares) is classified as an ungulate winter range, used during the winter by local ungulate species such as elk, deer, and moose. The world famous Columbia River Wetlands runs through the Steamboat area, and there are also five species at risk with important habitat in the area.
In 2021, an advisory committee, comprised of local residents, recreation users, environment and conservation representatives, ranchers, and private landholders in the Steamboat area was formed to help guide the CVRPI’s Steamboat planning efforts.
“What’s unique about this initiative is that it is a collaborative, community-led planning process. There are many different perspectives around the table, and one of our goals is to respect and balance the needs of different users of our public lands,” said initiative co-chair and Brisco resident, Adrian Pery.
The survey runs from Thursday, Jan. 27 to Wednesday, Feb. 16. It can be completed online at surveymonkey.com/r/CVRPI-Steamboat or by visiting columbiavalleyrecreation.ca/engage and the following the prompts. You can also send in comments by email to [email protected].
