J. OCEAN DENNIE
The provincial government remains “tight-lipped” about its plans to punch a road through the Sooke Hills Wilderness Regional Park, specifically through the Niagara Creek watershed. Within this park, there are pockets of rare Douglas fir old-growth, some over eight feet in diameter. It also acts as a critical wildlife habitat for elk, deer, cougars, bears and wolves.
Many concerned citizens have already expressed their opposition to this bad idea, demanding that there be no new or significantly enhanced roadway through any part of the Sooke Hills, whether it is the regional park or any of the adjoining Capital Regional District-protected land.
A hard fight to conserve this slice of paradise for so many outdoor enthusiasts, tourists and all our more-than-human friends was waged in the 1990s by an earlier generation of wilderness advocates who recognized the value of wildlife allowed to flourish of its own accord.
Don’t trash this legacy. In the midst of climate emergency, we cannot destroy more forests for highways, leading to more suburban sprawl. We need strong leadership among elected officials.
These lands also act as extremely effective buffer zones for our pristine water supply, so much so that we are the envy of other regions worldwide that must spend millions of dollars treating and disinfecting their water. Why would we want to mess with that? The proposed highway skirts so close to these zones, it is extremely troubling. With a potentially dangerous increase in vehicle traffic through this area, we also run the risk of an increase in wildfires, which would also threaten the water supply.
As a region, we also need to divert more funding to the CRD land-acquisition fund so even more land can be conserved for our great-grandchildren. This is an investment in future generations — a tangible, meaningful legacy to bequeath.
In 2007, a report was commissioned by the provincial government to study alternative traffic options. Sound familiar? This Stantec report found numerous reasons why the Niagara Creek watershed is a no-go, including destruction of environmentally sensitive areas, threats to rare and endangered species, and disturbances to archeological sites. Why is taxpayer money now being wasted on another study that would mirror the original findings?
The other thing about all this is that there’s already an alternative route. The Pacific Marine Route is not perfect, it takes a long time, but it is in fact, a viable route. Just as we are similarly inclined to tolerate full or cancelled ferries as the price to pay for living on an island, can we not put up with a few extra hours to get home now and then?
Instead of another highway, a thorough review of the Malahat’s traffic and crash data is needed, to learn where and how the crashes are happening and to redouble our efforts to make the decent highway we already have much safer for all of us.
From what we understand so far, however, the Malahat is no more dangerous than other highways of comparable traffic volume. One safety suggestion that comes to mind is placing concrete barriers as medians between oncoming lanes throughout the entire Malahat — when a crash takes place and one side of the highway is blocked, one of the barrier panels could be removed to facilitate two-way traffic on the other side that escaped the effect of the crash. This is done elsewhere, so why not here?
The bottom line is that there are options: Whether it is the E&N Rail line, a rapid-transit lane along the Malahat or a second ferry with continuous crossings across Saanich Inlet, let’s work together, employing solutions instead of just saying no.
Let’s shift from desecrating more forest to developing a sensible and visionary transportation plan for the region — whatever that looks like — as this has not yet taken place on any public scale here on the south part of the Island in recent memory.
J. Ocean Dennie lives in Colwood.
