The Valhalla Wilderness Society is mounting a renewed push to create a new park that would link the southern end of Glacier National Park with Goat Range Provincial Park located to the south of Trout Lake.

Citing preservation of old growth forest in the the Incomappleux Valley south of Glacier National Park, as well as the preservation of mountain caribou and other flora and fauna, the New Denver-based environmental group is seeking either provincial or federal park status to prevent further logging, mining exploration, IPP proposals and other types of commercial activity in the area.

Representatives from the environmental group led opposition provincial NDP MLAs on a day trip to the Incomappleux Valley on Oct. 16. Opposition critic for intergovernmental affairs Guy Gentner and deputy opposition critic for environment Michael Sather joined a small party that toured areas of lowland rainforest, where they took in highlights including massive trees and observed species of rare lichens with Austrian lichenologist Toby Spribille.

Valhalla Wilderness Society executive director Daniel Sherrod says the proposed park plan is science-based and seeks to create connectivity between the parks, saying that “island parks” can’t preserve genetic diversity because they parcel species out in patches. Sherrod says that in addition to connectivity between conservation areas on the map, the mountain caribou also need vertical continuity of habitat ranging from the lowlands to the alpine to accommodate their seasonal migrations up and down the mountains.

He says the focus on the Incomappleux can be seen as a next step in preserving mountain caribou habitat following the the implementation of the Mountain Caribou Recovery Plan which was first announced in 2007 (after years of work and study) and then implemented in March of this year. Sherrod said the plan focused on alpine and sub-alpine areas, often to the exclusion of lowland rainforest such as the Incomappleux valley region.

Sherrod also says that time is of the essence, noting that active cut-blocks have been laid out in the area. Forest company Interfor is the primary license holder in the area, but has been virtually inactive since it took over TFL 23 from bankrupt Pope & Talbot last year. Sherrod said that activity in the area had been heating up prior to a massive rock fall in November of 2006 that smashed a vulnerable section of the service road into the area, completely cutting off road access, putting an effective stop to physical logging and mining exploration plans in the valley. The global economy has meant next to no industrial activity in the area since.

The park proposal laid out by the Valhalla Wilderness Society covers vast swaths of land in the Central Selkirk range, and the area defined as the Incomappleux is only a small portion of the overall plan as presented.

Sherrod said the Valhalla Wilderness Society had tried to raise the issue with the provincial government, but had had no recent success getting to the table with their plans.

In the end, protecting the habitat through a park designation is the goal, said Sherrod. “We don’t care if the federal government, or the province does [it]. We like park protection because, so far, it has the best protection,” said Sherrod. “You’ll notice that if you look at the caribou recovery protection, it’s protecting not cutting the trees but roading and mining and everything else is a go -- power projects, and that really breaks up the habitat. That’s an issue. That’s not parks protection.”

Contacted by telephone, intergovernmental affairs critic Guy Getner said during his visit he was struck with the beauty of the Incomappleux, saying that a will to preserve the area was needed. “In particular, when you look at some of the ancient rainforests -- I was very impressed by these trees,” said Gentner. “They were quite remarkable. I think there has to be a will by the politicians in particular that this inland ancient rainforest is preserved.”

Gentner said he felt the idea of extending Glacier National Park would likely lead to resistance at the federal level, saying a provincial park designation was probably the way to go.

Gentner cited his experience helping to preserve Burns Bog, which is located in the Lower Mainland district municipality of Delta. He said the process is a complex one that requires buy-in from stakeholders and said the process would also involve lots of negotiation.

Opposition Forests critic Norm Macdonald (Columbia River – Revelstoke) avoided answering whether he directly supported the position expressed by Genter. “The impression I had was that it was sort of a spectacular area and that it’s an area that I think is under a degree of protection now,” said Macdonald, saying he wasn’t completely briefed on the maps and the varying levels of existing protection such as areas currently designated as ungulate winter range.

When asked about the impact the move to create a provincial park would have on the forest industry in the area, Macdonald said that any planning would have to be laid out clearly, be based on science and take the full spectrum of values into consideration. “I think that there’s no question that Guy was impressed with the area, but before ... I’d be laying out the position, I’d be looking at a whole bunch of factors, and anything, any plans that we would have would be things that would be laid out well before the election so that people would be clear on it.”

In the end, it was a tour by MLAs holding opposition portfolios, as opposed to those from the party in power. If the opposition NDP is to pursue the plan to create a provincial park, the next likely step would be to raise the issue in Victoria.

Given that the government just announced that the Mountain Caribou Recovery Plan had been implemented earlier this year, it seems doubtful that there will be another effort to preserve more in the near term, leaving either waiting for the next election, or mounting a successful public campaign supporting the creation of a park as the two alternatives available to proponents for the time being.