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TheReview Wednesday, January 31,1990 — A19

Report: Saanich Inlet’s ecology, beauty worth protecting

INLET AREA MAY be partially developed, but waters still need

protecting, society report says.

by Keith Norbury
The Cowichan News-Leader

Security for its ecology and
esthetic beauty would be the over-
riding advantage of turing Saa-
nich Inlet into a national park
reserve, according to a Saanich
Inlet Protection Society proposal.

The 20-page proposal, dated
August 1989, also lists a dozen

e peripheral advantages including:
° protecting native fishing rights;
. © prohibiting activity which
would threaten marine life;
* protecting its cultural, historical
and archaeological resources;
e stimulating the economy, partic-
ularly recreation and tourism;
« formation of an advisory com-
mittee, which would consult regu-
larly with local government,
resource users, and the public.
The report’s authors saw no
significant disadvantages.
“Some would see it as a disad-
aad vantage that local governments
would be relinquishing jurisdic-
tion over the waters of the Inlet,”
the proposal states. But it then
notes that local governments have
little jurisdiction seaward of the
high-tide line anyway.
The Central-Saanich-based pro-
. tection society is hosting an all-

day workshop Saturday in North
Saanich to further explore the
proposal. Among those making
presentation will be representa-
tives of the Mill Bay-based Saa-
nich Inlet Enhancement Society
and the Cowichan Valley Regional
District. The First Nations of
South Island Tribal Council and
representatives from Parks Canada
will also attend.

The enhancement society, which
has about 100 members, endorses
the proposal without any reserva-
tion says president Lena Lee.

“Saanich Inlet is no place for
heavy industry,’ she said.

Bnan Harrison, the regional dis-
trict’s Mill Bay director, said the
proposal “has potential, but I’m
not sure what they are after is the
national park route.”

Harrison says the Inlet is already
too developed, particularly on the
Saanich Peninsula, to qualify for
park status.

“Really, a park to me conjures
images of a pristine area that has
no development.”

He says another way to protect
the inlet would be to have the
provincial government revive the
recreational preserve, which was
in place from 1947 until about
three years ago. Harrison said the

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province rescinded the order in
council because it felt local gov-
ermment zoning bylaws were
already accomplishing that objec-
tive.

Protection society chairman
Arlene Box agreed a national park
reserve isn’t the only solution. A
sports fishing reserve or ecological
Teserve might also work.

“What we have to do is come to
some consensus,’ she said, to
decide “whether we are satisfied
to let it haphazardly move along.”

The protection society’s pro-
posal itself points out that to
qualify for national park status, a
marine area “must have experi-
enced minimum modification by
man, or if significant modification
has occurred, (at) must have the
potential for restoration to a more
natural state.”

Barry Olsen, of the Canadian
Parks Service, said determining
that would depend on what
changes industry had made on the
inlet.

“It would appear changes are
not that great,” he said. “So it
would probably qualify under that
criteria.”

Cabinet has a mandate to estab-
lish a national marine park in each
geographic region in the country.

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workshop generically about estab-
lishing national marine park pre-
serves.

Lee said the proposed area
encompasses the inlet below the
high-tide mark only.

Continued on Page A20

Saanich Inlet lies within Marine
Region 5, better known as the
Strait of Georgia. Olsen cautioned,
however, that the park service
hasn’t even begun to identify park
candidates within that region.

He will be speaking to the

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