Fernie city council has agreed to enter into discussion with Elk Valley Regional Land Trust regarding the purchase of recreational trails on a parcel of land along Fernie's west slope.
Land Trust executive director Kevin LaRoche appeared before council on Oct. 22 to propose the City purchase recreational trails on land that would serve as a wildlife corridor, and preserve and protect animal and plant species from development and industrial activity.
While council did not agree to support the proposal, it did indicate interest in continuing discussions with the Land Trust to learn more about it and for the city to bring back a report to council before the end of the year.
Opinion was somewhat divided, with councillors Hamilton, Nixon, Shoesmith and McIsaac agreeing to continue conversation with the Trust and councillors Ramadass and Audia-Kelly voting against moving forward with it. Mayor Milligan was away at the time, but Shoesmith was serving as deputy mayor on the date of the meeting.
The Trust is currently aiming to purchase the Alpine Trail Lands on Fernie's west slope for conservation from EK Land Corp. The area encompasses Fairy Creek Falls, Mt. Fernie and Mt. Proctor. It is one of 16 parcels of land on Fernie's west slope that the Trust is interested in acquiring to create a wildlife connectivity corridor and protect animals on their migratory route from Banff to the U.S. LaRoche said the Trust would be willing to negotiate an agreement with landowners, if they do not wish to sell.
The Trust has reached an agreement in principle with owner EK Land Corp. to purchase the land for $7 million and it's currently focused on raising money to meet this goal with $2.6 million gathered so far via the federal government and a donation from EK Land Corp. It was previously engaged in discussion with a senior conservancy to contribute $3.6 million to the project, but this fell through, so it's now focusing on engaging with other organizations. LaRoche said the conservancy cannot be named while discussion is still ongoing.
The Trust must find a way to raise the money by Jan. 17, otherwise it will lose federal funding.
LaRoche said the Trust's plan is to sell the recreational trails on the land to the City as "linear parks," once it acquires it. This would allow the city to waive property taxes on the land.
He also proposed an agreement be drawn up so the Trust can maintain the trails on the city's behalf for a yearly fee.
Councillor Kyle Hamilton said he's interested in continuing conversations with the Trust.
"Sustainability and future-proofing our community is one of the core tenants of my philosophy and why I ran for council," he said.
"We as humans need to start being aware that we're not the only animals living in this valley and that if we don't protect corridors for them to migrate through, they're just going to end up coming through town," he added. "Then we end up with all sorts of additional problems with human wildlife conflicts."
Hamilton said he's keen on discussing conservation and access to the land. He also mentioned he'd like to get a few legal opinions to find out if the City would be liable for any injuries sustained by recreationists using the trails before agreeing to purchase.
Councillor Harsh Ramadass voted not to move ahead with discussion, stating that he hasn't gotten a sense on whether or not the greater public supports the wildlife corridor yet, particularly the recreation community.
"If you have something that is going to be an intergenerational type of transaction, better spend time with all the user groups, build a grassroots movement, get some consensus in the Elk Valley," he explained.
Ramadass compared the proposal to other local projects and initiatives that had major "grassroots" community backing, like the quest to build a temporary fieldhouse to replace the Fernie Community Centre and the opposition to the Galloway developments.
"The fieldhouse is my gold standard," he said. "When they came in front of the staff, I had literally 50 to 60 pages worth of support from user groups. There was a bunch of people who had endorsed it. I need to see that kind of commitment from the community for me to even entertain the possibility of using taxpayer's money."
He said that while he's not against sustainable projects like the wildlife corridor, he wants to ensure that all community groups have a say in the discussion, including ATVers and hunters.
LaRoche said one of the reasons he came before council, was to gauge public interest in the project.
"This is effectively a wildlife bypass around the city. It's going to have a significant and very beneficial effect on the city's future, but that's not just for us to decide," said LaRoche. "We need to make sure that other groups in the city have an opportunity to look at the proposal, assess it and hopefully support it."
The Trust has board representation from a number of local community groups including Elk Valley Conservancy, Fernie Trails Alliance, Elk River Alliance, Coal Creek Heritage Society, Wildsight, Fernie Alpine Resort, Fernie Mountain Bike Club, and Fernie Trails and Ski Touring Club. But LaRoche said he'd like to hear from more people in the business and tourism sectors too.
"This is a proposal about trails, who owns them, where they are. That's as much an economic issue as it is a conservation issue," he said.
For now, conversation will continue between the Trust and the City.
