South Chilcotin Mountain Park...comments required

great work lee, agree with all points, except it may be unwise to question how they plan to police the new restrictions - could be interpreted as a threat that we'll ignore the restrictions (which many likely will).

i personally prefer to pedal in, and love the new backcountry hut system especially, but it would be unfortunate to loose float plane access for those who prefer to shuttle in. more importantly, without dale (and crew) up there doing spring cleaning, some trails will become unrideable fairly quickly.

more importantly, without dale (and crew) up there doing spring cleaning, some trails will become unrideable fairly quickly.

So true it is worth restating.

E-mail from Dale received this morning:

All of us at Tyax Adventures pride ourselves in the services we offer you and the friendships we make along the way. We want you to come visit us and enjoy the South Chilcotin Mountains in the future. Unfortunately, your use of our services and your freedom to travel the park is at risk.

Why? Most of our business is conducted in the South Chilcotin Mountains and Big Creek Parks. A draft management plan for these parks has been presented by BC Parks for comment until the end of May. Simply put, if this plan is implemented as written, there will be drastic changes if you like to mountain bike or fly a float plane in the parks.

Here are a few details of the draft:
It segregates recreating by bicycle from other forms of recreation and imposes bicycle only restriction. For example; closing the Lick Creek Trail for the use of a commercial horse operator only, It also suggests bicycling in the park be allowed only 3 days per week.
The draft plan proposes to limit Float plane access to the park to after 9:00 am - this would make landing at Warner Lake improbable. Flights could also be restricted to 2-3 days per week only.
Within the draft park plan, ensuring a healthy population of Mountain Goats, Big Horn Sheep and Grizzly Bear recovery is a primary objective and is a priority over recreation and tourism. Restrictions to recreation are suggested within the park to support animal populations, while hunting of Sheep and Goat will continue in the Park and hunting of Grizzly Bears will continue adjacent to the parks.
It is proposed that the popular campground at the north end of Spruce Lake is closed.
If the draft plan is implemented, there will certainly be a reduction of access for you, and a reduction of services available from us at Tyax Adventures. The restrictions will result in, at minimum; an increase in aircraft charter rates, or worse case; it no longer being viable for an airplane to be based in the area. The draft plan will have a devastating effect on the local tourism economy of the Bridge River Valley.

Float plane transportation and mountain biking have historically been under represented within the park system. I believe that a management plan can be created where all recreationalists are treated fairly and that wildlife, tourism and recreation can flourish together in the park. We plan to present an alternate plan to BC Parks soon and hope that you support it.

You can read the BC Parks draft here: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/planning/mgmtplns/lillooet/background-documents/big-creek_south-chilcoltin/sc-mtns[HTML_REMOVED]big-crk-draft-mp.pdf

You can provide comment here: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/planning/mgmtplns/lillooet/lillooet-dmp-online-comments.html

If you have any questions regarding this and would like to discuss, please fell free to email me at the address below.

Thank you.

Dale Douglas
President/Operations Manager

TYAX ADVENTURES
SLWA / Tyax Air Service Ltd.
Located at Tyax Resort and Spa
Goldbridge, BC

deadline extended to end of may! fire some heat!

I would almost bet my hard earned dollars that they extended the deadline to try to get more non-mtn-biker responses in support of their plan.

Article in the Georgia Strait this week about Chilcotin [HTML_REMOVED] Cariboo riding, and a mention about the draft plan:

Cyclists gear up for summer in Cariboo Chilcotin's biking mecca
http://www.straight.com/life/630751/cyclists-gear-summer-cariboo-chilcotins-biking-mecca

Don't forget to submit your comments on the draft plan.

Discussion about the draft plan is here:
http://bb.nsmb.com/showthread.php?t=159056

NSMB article written by LeeL on the draft plan and issues:
http://nsmb.com/south-chilcotin-mountain-bike-access-jeopardy/#disqus_thread

NSMB article written by LeeL on the draft plan and issues:
http://nsmb.com/south-chilcotin-mountain-bike-access-jeopardy/#disqus_thread

Reminder that the South Chilcotin Mountains Park and Big Creek Park Management Plan - Public Review Draft comments window closes May 30th.

If you want to continue riding in these parks, your input is very important.

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/planning/mgmtplns/lillooet/lillooet_mp.html

Done

Just found this FMCBC Response to South Chilcotin and Big Creek Provincial Parks Draft Plans.

Seems they don't like mtn bikes very much and want to keep the parks hikers and horses. Interesting since a lot of hikers use bikes to access trail heads at the end of decommissioned forestry roads.

http://mountainclubs.org/documents/2014/05/fmcbc-response-to-south-chilcotin-provincial-parks.pdf

Just found this FMCBC Response to South Chilcotin and Big Creek Provincial Parks Draft Plans.

Seems they don't like mtn bikes very much and want to keep the parks hikers and horses. Interesting since a lot of hikers use bikes to access trail heads at the end of decommissioned forestry roads.

http://mountainclubs.org/documents/2014/05/fmcbc-response-to-south-chilcotin-provincial-parks.pdf

so many misinformed and misguided comments.

I've never met any users that expressed issues with conflict.

But I think there is an inherent conflict between the outfitters - air lifting cyclists for the gun cr descent isn't very compatible with horse outfitters whose guests are paying for a certain kind of wilderness experience.