When BC Parks established Hole-in-the-Wall Provincial Park, they set aside 137 ha of land to protect this important geological feature.
Unfortunately, they forgot to include the actual Hole-in-the-Wall.
However, that was recently rectified, as BC Parks has added 14 ha to protect the resurgence spring that pops out from the base of a cliff.
The park is 160 km one way from Tumbler Ridge, along the Sukunka Forest Service Road. While there are a couple other such springs around the area (Big Spring near Kinuseo and the Imperial Creek Springs, for example), Hole-in-the-Wall is the best known of these features.
Prior to establishment as a provincial park, the area was a recreation site managed by Recreation Sites and Trails BC since the 1970s.
Last year, Chetwynd resident Brad Oakley started a petition on Change.org. “Somehow, and for whatever reason, when the Park Boundary was initially set, there was an oversite,” wrote Oakley. “The actual location of ‘The Hole In The Wall’ is not even in the Provincial Park! This has been known and talked about with locals as no big deal for years. The ‘Hole-In-The-Wall’ is only just outside the boundaries… no one would be stupid enough to disrupt it, right?”
According to a BC Parks, they are aware the Hole-in-the-Wall spring and cave feature is located outside of the Park boundary. “It appears that an administrative error was made when the Park was established in not ensuring that the Hole-in- the-Wall feature was located within the Park boundary,” writes Andrea Somerville, BC Parks Planning Officer for the Omineca Peace region. “An area of land, surrounding the feature, has been identified for a proposed park addition to rectify the issue. BC Parks is proposing an addition of approximately 16 ha of land to the western portion of Hole-in-the-Wall Provincial Park.”
In the end, it will be 14 ha of land that added to the park when the legislation introduced last week finally passes.
Hole-in-the-Wall is one of a number of parks that will be expanding with this round of legislation. These additions are designed to increase protection for wildlife habitat, wetlands and bolster the natural legacy of existing parks.
“People’s desire to interact with nature has never been greater. Parks provide the opportunity to connect with nature and strengthen our physical and mental well-being,” said George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. “We continue to look for opportunities to add ecologically and culturally significant lands to our diverse parks system, and expand opportunities for outdoor recreation.”
The largest addition is 123 ha, to protect wetland and sand dunes around Naikoon provincial park on Haida Gwaii.
Other parks seeing additions are Blue River Black Spruce Park near Blue River), Edge Hills Park near Clinton, Valhalla Park near Slocan, Okanagan Mountain Park near Kelowna, Gladstone Park near Christina Lake, Purcell Wilderness Conservancy Park near Kaslo, Christina Lake Park, Kootenay Lake Park and Gladstone Park.
There are also other boundary modifications to correct administrative errors and address safety issues at Burnt Cabin Bog Ecological Reserve, Big White Mountain Ecological Reserve, West Arm Park and Omineca Park.
However, while the new boundaries will protect the actual spring, it does not protect the limestone and granite ridge that Hole-in-the-Wall occupies. Oakley says he is trying to talk to government about the issue, but fears it is too late for the areas outside the new expansion, as permits for this activity have been approved. He’s worried a new limestone mine just outside the park might disrupt the underground aquifer, destroying the actual spring. “I searched for over and hour to see where this additional 14 hectares are going to be added.” Says Oakley. “In my estimation they will add the area in a unimportant place, just so they can stand up and say ‘hey, we did something’. When we finally got them to move the park boundary to include the actual feature, the clearly moved it only enough to allow the quarry to proceed. I plan to go up there next weekend to record the damage that has been done.”
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
