Sts’ailes says negligence, insufficient funding caused sudden campground closures in West Harrison

STS’AILES — Sts’ailes says five campgrounds remain closed in West Harrison due to danger trees that have yet to be felled by the B.C. government, and have now cited “years” of challenges in the recreation site and trail industry in the province as a major reason why.

On Monday, April 27, the Chehalis River, Grace Lake, Twenty Mile Bay, Weaver Lake, and Wood Lake campgrounds were ordered to remain closed for safety reasons by Recreation Sites & Trails BC (RSTBC).

The order mentioned 400 danger trees in the area without mentioning where they are, adding that an “entire campground will need to be closed until [they] are able to treat the area and remove the trees.”

“The decision by the Province to wait until now–when the camping season is well underway–to inform us that it identified trees that could be dangerous is deeply concerning, frustrating, and costly,” said Sts’ailes in an earlier statement.

Sts’ailes has been managing six recreation sites on the west side of Harrison Lake for the past 15 years, but said the band has had “almost no support” from RSTBC since it took stewardship of the land.

“These closures are a direct result of insufficient funding available to RSTBC and years of negligence,” Morgan Ritchie, heritage and environment manager with Sts’ailes. “So even when we are able to reopen campgrounds, we may continue to face challenges until the Province places more value on recreation in British Columbia.”

The province mentioned that work to remove the trees is set to begin next week, and the band is hoping to start opening by next weekend, May 9 and 10.

A petition has been launched calling on the province to reopen the sites. It had 1,256 signatures at the time of writing.