COPA President/CEO Kevin Psutka, along with Steve Nunn (BCFA
President, COPA Flight Captain), Dennis Popowich (BCFA Director) and Jerry Lloyd
(BCAC President) met with Parks Minister, Joyce Murray in her riding office on
February 21.
The purpose of the meeting was to seek her commitment for a top-down policy
regarding aircraft access to and over-flight of parks.
Eleven regional offices are drafting up management plans for the parks, covering
about 12 per cent of the entire province. The problem for aircraft is Section 27
of the Parks regulations, which states that aircraft are prohibited from all
parks unless prior permission is given.
This in turn causes the management effort to be one of general exclusion except
for some exceptions rather than what COPA wants - general access with some
negotiated exceptions.
In addition, some draft plans include over-flight restrictions such as, no
closer than two kilometres from any slope or valley floor. This is clearly
infringing on federal jurisdiction and Kevin Psutka formally notified the
Minister of this fact.
We are pleased to report that the Minister made a commitment to amending Section
27 within this year and she reacted strongly to COPA’s suggestion that her
Department may consider floatplanes to be an environmental issue.
It was good to hear her deny this because it will be useful if and when the
environmentalists push back.
COPA expects the next step will be a meeting in Victoria with the Minister’s
senior staff to develop the policy or guidelines for her staff.
COPA discovered at the meeting that John Block, who BCFA dealt with extensively
in the past and who was sympathetic to our cause, has rejoined the staff in a
more senior position after a period of absence. Following is the text of the
letter, which has been sent by the represented groups at the meeting.
The cooperation with and activity of the COPA Flight demonstrates the value of
COPA Flights. Even though COPA has full-time staff, this is a volunteer
organization and it is necessary for members to take a leading role on many
issues facing us across the country.
Letter to Minister Murray:
On behalf of the representatives of the BC Floatplane Association, Canadian
Owners and Pilots Association and the BC Aviation Council, I would like to thank
you for taking the time to meet with us on February 21.
We believe that substantive progress was made in establishing an understanding
of the needs of the aviation community for equal access to and over-flight of BC
Parks.
We were pleased to hear that you consider that aircraft are not an environmental
issue in Parks but rather it is an issue of a conflict of users. As an example,
you presented hikers who do not want to be disturbed.
We agree that all users should have equal access to Parks and we welcome the
opportunity to participate in an open dialogue in this respect.
Section 27 of the Parks Regulations is obviously unacceptable to us and we were
pleased that you committed to amending this Section within this year. We worked
extensively with John Block to develop a draft amendment and we are prepared to
work with him or other senior staff to finalize and implement the amendment at
their earliest convenience.
As discussed, we would like to continue our strong relationship with Parks staff
at the Provincial level. We have found it to be impractical, on the other hand,
to negotiate access issues on a region-by-region basis. Therefore, it is
essential that an overall policy or guidelines be developed for use by the
regions and we welcome the opportunity to assist your senior staff in developing
the framework for this policy.
You mentioned a concern regarding poaching that is apparently attributed to
aircraft. We share your concern and emphasize that perhaps individuals over whom
none of us has control are the culprits. BCFA was formed because our members are
passionate about protecting the wilderness for everyone’s enjoyment.
We offer you, in return for access to Parks, an airborne resource to observe and
report any unusual activity. In addition, we have already demonstrated on
several occasions that we help clean up abandoned sites in Parks and our code of
ethics includes cleaning up all sites, including garbage left by others.
Realistically, our aircraft provide the carrying capacity that other users, such
as hikers, do not have in this respect. Our commitment is to leave nothing more
than a brief wake in the water.
Our goal is for equal access for all users of the Parks, from healthy hikers and
kayakers, to the infirm who wish to enjoy the remote areas of BC.
If there are relatively few restrictions on where we can go, our aircraft will
use a particular lake very infrequently, thereby minimizing the impact on other
users. People who we talk to do not oppose, but instead welcome us to share the
Parks with them.
It is sometimes the vocal minority who are heard at the expense of the majority.
We hope you take this into account as we develop fair and equitable access
regulations.
COPA President/CEO Kevin Psutka