Caving mayor wants law to protect his village's subterranean wonders
Mayor Martin Davis says caves are highly sensitive ecosystems threatened by industrial activity
Cave explorers in Tahsis, B.C., on Vancouver Island are hoping the province will create legislation to protect caves from development — and one of those cavers happens to be the mayor of the village.
Martin Davis, the mayor of Tahsis and a cave researcher, is putting forward a motion at this year's Union of B.C. Municipalities Convention asking the province to create a Caves Protection Act.
NDP MLA Scott Fraser introduced a private members bill on cave protection in 2016 when his government was the official opposition, but the bill wasn't put to a vote by the government. He introduced a similar bill in 2010 as well.
Davis says it is very important to have this kind of legislation.
"[The caves] are a unique environment," he said. "They have sediments in them ... deposited over hundreds of thousands or even millions of years and they contain records of climate change over that period."
There are caves all over the province, but Davis says Tahsis is a "caving mecca" where cavers from around the world come to explore and research the caves.
Part of the reason why there are such extensive cave systems on Vancouver Island is because of the high rainfall which dissolves the limestone more rapidly, Davis said.
Not only do the caves store ancient information in their layered sediment, they are home to rare species.
For instance, a new insect was discovered in a limestone cave near Port Alberni recently.
Davis says the main threats to caving are development and other practices like road building, blasting, and logging.
He says protecting the caves — which only take up a small percentage of land in the province — won't be a huge impediment to development, but would make a huge difference to protecting a very sensitive environment.
"If they're not protected they can be easily destroyed and they're irreplaceable."
If the motion passes at this year's UBCM, it will still be up to the provincial government to push through the legislation.
Listen to the interview with Martin Davis on CBC's All Points West:
With files from All Points West