ATV groups push back on Fraser Valley gondola project as it awaits government approval

A proposal to build a gondola near Bridal Falls in B.C.'s Fraser Valley is receiving pushback from local motorized sports groups as the proposal awaits provincial approval.

The Cascade Skyline Gondola, formerly known as the Bridal Falls Gondola project, proposes to build a lift system to carry visitors in electrically-driven cable cars to a ridge 1,200 metres in elevation.

According to the Cascade Skyline website, eight-passenger cable cars would travel from a base where the Bridal Falls Golf Course is currently to a ridge six kilometres west of Mount Cheam.

The proposed location is in an area popular with outdoors enthusiasts including hikers, backcountry campers and ATV riders.

Four motorized recreation groups have written an open letter saying the project threatens to limit up to 80 per cent of motorized trail access on "high value public recreation opportunities" in the area. 

Fear over loss of access to forest service road

The groups say that the Chipmunk Forest Service Road, a key access road, is listed, by the proponent, to be blocked. 

"We are NOT in support of the current proposal; however, we are very interested in working with the proponent to find solutions to reduce the impacts to motorized sport," reads the letter signed by the ATVBC Quad Riders Association of B.C., the B.C. Off-Road Motorcycle Association, the B.C. Snowmobile Federation and the Four Wheel Drive Association of B.C.

However, the proponent behind the project, the Bridal Falls Gondola Corporation, claims on its website that "the project tenure has little impact on trails/roads in the [Chipmunk Creek] drainage." 

In an emailed statement written on behalf of the corporation, one of the proponent's leaders says that the project's application represents only 10 per cent of the Chipmunk Creek drainage land.

"We have been working together with the motorized associations on a plan that tries to address many different interests," wrote Jayson Faulkner, who was also the co-founder and former general manager of the Sea-to-Sky gondola project between Vancouver and Squamish.

He said the area has more than 20,000 hikers and non-motorized users each year.

The group representing motorized sports in the area said they last met with representatives from the Bridal Falls Gondola Corporation in October to share their concerns but have not had further discussions.

Faulkner said dialogue would continue and that he was "confident that proper and reasonable planning for this area will be an outcome of these discussions."

First Nation major investor in gondola project

Faulkner says decisions about the use of the remaining 90 per cent of the drainage area will be made by the various stakeholders led primarily by the Cheam First Nation and other First Nations, which have established traditional and cultural uses in the area.

The Cheam First Nation is a major investor in the project.

"We believe that this project reflects the values and long-term goals of Cheam First Nation," reads a statement by Chief Andrew Victor on the project website. "Its development will help create a sustainable local tourism-based economy for the region."

Endorsements

The Cascade Skyline gondola project has received letters of support from the District of Kent, the City of Chilliwack, and several other local tourism and outdoor recreation organizations.

It promises on its website to create more than 300 local jobs once built and bring in almost $20 million in annual tax revenues and tourism spending.

District of Kent mayor Sylvia Pranger hopes the revenue will bring an economic boost to the local agricultural community.

"Tourism is one of the diverse portfolios that we'd like to see enhanced in our area," she said. "We are an hour and a half from Vancouver [...] lots of visitors come to Vancouver looking for additional things to do and this might be one destination and spin off to the village of Harrison Hot Springs."

The Ministry of Forests did not provide details on the timeline for the province's final decision on the project in time for publication.

However, Cascade Skyline posted on their official Facebook page that the public input period has closed and that it hopes to receive approval before the spring.