The Lower Kootenay Band (yaqan nuʔkiy) and Retallack wish to thank the public and user groups who have provided feedback thus far regarding their joint 50/50 adventure tourism partnership proposal within the Southern Purcell Mountains.
The proposed tenure area, located in the Ktunaxa Traditional Territory (Ktunaxa ʔamakʔis), encompasses a traditional connectivity corridor and trade route between the indigenous Ktunaxa peoples who have resided in the Kootenays since time immemorial. The multiple use tenure proposes guided hiking, horseback riding, climbing and mountain biking in summer; and guided ski touring, heliskiing, mountaineering, snowshoeing and dogsledding in winter. The proposed tenure area is non-exclusive and will remain open to the public.
Based on feedback received to date, several amendments have been identified for future consideration to improve the application. To ensure that as much public and user group feedback as possible is considered, the proponents are currently awaiting the end of the provincial government public comment period on July 15, 2018, prior to publicly proposing any new amendments. Public comments may continue to be submitted via the government website or also directly to the proponents at sustainabletenure@gmail.com.
After the conclusion of the public and government comment period, the proponents have committed to review all directly received public comments or summary comments that are made available to the proponents by the Province. From there, the proponents are committed to identifying and proposing future project amendments. In particular, the amendments will reflect usage statistics and additional proposals to further reduce potential helicopter impacts to wildlife and local residents in surrounding communities.
When the review has been completed, any resulting new amendments (including new high-resolution maps) will be published alongside the project’s currently proposed management plan and maps located at https://arfd.gov.bc.ca/ApplicationPosting/viewpost.jsp?PostID=54966.
Locations and dates of any future public meetings in neighbouring communities will also be announced at that time.
