The Lost Lake trail is a popular hike for locals and visitors for it's accessibility (Khya Saban photo)

LETTER: Lost Lake trailhead trees shouldn’t be cut down

The area is slated to be cut by the Bella Coola Community Forest

Editor:

Let’s not kid ourselves, the lake isn’t lost. It’s not even a lake, not at all. More of a pond if anything. Fascinating though, slotted as it is among a crack in the bedrock. A diversion, holding enough water to spawn a newt and a hold a beak full for a nuthatch.

The trail is accessed by driving through Saloompt and staying to the right each time you encounter a fork. It’s a 20-minute drive from Hagensborg and it’s a lovely walk.

The trees on the slope leading up, if you haven’t been, hold woodpeckers of most varieties, hairy, downy, red breasted, there are also squirrels, eagles and deer. It is a forest of mostly cedar and fir.

The views aren’t epic given the scope and nature of this magnificent Valley, but they are still good enough.

The proposed cut block isn’t large, as far as these things go, it holds a handful of massive trees, cedar and fir, the size of which are no longer often seen in this valley, or anywhere, really.

For the last few years the parking lot has been busy with locals and tourists alike, as it’s a nice hike for a family.

It is a beautiful hike if you are seeing the Valley for the first time and the trail is accessible to most people.

The proposed logging is near the start of the trail, just off from the main track. The trees slated to be cut are large. They are old and they support their own myriad of species, too many to count, interconnected in ways too complex to categorize. They shouldn’t be cut down.

If you are concerned about this proposed logging, please contact the Bella Coola Community Forest at 250-982-2131 or by going onto their website bellacoolaforest.com.

To oppose the proposed logging taking place at the Lost Lake Trailhead, there is a petition at, change.org entitled “Lost Lake Logging.”

Khya Saban

Hagensborg

Coast Mountain News

 

The area is home to some very large cedar and fir trees (Khya Saban photo)

The Lost Lake trail is a popular hike for locals and visitors for it's accessibility (Khya Saban photo)