Mr. Handfield, how can you place blame on Linda Larson for downgrading or anything else concerning the national park? (Western News, Aug. 12, Nature Wise: The person who kaiboshed the national park)
She is one of the best MLAs we have had, listening to and doing what her constituents want. She is not the only one that prefers cows to tourists, we do not want thousands of people leaving the highway to trample our wild plants or pick wild flowers which will not grow again once picked. Furthermore, if there are insufficient funds at present for parks why would you want another one?
You cannot compare Canadian parks, federal or provincial, to U.S.’s state and national parks. Their facilities/campsites/etc. say nothing of being reasonably priced. The U.S. has not let every inch of waterfront be commercially developed like Canada has either.
If Premier Clark could put a kibosh of the national park on her legacy it would be one of the more positive things she has done for B.C. National park status. It will do nothing for this area except disrupt and destroy the quality of life we have in the Similkameen Valley and take away our valuable agricultural land. It will never become another Banff-Jasper, there is nothing unique about this valley except to we the people who live here. You can go west, north or east of here in British Columbia and find valleys exactly the same.
Mr. Maser (Western News, letter to the editor: More information please, Aug. 19), if you do not believe the objection to this park is real please contact the editor of the Keremeos Review or Penticton Western and ask for archived articles, letters, surveys etc. (or visit their website). You may just have to rethink your position on how many are opposed to the park, perhaps you are just behind the times. I have a file dating back to 2007 and that may not be the beginning of this issue.
It is my firm belief (and of many more) that people from other parts of B.C. and Canada (and the U.S.) should not be having so much say in this. I have conversed by phone/email and in person with people that say we must have this park, but when questioned about the area they do not even know where it is or what is here.
Fortunately, we the residents of the Similkameen Valley have committees and groups — both local and government — helping us keep the development in the valley bottom. If anyone over steps their boundaries into the riparian or protected areas they are soon made to replace and put the land back to the way it was, which is no easy feat if you have removed sagebrush and large rocks. Consequently we cannot look like the over-populated, over-developed valley from Osoyoos north to Kelowna, Vernon and beyond.
My opinions as an local taxpayer/resident.
Alyce Coggan
Cawston
