The Missing Piece of Quadra's Parks
A promise is a promise. But is it, when it comes to B.C.'s parks?
One summer ago, I took my teenager on a memorable 4-day kayaking trip to the Octopus Islands, organized by Coast Mountain Expeditions. One of the trip’s highlights was a morning paddle along the shores of Waiatt Bay on northeast Quadra Island, where a low tide revealed the astounding clam gardens culturally modified over centuries by First Nations for the purpose of harvesting butter clams. Only recently discovered by archeologists, the hand-built stone walls sheltered sandy bits of beach where heaps of butter clams burped and spat for us.
A short paddle to the bay’s terminus led to a midden, almost as tall as my five foot five inches in height. Speckled with white shells, it told the silent story of thousands of years of feasts, family and a highly sophisticated form of mariculture -- an environmentally-sustainable harvest of shellfish rich in iron, protein and potassium. We tied up our kayaks near the midden and hiked along a meandering trail, through moss-coated woods, for a swim in Newton Lake, one of Quadra’s many freshwater lakes.
- Exploring the clam gardens of Waiatt Bay. Photo: Sarah Cox
Even the BC parks website makes it appear as though the Newton Lake trail and the portage route are already incorporated into the parks, created in the mid-1990s as a package deal. “A portage route to Small Inlet Provincial Park on the west side of Quadra Island can be accessed from the Octopus Islands,” explains the Octopus Islands page on the B.C. government website. “From this trail, a hiking trail leads to Newton Lake - a lovely place for a freshwater swim.”
But here’s the catch. None of the trail to Newton Lake, the portage route, the 10 archeological sites found here, the freshwater spring or the remnant Coastal Western Hemlock forest at the tip of Waiatt Bay are actually included in the parks.
The land that connects the two parks is owned by a Washington state forestry company, Merrill & Ring, which is in the process of selling off its coastal properties in B.C.’s Discovery Islands. A brochure from real estate giant Colliers International describes “prime waterfront opportunities” in Merrill & Ring’s “coastal portfolio.” Luckily, the 395-hectare Small Inlet/Waiatt Bay property isn’t one of those listed publicly. Yet.
- Butter clam shells in a clam garden. Photo: Sarah Cox
But the purchase, which has been on the BC Parks priority list for many years, appears to be stalled. Quadra Island residents are worried that Merrill & Ring, now in sell-off mode, will become frustrated with the glacial pace at which the B.C. government is moving and move to list this waterfront property as part of its coastal portfolio.
The story takes another twist when we find out that Merrill & Ring agreed to negotiate an equitable sell or trade for the property in 1998, and recommitted to that in 2007 after it restructured, and then again in 2009.
So what, exactly, is the hold-up? If the B.C. government can spend $10.5 million on the unsightly new McTavish interchange on the Pat Bay Highway that has become the butt of many a joke, why can’t it find a significantly smaller pot of money to fulfill a parks promise made 16 years ago?
The 100th anniversary of the BC parks system is almost over. What better way to close this historic year than with an announcement that the popular Quadra Island parks have been connected and completed. Let’s end our parks anniversary year with a bang, not with a whimper.
