Documents received as part of a Freedom of Information request show that a proposed summer hiking trail in the Spearhead would traverse through sensitive mountain goat habitat.
The 2023 document, titled “Proposed Spearhead Summer Trail Summary of Potential Impacts to Mountain Goat (Oreamnus americanus) and Other Values, BC Parks,” highlights the Spearhead summer hiking trail that was announced by BC Parks in 2021, starting at Decker Tarn on Blackcomb Mountain and ending at BC Parks Russet Lake campground, near Kees and Claire Hut. The 11.6-kilometre alpine trail proposal includes two campsites, the Trorey campsite and the Fitzsimmons campsite, each with 15 tent pads. The BC Parks document estimates 135 overnight visitors per day, plus additional use from day hikers.
While the concept of a summer hiking trail in the Spearhead has been bandied about for 30 years, with Garibaldi Provincial Park’s 1990 Master Plan calling for an alpine hiking trail connecting Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains, knowledge of sensitive mountain goat habitat has also been ongoing. A 2014 amendment to Garibaldi’s master plan called for future hiking trails to “follow the Management Plan for Mountain Goat in British Columbia recommendations and may require detailed assessments to ensure impacts to Mountain Goat habitat are avoided.”
The BC Parks document notes around half of the proposed trail crosses through winter and summer range for mountain goats and “it is expected that goats will be using the area around the proposed Spearhead Trail year round.”
The trail would also be important for backcountry recreators trying to access the future huts proposed by the Spearhead Hut Society.
The document was obtained by the BC Mountaineering Club and published on their website.
The proposed route was conceived by current municipal Councillor Arthur De Jong in his former role as Whistler Blackcomb's mountain planning and environmental resource manager. De Jong has dreamed of a summer hiking route in the Spearhead for 20 years, initially pitching it to BC Parks as part of Whistler Blackcomb’s master plan. He spoke to Pique in his role planning the technical route.
“[Mountain] goats were always discussed when I initially went to [BC] Parks with this layout, integrating Whistler Blackcomb with the BC Parks system. That was an environmental consideration that was always on the table and I fully respect their position on it,” he said.
The majestic mountain goat
B.C. is home to half of the world’s mountain goat population, according to B.C.’s Ministry of Environment’s Management Plan for the Mountain Goat (Oreamnos americanus) in British Columbia from 2010. They live in areas with steep terrain and stealthily climb scree to escape predators like wolves, cougars and bears.
Mountain goats are of “special concern” and are assigned blue status in B.C.’s conservation framework because they are sensitive to human activities.
In the Spearhead, pre-existing cumulative impacts from human activities include “impacts from ski touring and heli-skiing; hiking; the Russet Lake campsite and the Kees and Claire Hut; impacts from planning and construction from the two additional Spearhead huts; and ongoing maintenance and helicopter supported surveys for the Kees and Claire Hut. If the Spearhead Trail was constructed, additional predictable and currently unforeseen impacts would follow.”
While work on the trail would likely “cause mountain goats to temporarily move out of the area … long-term impacts are impossible to predict. In the absence of ongoing activity, mountain goats may move back into the area once activity ceases; however, when considered in combination with increased human activity from the ongoing use and operation, the likelihood of this scenario decreases.”
Another potential outcome from the trail is human-wildlife conflict, with mountain goats attracted to improperly stored food and human waste from hikers and campground users.
Kim Poole, a wildlife research biologist who worked on the province's 2010 mountain goat management plan, said it will be up to BC Parks to decide whether the trail is worth the risk.
“The critical window is from mid-May to mid-July for birthing and kidding; outside that window there’s less sensitivity. But the impacts are not easily predicted,” he said.
The province’s study on goats in the Spearhead suggested closing access to the trail during birthing windows to mitigate impacts, and alternative route proposals were also rejected for feasibility and goat-related rationale.
Impact on Spearhead Huts
Jayson Faulker, a serving director and the founding chair of the Spearhead Hut Society (SHS), which is responsible for fundraising and building huts in the Spearhead, said if a summer trail doesn't come to pass, that would pose a problem for summer access to Pattison Hut.
“The trail in question is on the south side of the range from Blackcomb. Obviously, if that trail in the summer wasn’t there and usable, that’s going to make it difficult for summer use at the Pattison Hut, and it would make the travel time from Blackcomb to Macbeth Hut in the summer long. That trail is important for the Pattison Hut if it’s going to be a summer-use facility,” he said.
Not only is it important for summer-use from the SHS’s view, but summer access was also a requirement from BC Parks.
“When we originally did the huts, one of the foundational requirements asked by BC Parks is that the huts be accessible year-round. That makes a lot of sense from a public-use point of view. I think everyone is committed to the concept of year-round use,” he said.
The report from BC Parks also noted that, without a designated summer trail, people are more likely to traverse through sensitive habitat and trample alpine vegetation, which is already happening near Russet Lake and Kees and Claire Hut.
Faulkner said, from his perspective, BC Parks is committed to understanding the cumulative impacts and “digesting and working through” how to navigate the competing user group impact on mountain goats, with helicopters and aircraft being of specific concern.
BC Parks’ study on mountain goats in the Spearhead highlighted short-term and long-term stress on mountain goats from aircrafts.
Whistler Heli Skiing Ltd. has a park use permit (PUP) for heliskiing in the Spearhead. The PUP is set to expire in 2026, and BC Parks is currently making recommendations on whether heliskiing will continue.
Ministry of Environment response
The Ministry of Environment said in a statement that the proposed trail is only preliminary and BC Parks hasn't decided where the final route will go.
"The preliminary route was used to conduct an initial assessment of environmental, recreational, archaeological and cultural values in the area, and assess potential impacts of the trail and identify data gaps," the ministry said, adding the route was also used to determine if the trail would match strategies in the 2014 Garibaldi Park Management Plan Amendment.
"BC Parks is currently collecting additional data on mountain goat distribution and habitat use in the Spearhead Range and has hired a contractor to conduct a cumulative effects assessment for the area, focusing on mountain goats. The decision about whether or not the Spearhead Trail moves ahead will be made after the cumulative effects assessment is complete."
The assessment would cover Garibaldi Park to the Mamquam River and Boise Creek and inform future decisions in Garibaldi.
Trail planner De Jong was unaware of whether BC Parks had made a decision on the status of the trail, but recognizes the agency can sometimes take a preservationist's approach in sensitive habitats, which, in this case, would aim to preserve the park as it currently exists. He takes a conservationist lens, weighing the benefits and risks of use and accepting the environment can't be fully preserved.
“I had the privilege to go out there and assess the technical viability of the trail system. Certainly, disappointing that we [may] not be following through, but it’s very understandable,” he said.
While he was quick to stress making value judgments was not his role in designing the summer trail, he sees the importance of accessing nature so it can be protected.
“I'm very passionate about these experiences because people respect nature more when they [connect with it]. You don’t protect things you don’t understand,” he said.
Check back with Pique in the coming weeks for more on this story.
