Concern over Apex logging

Photo: Contributed - APOA

Clear cuts on a map from 2010

Property owners at Apex are concerned ongoing clearcut logging in the area is a threat to recreational use.

To get their message out, the Apex Property Owners Association forestry advisory committee is holding a public information forum later this month, focused on logging in the Nickel Plate/Apex area.

"What we are trying to communicate ... is that the cummulative effect of what is happening here is not just impacting our immediate recreational opportunities, but it's going to inhibit us from growing the recreational value of this area," said Jeff Brown, chair of the committee.

Brown says in 2012-13 people started noticing "very visible" clearcuts from the ski hill. They found out there was a plan for substantial logging around the village area.

Numerous meetings were held, with a big one in June 2013 with the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, licence holders and the property owners.

A memorandum of understanding was created, and since then the cut blocks of concern have not proceeded, although they are still listed as planned, said Brown.

Of current concern is a plan to almost double the logging over the next seven years, and specific cut block plans that overlap portions of Nickel Plate Nordic Centre's trail system.  

"It has become clear this whole Nickel Plate/Apex area will be surrounded by clear cuts," said Brown. "The core of the issue is the only thing industry does is clear cutting and that is fundamentally incompatible with recreation."

The area falls within the Gorman Bros., Weyerhaeuser, Penticton Indian Band and Lower Similkameen Indian Band operating areas.

Wayne Roznowsky, manager public affairs with Weyerhaeuser, said the residents need to clarify which area is causing concern.

If it is the Mount Riordan area, between Apex Mountain Resort and Nickel Plate cross-country ski area,  Weyerhaeuser does not have plans for logging there. It does, however, have harvest plans in the Winters Creek, Stray Horse Creek and Cahill Creek areas.

There may be some confusion, he said, because while the region is designated as Weyerhaeuser operating area, the provincial government can and does licence other entities to harvest in the area. 

Roznowsky said Weyerhaeuser meets regularly with the owners association and that it is aware of the company's plans. 

According to the Ministry of Forests' Okanagan Shuswap Land and Resource Management Plan, the area is deemed suitable for forestry. Some of the harvest plan includes forest-fuel modification to mitigate wildfire risk in the area.

The forum will be held at 4 p.m., Feb. 28 at the Apex Mountain day lodge.