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South Okanagan Photos

An open letter

Mark Pendergraft
Director RDOS Area A Osoyoos
Former Chair of the Regional District Okanagan Similkameen

In regard to the implementation and results of the LRMP, I sat on the Land and Resources Management Plan Okanagan Shuswap (LRMP) committee as the RDOS rep during the implementation stage.

The LRMP was for the most part implemented by the Province. There were several protected areas that did go into the provincial park status during this time at the recommendation of the committee. The South Okanagan protected areas did not move forward to Provincial park status at a recommendation of the committee because the National Park proposal came on to the scene. The LRMP committee felt that with the National Park (NP) proposal coming forward much of the work the committee did in the past may have been put in jeopardy as there was a lot of give and take by all the stakeholders around that table to reach consensus on where the protected areas would be, and what uses would be allowed in them.

The National Park proposal was very large and changed what the LRMP was recommending considerably. It was felt by many on the committee that if a NP were to come into being then the whole LRMP process would have to start over as what was being proposed as a NP was not what the committee came to consensus on and changed things considerably throughout the entire LRMP area.

Consequently none of the southern protected areas where moved into the Provincial parks and as long as the NP potential stays in the forefront those protected areas will likely not go up to Provincial Parks. It should be mentioned this committee was made up of many stakeholders ranging from environmentalist to industry, the only noticeable group that did not participate in the LRMP process was the Okanagan Nation Alliance.

While I did not get to participate in the actual making of the LRMP, in the 4 years I sat on that committee I came to understand how difficult a task it would have been to reach a consensus amoung the stakeholders which is what it took to come up with that plan.

The LRMP committee was disbanded shortly after the NP came on the scene. I truly believe the LRMP is the best way to protect what needs to be protected and still allow the traditional uses of all residents in the region.

Publisher: some editing for clarity