1. March 9, 2000 SPEC press release.
2. Press Conference chronology and informational package.
3. Georgia Straight newspaper article, March 9, 2000.
4. Vancouver Province newspaper article, March 10, 2000.
5. Vancouver Sun newspaper article, March 10, 2000.

SPEC held a press conference on Thursday March 9, 2000, with the following press release and package of information.

Documents show Glen Clark Cabinet suppressed Environment Ministry advice on $500 million Nancy Green-Raine ski resort near Lillooet

VANCOUVER - The Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC) and the Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC) today called for BC Environment Minister Joan Sawicki to put a halt to the approval process on a $500 million all season ski resort proposed by developers Al Raine and Nancy Greene-Raine of NGR Resort Consultants Inc. for the Melvin Creek watershed.  SPEC and WCWC are concerned that Cabinet pressure may have suppressed key Environment Ministry recommendations about impacts the NGR resort might have on wildlife including endangered grizzly bear and mountain goat in Melvin Creek, located 55 kms southwest of Lillooet.

"We have just learned that NGR's environmental approval process is flawed because Cabinet overruled their own experts' recommendation that Melvin Creek be protected," said SPEC researcher Will Koop. "In April 1995 Kamloops Environment Ministry officials told cabinet that the a ski resort should not be built in the area because of the impact on critical grizzly bear and mountain goat habitat."

Documents obtained by Koop under FOI requests, and other sources, show that Melvin Creek was proposed for protection in 1993.  A May 12, 1994 meeting between Al Raine and then Employment and Investment Minister Glen Clark, led Raine to write then Forest Minister Andrew Petter on May 20 that "we are very encouraged by the new attitude of cooperation and we will now try to resolve many of the inevitable hurdles which face a project of this magnitude."  A 1995 Kamloops Inter Agency Management Committee (IAMC) document confirms that  "cabinet promised the proponent (NGR) that there will be no impediments to further feasibility studies."

On April 04, 1995, IAMC chair John Thompson advised then Environment Minister Moe Sihota that the "Melvin Creek portion of the proposed Study Area, though only a small proportion of the total area, accounts for many of the high value elements (goat, grizzly, summer and winter alpine recreation).  Because of these high values and their strong linkages between the drainage, RPAT considers Melvin Creek an inseparable part of the Cayoosh proposal."

Thompson adds that "if Cabinet does not accept this position (to leave Melvin Creek in the proposed Study Area), the Cayoosh Study Area proposal, or its viability, are lost and opportunities for choice in a Lillooet LRMP PAS process are seriously compromised."

However, a month later, on May 04, 1995, Sihota's Deputy Environment Minister Derek Thompson directed IAMC chair John Thompson that "Cabinet accepted, that the portion of the Cayoosh Creek area of interest which is contained within the alpine ski proposal for Melville [sic, Melvin] Creek, will be deleted from the current area of interest boundary… Please ensure that this decision is reflected in the IAMC  recommendations for revisions to the PAS study area list."

Since then NGR has conducted their own environmental studies as part of the BC environmental assessment process. According to Koop the NGR studies fail to examine grizzly bear populations and that the development footprint on mountain goat habitat is dismissed. Cabinet will decide on Mar. 31 whether to give NGR a go-ahead to start construction on the development.

Al and Nancy Greene-Raine first proposed an all season resort that could host up to 14,000 visitors per day in 1990. Their development envisages up to 3000 permanent residents and calls for a $30 million access road into this alpine hanging valley to be financed by Ministry of Highways.  Yale-Lillooet MLA and Highways Minister Harry Lali is on record as supporting NGR's development.

SPEC and WCWC want current Environment Minister Sawicki to:
1. Conduct a ministerial inquiry, with full public disclosure, on the approval process as applied to NGR;
2. halt the current Environmental Assessment Review until a full and objective study of impacts on grizzly populations can be carried out;
3. implement an EAR public hearing on NGR's Melvin Creek proposal. To date no Environment Assessment Act hearings have been held.

The informational package for the press conference included a short chronology (below) which acted as a guide to the attached 34 pages of government documents gathered through a Freedom-of-Information request (portions of which can be viewed on the three part chronology listed on this website for Melvin Creek).  Included in the package were the deleted or "whited-out" pages from a three page document dated April 4, 1995, the original intact pages, to allow the media to see what the Premier's office had removed from public viewing.

Media attendees: The Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Province, CKNW radio, CBC radio, BCTV, VTV, and UTV (Global).  Live interviews were broadcast the following day on CBC Morning Show (about 7:15 am), and Squamish Mountain FM (12:30 pm), with both Will Koop and Al Raine.

Media Package.

CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS, REGARDING WILDLIFE CONCERNS FOR MELVIN CREEK WATERSHED ALL SEASON SKI DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL (most of the government documents from the dates below were provided for the press conference attendees)

AUGUST 29, 1990 - Ministry of Crown Lands sends out a Referral Notice to other government agencies for comments on Al and Nancy Greene Raine's (NGR Resort Consultants Inc.) proposal for ski development at Melvin Creek.

AUGUST 31, 1990 - Based on government biologist studies, Ministry of Environment, Kamloops Region immediately opposes the Melvin Creek ski development proposal because of high wildlife values: provincially significant mountain goat population, and grizzly bear.

JUNE 3, 1991 - Kamloops Ministry of Environment requests Ministry of Crown Lands to consider a different location for a ski resort because of high wildlife values in Melvin Creek.

APRIL 20, 1993 - Al and Nancy Greene Raine inform Premier Mike Harcourt that they have abandoned their ski proposal development.

APRIL 20, 1993 - The Regional Protected Areas Team (RPAT) designate Melvin and Lost Valley Creeks on their maps as "Area of Interests", candidates for protection under the Protected Areas Strategy (PAS), because of high wildlife values for grizzly and mountain goats.

APRIL 21, 1993 - Kamloops Ministry of Crown Lands writes: "We recommend that BC Lands accept abandonment of the project [by Al and Nancy Greene Raine]. Given the project's high development cost and potential environmental conflicts, it appears inappropriate to re-offer the opportunity."

SEPTEMBER 24, 1993 - Minister of Employment and Investment, Glen Clark, starts to get involved in supporting the ski development proposal.

NOVEMBER 10, 1993 - Kamloops RPAT present a summary sheet listing ‘high' wildlife values of Melvin and Lost Valley Creeks, as a candidate area for protection.

MAY 12, 1994 - Glen Clark, Minister of Employment and Investment, meets with Al Raine.  Al Raine states later on May 20: "We were very encouraged by the new attitude of cooperation, and we will now try to resolve many of the inevitable hurdles which face a project of this magnitude."

JUNE 16, 1994 - Memo from Glen Clark, Minister of Employment and Investment to Moe
Sihota, Minister of Environment, Lands and Parks, re the issue of Melvin Creek as a candidate
for protection by the Regional Protected Areas Team. (letter not seen)

JULY 4, 1994 - After pressure is brought upon Kamloops Fish and Wildlife to review their concerns about the ski development, they maintain that the project, and its related footprint, would jeopardize grizzlies and mountain goats.

AUGUST 15, 1994 - Moe Sihota, Minister of Environment, Lands and Parks writes to Glen Clark to notify him of RPAT's upcoming meetings to discuss Melvin Creek.  He concludes: These issues are difficult to resolve, since the Melvin Creek watershed contains provincially important goat populations and critical grizzly bear habitat with links to adjacent areas." (Two paragraphs of this letter were "whited out" by the Premier's office under Freedom of Information Section 12 restrictions.)

NOVEMBER 1, 1994 - Pressure from on high to force the Kamloops Inter Agency Management Committee (IAMC) to remove the RPAT's candidate for protection of Melvin Creek fails.  Ministry of Environment wildlife biologists argue that the ski development will negatively impact wildlife.

APRIL 4, 1995 - Kamloops IAMC write a three page report advising Cabinet not to remove Melvin Creek as an "Area of Interest" under the Protected Areas Strategy because of high wildlife values and the strong wildlife linkages between drainages.  (This document was kept at the Premier's office for more than 60 days before being given to SPEC, with most of the pages "whited out" under Freedom of Information Section 12 restrictions - compare with same three pages not whited out.)

MAY 4, 1995 - B.C. Cabinet overrules Kamloops IAMC decision to protect Melvin Creek as a candidate for protection under the Protected Areas Strategy, in order to assist Al Raine's ski proposal.

FEBRUARY 11, 1997 - Under the Environmental Assessment process for the ski development project, Ministry of Environment staff recognize there is no data for mountain goats and grizzly bears.

MAY 9, 1997 - Al Raine's wildlife consultant, LGL Limited, recognizes Ministry of Environment's concerns that data on grizzly bears needs to be done for Melvin Creek.

JUNE 6, 1997 - Al Raine's new wildlife biologist, David Hatler, writes that a study on grizzly bears in the Melvin Creek drainage is "not likely to be productive".

OCTOBER 23, 1997 - Al Raine complains to senior government staff about Ministry of Environment's report that there is a "lack of information on the impacts of wildlife, ie. lack of population inventory, critical habitat mapping and seasonal use data with respect to mountain goats and also on overall population impacts with respect to grizzly bears."

MAY 7, 1998 - Concerns from Ministry of Environment that information on grizzly bears will only reflect guesses rather than proper data on population census.

JULY 6, 1999 - Al Raine's Project Report is released, which emphasizes that, despite a lack of data, that grizzly bears are infrequent visitors of Melvin Creek.

OCTOBER 29, 1999 - Ministry of Environment document (author unknown) states: "MELP accepted that the valley does not contain exceptional grizzly bear and black bear habitat, and that a detailed environmental assessment of impacts on those species was not required."

NOVEMBER 1, 1999 - Ministry of Environment's critique of Al Raine's July 6, 1999 Project Report fails to make any mention of grizzly bears.

NOVEMBER 22, 1999 - SPEC, and bear biologist Wayne McCrory, present reports to the Environmental Assessment Office regarding deficiencies in Al Raine's July 1999 project report regarding grizzly bears (refer to SPEC website, www.spec.bc.ca/melvin/index.html for these reports, related letters, information, extensive chronology, images).
 

Georgia Straight newspaper, March 9-16, 2000, page 13, SKI-RESORT BATTLE INTENSIFIES, by Charlie Smith.

"An environmental researcher has asked the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner to review his access-to-information requests about a proposed $500 million ski-resort project.  Will Koop of the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation told the Georgia Straight that he requested the review after comparing copies of documents released by the government with copies of the complete documents, which he said he recently obtained from a source he wouldn't identify.

"I request that your office review two of the three documents attached, and the legitimate status of sections being deleted under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act," Koop wrote in his letter to the office."

Section 12 requires public officials to withhold any information that would reveal advice to cabinet.  Koop wants to know if Ministry of Finance officials properly applied the law when they deleted two-and-a-half pages from a three page report.  The document by the Kamloops Inter Agency Management Committee (IAMC) recommended that the Melvin Creek area remain a candidate for protection under the Provincial Areas Strategy.  One month later, the B.C. cabinet ordered that the land lose that designation.

Koop has tried to raise public awareness over the Cayoosh ski resort, which is proposed at Melvin Creek in the Cayoosh mountain range near Pemberton.  "There have been no grizzly-bear studies done at all, even though the Ministry of Environment staff have continually recommended that those studies be done," Koop said.

NGR Resort Consultants Inc., which is controlled by Al Raine and his wife, Nancy Greene Raine, obtained initial approval 10 years ago for consideration to develop the resort.  Raine told the Straight that his company has acted in "good faith" for a decade, despite encountering several obstacles.

"To be honest, if I knew in 1990 what I would have to go through, I don't think I would have ever started it," Raine said.  "We're up to a couple of million dollars in what I thought when I started was no more than a $750,000 exercise."

Raine also said: "The minister was satisfied with the grizzly issue several years ago.  The project specs don't call for any grizzly-bear issues .... There is no question [that] within the Ministry of Environment, there are people who are absolutely opposed to this project."

Koop claimed that the southern coastal grizzly population could be displaced by all the activity that would take place around the resort.  He said that Melvin Creek is the Grizzly bears' main corridor and the "last unroaded drainage" between the Stein Valley and the Bendor range to the northwest.

In a February 4 letter to the Environmental Assessment Office, Koop noted that the proponents of the Jumbo ski project in the Purcell Mountains produced data on the grizzly bear population.  "The obvious question to ask is: why is there such an inconsistency with regard to grizzly bear concerns and data production between one project and another, given the Kamloops [office of the] Ministry of Environment's original and ongoing concerns about grizzly bears in this area, which is identified as one of the seven priority areas for grizzly bear recover in British Columbia?"

In the full copy of the 1995 Kamloops IAMC recommendation, the chair, John Thompson, wrote that the Raines were unlikely to invest in further studies as long as Melvin Creek was considered as a protected-area candidate.  Thompson wrote that the "preferred option" was to leave it in.  This was deleted from the document released to Koop in his freedom-of-information request.

"The proposed development is supported by the Lillooet Town Council, and Cabinet has promised the proponent that there will be no impediments to further feasibility studies," Thompson wrote.  "Cabinet wishes to resolve this issue as quickly as possible."
On page two, Thompson wrote: "IAMC deletion of Melvin Creek from the Cayoosh Study Area proposal would constitute a precedent for ‘one-off ' decisions favouring one particular interest over another."

Raine said he couldn't comment on the IAMC document because he hasn't seen it.  He alleged that someone was giving Koop access to files that aren't publicly available.  Raine also claimed that Koop has a "conspiracy theory" that Raine has use political influence to gain an advantage.  "We made our application in August 1990," Raine said.  "If we have used political clout and inside contacts, we've done a hell of a poor job of it."

Koop's February 4 letter alleged that Raine was drumming up his own "conspiracy theory".
"The reason Mr. Raine is uncomfortable is that government staff have raised serious concerns about the ecological impacts associated with his ski development proposal," Koop wrote."

Vancouver Province newspaper, Friday March 10, 2000, page A16, Greene's ski hill under fire from greens, by Charlie Anderson.

"Environmentalists are accusing Cabinet of political interference for ignoring its wildlife experts and putting a ski hill's interest ahead of grizzlies and mountain goats.

They released yesterday papers showing the back-room moves surrounding the proposed $500 million Cayoosh Resort.

Cayoosh, 55 kilometers southwest of Lillooet, is the brainchild of former Olympic gold-medal skier Nancy Greene-Raine and her husband, Al Raine.

The site of the proposed resort falls within the Melvin Creek watershed, an area the environment ministry identifies as prime habitat for goats and grizzly bears and an important animal-migration route.

In 1990, the ministry's Southern Interior office pronounced itself "utterly opposed to the use proposed for this area because of the habitat importance for mountain goats, grizzly and other alpine fauna."

In 1993, the Raines told government they were abandoning their proposal, a position they reversed in 1994 after meeting with then-employment and investment minister Glen Clark.  In 1995, the area was still proposed for study because of it "high value" environmental elements.
But in May 1995, cabinet overruled its environment officials, took the area from the study and allowed an environmental assessment process to begin on the resort.

"It has disregarded its own experts and their values and as a result has allowed the proponents to go ahead with the project," said Will Koop, who obtained the documents under Freedom of Information.

David Cadman of the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation said an inquiry is critical to ensure development decisions are made with good science.

Al Raine accused environmentalists of launching "a publicity stunt" to derail cabinet approval of the hill, expected in June.

He said company mitigation measures will prevent any impact on mountain goats.  He also said grizzlies rarely visit the area.

Environment Minister Joan Sawicki, who wasn't in cabinet in 1995, said ministry briefing notes are regularly amended as new factors come forward.

"I certainly share everyone's concern about the potential environmental impact of a proposal such as this," she said."

Vancouver Sun newspaper, Friday March 10, 2000, page B5, Groups try to halt proposed ski resort, by Brian Morton.

"Conservation groups say the proposed resort near Lillooet would threaten bears and mountain goats.

Two conservation groups are calling on Environment Joan Sawicki to halt a proposed $500 million ski resort near Lillooet, saying it would have a serious impact on wildlife, including grizzly bears and about 300 mountain goats.

But the resort's developer maintains the environmental impact on the Cayoosh Range will be minimal.

Al Raine also charges that the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation and the Western Canada Wilderness Committee left it to the last minute to make their concerns known.

"We've been working on this for 10 years and we've had two sets of public hearings," said Raine, who with wife Nancy Greene Raine wants to build the resort in the Melvin Creek watershed, about 55 kilometres southwest of Lillooet.

"So they arrive after the whole process is finished and then demand it be put on hold because they've uncovered new information and a government conspiracy."

SPEC researcher Will Koop said Thursday he believes provincial cabinet pressure may have suppressed key environment ministry recommendations about impacts the Cayoosh resort might have on wildlife.

He said that documents obtained under freedom-of-information requests show that Melvin Creek was proposed for protection many years ago and that critical reports suggested that the area was simply too important to wildlife.

SPEC believes that if the government was heeding those critical reports, the ski hill would have been  rejected a long time ago.

One of the reports released by Koop was on Aug. 31, 1990, letter from the ministry of environment, Kamloops region, saying it was "utterly opposed" to the resort "because of the habitat importance for mountain goats,  grizzly and other alpine fauna."

Sawicki said she can't comment on the proposal because it's still with the Environmental Assessment Office.  "I share their [the environmentalists'] concerns, but until they report it to me, I as a minister don't have anything to say."

As to the government allegedly ignoring environmental reports critical of the ski report, Sawicki said she wasn't privy to cabinet discussions at the time, but believes the project followed normal procedure.

WCWC spokesman Joe Foy agreed that SPEC and WCWC should have stepped into the Cayoosh project debate earlier.  "The problem is it looks like we sleep-walked into this one, including ourselves."

However, Raine maintains that independent consultants recently looked at the environmental concerns and decided in the resort's favour."