Today I received the following letter:

Thank you for your recent correspondence to Minister Katrine Conroy, regarding access to Silver Cup Ridge via Rady Road. I have been asked to respond.

I would like to clarify that Silvercup Ridge will not be closed for recreation even though it will no longer be accessible through the Rady Forest Service Road (FSR). The Rady FSR is an unusual situation in that the first several kilometers are managed under a road permit held by a forest licensee. The Selkirk Forest District generally tries to keep roads open unless they start to cause environmental degradation. However, because the licensee now plans to deactivate the road permit, the district will lose access to the FSR. This means the FSR must be deactivated at this time because the district will no longer be able to inspect, maintain or deactivate to prevent future environmental problems. There are no side roads to deactivate in this circumstance, so the only road to be deactivated is the main line road.

In most cases, the district tries to maintain some type of vehicle access after deactivation when it is known that a road is being used for other purposes. Deactivation on the Rady FSR was prescribed by a professional engineer. The Selkirk District engineering staff consulted with the prescribing engineer to determine whether there is a possibility of keeping a trail open. Unfortunately, without full deactivation to stabilize the slope, there is a steep switchback that will still present a landslide hazard and other steep sections of road that require works to stabilize. The district is considering the possible environmental and public safety risk posed by a landslide in this location and considering that risk in the decision to deactivate.

Although Silvercup Ridge is an important area for Caribou, the decision to deactivate is not based on the importance of the habitat for Caribou recovery. The decision to deactivate is based strictly on public safety and the long-term environmental stability of the road.

Due to the ongoing wildfire situation in British Columbia and the redeployment of key engineering staff, I understand that the deactivation that was scheduled for this coming fall will be postponed until next year which will allow for further consultation and discussions to be conducted if needed with interested stakeholders.

Thank you again for writing to express your concerns. If you have any further questions regarding this deactivation project, please contact Tara DeCourcy, Selkirk Forest District Manager, by email at Tara.DeCourcy@gov.bc.ca.

Sincerely,

Garth Wiggill

Regional Executive Director

Kootenay Boundary Region

As you can see, there is still much work to do over the coming months.  Please continue to share this petition, call the representatives and make your opinion known.  Maybe I'm naive, but I don't think it's unrealistic to find a solution to appease the ministry officials and keep the road open to recreational traffic.