Dear Editor:
Regarding your Jan. 11 story, West Vancouver Groups Cautiously OK Old-Growth Plan:
I wish to thank both the Old Growth Conservancy Society and West Vancouver Streamkeeper Society for their deep commitment to enhancing and protecting our natural heritage in West Vancouver. The respect and co-operation in working to find a way forward speaks to their integrity and commitment to West Vancouver.
As a community we must work hard so that this (Editor: accidental logging of old growth) never happens again. Better practices are already being implemented. We must now go further with a vision for our mountainside that protects our ecologically valuable lands permanently. To this end, council has committed funds to start the work of protecting Whyte Lake, a popular trail and watershed area near Horseshoe Bay that at present is designated future neighbourhoods in our OCP. Council has also committed to an Upper Lands Study working group, now underway and citizen-led, to engage with all stakeholders on a future vision for our mountainside that we can all be proud of.
Our stewardship and working groups are outstanding. They help us day in and day out to create better working relationships with our incredible natural environment - our foreshore and beaches, the iconic Pacific salmon that return to our steams and the forested lands that interconnect it all. Their personal civic commitment to West Vancouver is inspiring.
Coun. Trish Panz District of West Vancouver
