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Bridge across the Clearwater not a good idea

Here is a novel idea – why not have people be responsible for their own actions?
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Editor, The Times:

The idea of building a new bridge over the Clearwater River in Wells Gray Park and a road to the Cariboo is seriously flawed and, hopefully, not likely to happen.

Surely such a route would be closed from mid-November to the end of April due to snow and lack of use, thereby making the expense for the taxpayer something we could only call extravagant.

READ MORE: Need recognized for a Clearwater River bridge

I would say that the balance between access to the park, and it being a “wild” area, not wilderness, is about right as things are now.

Some like to call it a wilderness park but I would question that when boats can zip to the end of Azure Lake, a steady stream of rented RVs and tour buses drive in, heli-skiers can roar into the park from Valemount – one can hardly call that a wilderness.

Wasn’t the lodge at the east end of Quesnel Lake to be another access point for a heli operation; I wonder what that does to the caribou?

Also I once questioned in a non-local region about why one mountain road, which looked like it could go easily through to another drainage but didn’t, and was told by some government department that it was because it made it too easy for poachers.

As to there being a safety concern as an escape route out of the valley in case of a fire, again it seems to be a pretty big expense for the intended and probably limited use.

Here is a novel idea – why not have people be responsible for their own actions?

Make the information known about fires in the area and the fact that the road into the park is a dead-end, and then the people can decide for themselves how and what they want to do.

Seems like more and more the government wants to control and babysit the people.

This past summer season, after the fire danger subsided and the park was partially opened to commercial interests but not ordinary citizens, one reason given was that the government needed to know where everyone was in case they needed to evacuate. Since when did that become their responsibility?

Sandy Crane

Upper Clearwater, B.C.