A Sustainable Ski Resort? Tourism Development in Valemount, BC
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A Sustainable Ski Resort? Tourism Development in Valemount, BC Lia Dengler Report prepared at the request of the Green Party of British Columbia in partial fulfillment of UBC Geography 419: Research in Environmental Geography, for Dr. David Brownstein. April 2013 1 1 Executive summary Tourism development is a hot topic in many small single industry towns in British Columbia. While a resort development can bring much needed economic stimulus to a stagnating resource economy, it also creates new challenges and fundamentally alters the nature of the community itself. This research examines the sustainability of a proposed all-season ski resort development near the Village of Valemount, in the interior of British Columbia. It uses a literature review to try to discern the most common challenges and benefits associated with ski resort development, then evaluates the formal proposal against the 10 guiding principles of the Green Party of BC. However, it is important to note that this study is confined to a literature review, and without a consultation of stakeholders in the project, it may overlook current debates of local support or opposition related to this development. While ski resort developments are often controversial and high impact, the Valemount Glacier Destination (VGD) proposal exhibits an unusually high stated commitment in environmental and social sustainability. However, more information, and time, is needed to see whether it can fully meet all the goals it claims to achieve. With respect to the 10 guiding principles, several are satisfied and several are not. According to the definitions provided by the Green Party, the resort fulfills the principles of social justice, non-violence, gender equality, and diversity. However, the principles of sustainability, personal and global responsibility, and ecological wisdom are not met. The principles of grass roots democracy, community based economy, and decentralization are uncertain, with evidence for both sides, and require more information to know with certainty if they are fulfilled or not. Therefore, it may be necessary to monitor the status of the project information as it becomes available to ensure the Green Party stance best reflects the actual development of the project. 2 2 Research question Does the proposed Valemount Ski Resort Development satisfy the criteria of a “green” project, according to the 10 guiding principles of the Green Party of BC? 3 Project introduction 3.1 Study area Valemount is a small town located at the confluence of the Rocky, Caribou, and Monashee mountain ranges. It is very close to Mt. Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies, a popular destination for sightseers. It is 300 km SW of Prince George, and 120 km west of Jasper. Its relatively modest population of approximately 1100 is supported by a mix of forestry related activities, the public sector, transfer payments from senior governments, and tourism (Pheidias Project Management Corporation 2012b). 3.2 Project proposal The proposal is for a year round, four season glacier skiing and sightseeing resort. In the summertime, lifts will be used to access spectacular mountain views as well as high altitude glacier skiing. It is intended as a showpiece destination, designed to attract international guests and emulate the experience of the European Alps. It will feature the ski run with the longest patrolled vertical drop in the world, at 2400 metres, and will have a controlled recreation area of 20 000 acres, a ski run terrain of 2500 acres, and a total capacity at full build out of 12 000 people. At build out, it will also include a village base with up to 2 000 new bed units, approximately 10% of which will be designated employee housing, and several new restaurants. In addition to the ski lifts and sightseeing platforms, several other recreational facilities, including snowshoe and cross-country ski trails, a snow tubing area, and a full size hockey rink will be developed (Phedias Project Management Corporation 2012b). 3.3 Proponent information The proposed resort is designed by Oberti Resort Design, a well established architectural firm based out of Vancouver, and managed by Pheidias Project Management Corporation (PPMC), 3 which shares the same office. This partnership has been responsible for a number of resort proposals and developments in British Columbia, including the Kicking Horse Mountain resort near Golden, an expansion to Crystal Mountain near Kelowna, and the highly controversial Jumbo Glacier proposal near Invermere, BC. The Jumbo proposal has been controversial since its inception in 1990, and has recently been given the green light with the provincial approval of the Jumbo Resort Master Plan in November 2012 (Metcalfe 2013). 4 Literature review Before evaluating a ski resort, it is important to have an idea of some of the common issues, challenges, benefits, practises and solutions with respect to sustainable ski resort and tourism development. While a more limited quantity exists specifically pertaining to Valemount, there is a large body of work on various facets of ski resort and tourism development in other areas. A brief literature review is provided here, presented within broad areas of environmental, social, and economic sustainability. 4.1 Environment Environmentally, ski resorts are known to generate numerous negative effects. These can include increased energy and water use, increased solid waste, increased emissions from transportation, deforestation, impacts on vegetation, fish, and wildlife habitat, air, sound, and visual pollution (Call 2012, Chipeniuk 2005, George 2003, Clifford 2002, Holden 1999, Good 1995). In face of such evidence, it is hard to argue that they create environmental benefits. However, in some cases, such as Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the environmental cost of a ski resort is seen as somewhat beneficial in that it is less detrimental than the environmental degradation that would have occurred had resource extraction continued in the area (Chipeniuk 2005). While it is inherently almost impossible to incur zero environmental effects as a result of a new project, it is possible to minimize environmental impact through careful planning and adherence to existing guidelines. For ski resorts, an example of one such guideline is the Sustainable Slopes Charter developed by the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) in 2000 (NSAA 2005). Although it has been proven to be ineffectual in practise, due to the voluntary nature of the 4 guidelines (Rivera et. al 2006, George 2003), it does provide a comprehensive checklist of principles and practical options for reducing the environmental impacts of ski resorts throughout the construction and operation phases. In this document, the key areas of concern for ski resorts include: water and energy use, waste management, fish and wildlife, forest and vegetation, wetlands and riparian areas, air and visual quality, transportation, education and outreach, emphasizing the importance of reducing impacts across a range of environmental criteria as well as educating the public about them (NSAA 2005). Furthermore, in the long term, there is the consideration of climate change, and the uncertain effects on the ski industry (Scott et. al 2006, Holden 1999). While it is believed that the Valemount Resort is of a sufficiently high altitude to be unaffected by climate change for some time (PPMC 2012a), resorts in other areas such as the Northeastern United States are facing decreased ski season lengths, more variable snowfall, and an increased need for water resources for artificial snowmaking in as little as fifty years (Scott et. al 2006). 4.2 Social From the point of view of existing residents, there are several key social sustainability issues pertaining to resort development. Perhaps most importantly, is the disconnect that often exists between existing residents, the developer, and governmental agencies. There may be a real or perceived lack of control by local residents, and a fear that the resort developer, often a large corporation, will become the sole controlling factor in the community (Nepal 2008). To some extent, this can be mitigated if the ski resort lies within the municipal boundaries of the nearby town. This allows the municipality to collect property taxes and have more influence over the actions of the resort, but it also means they must provide municipal services such as electricity and water, which can be expensive (Nepal 2008). Furthermore, in the BC context, under the 2004 BC Resort Strategy and Action plan, the decisions of local governments with respect to resort development may in some cases be overridden if the provincial government deems the resort to be in the broader public interest (Chipeniuk 2005). Some additional common social issues with ski resort development include the following: Increased real estate prices and a higher cost of living (Nepal 2011, Chipeniuk 2005) 5 Out-migration of long-time residents to more affordable or undeveloped areas (Chipeniuk 2005, Nepal 2011) Trends of counter-urbanization, rural gentrification, and the segregation of existing town and new resort community (Nepal 2011), changed social structures within the community (Nepal 2011, Clifford 2002) Lessened sense of community and place (Chipeniuk 2005, Gill 1994) Overwhelmingly, the literature points to the importance of community and stakeholder consultation when developing a tourism resort (Nepal 2008 and 2011, Aspinal et al 2011, Richins 2009, Chipeniuk 2005, Gill 1994). This would help develop