For immediate release - December 12, 2007

Spotted Owl Site and Old growth Forest Hoped to be Added to Manning Park
Local School and Clubs Participate in Trail Opening Celebration

Vancouver, BC – “The Wilderness Committee has done the impossible! Never before in our history have we completed an entire wilderness trail route in one season” said Wilderness Committee trail worker, Andy Miller. But due to the coordinated efforts of a massive team of dedicated volunteers, Wilderness Committee staff, First Nation youth workers, and funding from the Skagit Environmental Endowment Commission (SEEC), the entire 13km long Ghost Pass trail is now restored and open to the public, with beautiful trail signs erected by the BC government.

Ghost Pass, originally recommended for protection in the 1941 Manning Park Master Plan, was later excluded for the purpose of logging. In fact, the government of the day, after eliminating several nearby big treed valleys from the park plan, wanted to pay for the creation of Manning Park by logging it! Luckily the logging plan was stopped by dedicated park staff. Although logging has begun in many critical wildlife valleys near Ghost Pass, difficult access to this remote glacial “hanging valley” preserved it from logging plans, until recently. Plans developed by the BC government to log adjacent 20 Mile Creek, and the discovery by Wilderness Committee trail workers of logging flagging tape in the Ghost Pass Valley (also known as 18 Mile Creek) heightened concerns that logging may be imminent.

Logging threats to Ghost Pass, and concern for the protection of this high value spotted owl site, prompted the Wilderness Committee and SEEC to collaborate on restoring the historic trail. Seven one-week long trail expeditions, averaging 5 people each, completed the trail project using chainsaws, picks, hoes and hand-saws. Trail access is off Highway 3 at the Manning Provincial Park “West Gate” parking lot, a two hour drive east of Vancouver. Signage directing hikers to the trail is in place. It departs from the same location as the Mt Outram Trail, famous for its easy access to summer alpine wildflower meadows.

The Ghost Pass trail is unique in that the first 2 kilometres follow the historic “Dewdney” wagon road built in 1849 by the Queens “Royal Engineers”. The wagon road was built to connect the gold fields of the BC interior to the coast, and it offers spectacular views of the Cascade Mountains. The trail then climbs up into a remote and beautiful old-growth forest and ends at mysterious Ghost Lake, following a historic link between the Dewdney and HBC Brigade Trails. The trail can be hiked as a long day hike. Several campsites were built by the trail crews to accommodate back-packers. The new 2008 edition of “103 Hikes in Southwestern BC” will feature the Ghost Pass Trail.

Ecologically the area encompassed by the Ghost Pass trail is rich in life because it is located at the juncture of two very different ecosystems: BCs Coast Mountains, and the Cascade Mountains which form a mountainous volcanic spine from the Ghost Pass area south to Mt. Shasta in northern California. Thus, the Ghost Pass area has species characteristic of both the Coast and Cascade mountain ranges. Rare species in Canada, such as mountain beaver and Pacific giant salamander, characteristic of the US Cascade Range survive side by side with Canadian icons such as grizzly bear and timber wolf.

The high ecological value of the unprotected forest between Manning Park and Hope BC, known as the “Coast Cascade Connector” has prompted the Wilderness Committee to call for a 20 km westward expansion of Manning Provincial Park. Currently, Manning Park consists primarily of high mountains. The addition of these low elevation, wildlife rich valleys would make Manning Park a world class leader in ecosystem protection.

The Ghost Pass trail was officially opened to the public following a celebration with the Hope Mountain School Society and numerous outdoor clubs at the trailhead at the Manning Park “West Gate” day use area, 20 km west of Hope on Highway 3 on December 9, 2007.

A feature news article on the Ghost Pass Trail and the opening celebration was published in the Chilliwack Progress newspaper on Saturday, December 8, 2007. Chilliwack is the home and political constituency of BC Environment Minister Barry Penner.

For more information and a hiking map for the Ghost Pass Trail, contact Andy Miller @ 604-683-8220 or 604-992-3099.