The Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District and Tseshaht First Nation are about to ink a deal on lands near the Alberni Valley landfill. The agreement, which is in the process of being drawn up, will turn what could have been a ‘nasty situation’ into a win/win,” said Chief Councillor Hugh Braker.
“The province, quite frankly, goofed,” when it recently gave ACRD authority to remove gravel from lands across the road from the garbage dump, Braker explained. It was the now late Glenn Wong, regional district chair, who saw the problem and immediately approached Tseshaht to negotiate a resolution to it.
“It’s a long, long story,” said Braker, which begins when the dump was licensed for the current site without consultation or the nation’s consent. Tseshaht entered into negotiations with the province on the issue. As part of those discussions Tseshaht had expressed interest in some parcels of land near the dump for economic development purposes.
The province had agreed to put a notation on the fee simple land registration that stated Tseshaht’s interest. Then, along came the ACRD which needed gravel for the landfill, and didn’t they find a supply nearby, on the land that interested Tseshaht. It was only after the permits were granted that ACRD noticed the problem.
“Tseshaht recognized that the regional district was not at fault,” said Braker. “It was the province. They have the land title office, they have the notation, and they had the notes and the memory of the negotiations with Tseshaht. They didn’t communicate that to the regional district.”
So now the organizations have agreed that Tseshaht will log the land, a necessity for the ACRD to extract the gravel. There will be some fees Tseshaht will pay to ACRD, and as a bonus ACRD will extend its blue box recycling program on reserve.
Logging will begin very soon, perhaps within the month. So far there has been no estimate on the revenues that will be realized by the logging.
ACRD is down to about a two-month supply of gravel left at the landfill, said Russell Dyson, ACRD administrator. Garbage is deposited in cells at the dump, he explained. Gravel is used to contain those cells. It acts as a filter for waste water and suppresses any fire from spreading.
ACRD did identify another gravel supply near the airport that could have been accessed, but that would have been expensive to transport and nobody wanted all of that heavy industrial traffic travelling through the reserve to get to the dump, Dyson said.
Braker told Ha-Shilth-Sa that Tseshaht had an excellent relationship with the ACRD through Wong, and, since his sudden passing last year, the ACRD has carried on Wong’s passion for good relations.
“They know that Tseshaht and Hupacasath earned about $4 million last year through fishing, and they know that 75 per cent of that is going to stay within the Alberni Valley,” said Braker. “The regional district sees the value in continued development and prosperity for Tseshaht. They see the value is for the entire valley, not just Tseshaht.”
