Strathcona Provincial Park, on Vancouver Island in British Columbia is a revelation. Quite possibly the most amazing “State Park” I’ve ever seen, I believe it worth of National Park status in the Canadian National Park system.
The park is comprised of several large lakes, a number of mountains at or near 7000ft with glaciers still visible (just for comparison, the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi River is Mount Mitchell in North Carolina at 6846 ft), a handful of waterfalls and miles of hiking trails.
Then there are the ugly scars of mining and clear cutting for the logging industry, which Canada still allows in and around this park. Right now there are two fires burning in or near the park, one of which threatens some towns the other does not. Evidently a decision to leave the fire in the park, which is not threatening towns at this point, burning uncontrolled, has been made. It’s only old trees . . . 500year old trees. Primal forest so important to the ecology of the whole area is being abandoned until it’s convenient to do something about it.
Naturally caused fires are important to the health of the forest, but to let this burn unimpeded is just wrong. It’s a wrong that will take twenty human generations to replace.
