Clearcutting on Fromme?!?

[Nelson]

Apparently a 1 acre clearcut was found on Fromme last week. The mayor is on CBC talking about it now. The Clearcut was done in 2003 based on tree ring records....

I'm listening right now.

[aShogunNamedMarcus]

Wheres the article - I cant find anything on a quick glance on cbc.ca

[Rooter]

The Mayor also brought it up in the council meeting last night. Apparently there was a one acre clear cut area somewhere on fromme(exact location unspecified). She mentoined that this was deliberate and that small gas containers were scattered all over the affected area. They now have to decide what to do about the felled trees as this appears to have happened two years ago(Approximate).

To listen to the March 7th council meeting use the link below, the post to be able to listen to this probably will not happen until Thursday or Friday this week when the site updates the recent council meeting.

http://www.dnv.org/article.asp?a=325&c=86

[Coop]

And bikers are implicated in this? Or was someone making a clearing for their secret party cabin?

[DaveM]

Could it have been one of the private properties up there?

[Rat]

I bet it was for an outdoor grow area.

[Rooter]

She said that she believes with confidence that this action was NOT motivated by mountain bikers.

[DaveM]

Sooo....are we to believe there's lots of good cedar just laying on the ground up there? :D

[Rexthespeedster]

Originally posted by Rat
I bet it was for an outdoor grow area.

My first thoughts as well.

[wilkez]

donate the wood to trail maintenenace

[synchro]

Originally posted by davet
Sooo....are we to believe there's lots of good cedar just laying on the ground up there? :D

Originally posted by wilkez
donate the wood to trail maintenenace

if it's all cedar, 1 acre of trees would sustain trail building on fromme well past my time on this planet. nsmba will have to get in touch with the district to see about the use of some of this wood.

[synchro]

here's the cbc website link

http://vancouver.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=bc_clearcut20050308

[synchro]

great, cbc points out the clearcut is in an area popular with mtn bikers :rolleyes:

[Tom]

I'm curious as to how a dense forested area far from any marked trails would be popular with mountain bikers? :mad:

[german accent]they're cutting down acres of trees for their stunts and jumps for their extreme off road vehicles[/german accent]

[skifreak]

Originally posted by synchro
great, cbc points out the clearcut is in an area popular with mtn bikers :rolleyes:

ok - so here it is - a mountain within minutes of a few million people, and no one has noticed for 2 years that there was a clear cut?

Does no one fly over the area, no one doing wildlife or fire risk observations, would an acre cut in the middle of the forest not stand out?

and yeah - when I heard it on the news on cbc -(radio each hour) it sure had the slant that mountain bikers might be implicated... (at least the media put it that way)

[synchro]

i just got off the phone with the cbc, they will be removing the mountian biking inference from their radio reports and will be getting the website edited.

skifreak, if you happen to hear it on the news again please let me know.

[skifreak]

Originally posted by synchro
i just got off the phone with the cbc, they will be removing the mountian biking inference from their radio reports and will be getting the website edited.

skifreak, if you happen to hear it on the news again please let me know.

I'll listen - it was during the 9am news segment at the top of the hour, but they repeat during the day

Wonder if our good friend Mr C was helpful in the inference... touche!

[Bryce]

Originally posted by skifreak
Wonder if our good friend Mr C was helpful in the inference... touche!

more like douche

there's no specifics on the location? What are the measurements of an acre, like 100' x 100' or something?

[synchro]

am acre is 208ft x 208ft or about 70m x 70m

[a-d-s]

So the question for the district would be: Why didn't the Alpine Rec Study find this area and incorporate it into it's analysis!?!?

[aShogunNamedMarcus]

The area is still covered by snow so its up there.

[Tom P]

Originally posted by skifreak
would an acre cut in the middle of the forest not stand out?

If the clearing is an irregular shape (ie not a square) and the wood is still on the ground, it would be tough to spot. If the wood hasnt been harvested then a lot of the understorey vegetation will still be intact and green, adding to the "camouflage" if you will. A brief glance from a chopper and you would probably think it was a small patch of blowdown.

[TheGiggler]

Originally posted by a-d-s
So the question for the district would be: Why didn't the Alpine Rec Study find this area and incorporate it into it's analysis!?!?

good question!

considering they supposedly had a fairly detailed environmental study of the whole area, you gotta wonder why they're just finding about it now??

i'm also super curious if anyone knows where it is... (send a PM please).

[aShogunNamedMarcus]

Originally posted by synchro
am acre is 208ft x 208ft or about 70m x 70m

One of the articles mentioned a half hectare. If I remember right, a hectare is 8 square acres. :s

[Tom P]

a hectare is 100m x 100m, or 10,000 m2
an acre is equal to 0.404 hectare, so just under half a hectare.

[aShogunNamedMarcus]

well arent I way off...

[Bryce]

Originally posted by a-d-s
So the question for the district would be: Why didn't the Alpine Rec Study find this area and incorporate it into it's analysis!?!?

If its still under snow, then its high up near the top of Fromme (maybe above the gravel pit). That means it might be beyond the bounds of the study, probably Grouse property or GVRD

[Tom P]

cbc has removed the reference to mountain bikers from their online article.

[skifreak]

Originally posted by .f|oW.
cbc has removed the reference to mountain bikers from their online article.

I didn't hear any more about it on the lunch hour news segments on cbc -

It's interesting to look back at the coverage that was on CBC radio recently about mountain biking on Fromme, it wasn't as positive towards biking as the one on CKNW.

Clear cuts and blow downs occur all over the place - but this one gets high coverage (segment on the morning audio along with article on the Vancouver news area) and a negative inference to mountain bikers?

To quote the mayor - "I stressed at last night's council meeting that we're not going to tolerate the blatant destruction of our forested lands," she says. "I mean, people cannot just go in there and cut trees down with impunity."

gee - wasn't Crist going on about how mountain bikers were cutting down live trees in his main point yesterday?

Nothing showing on the CKNW news listings...

[chris2]

CBC actualy phoned me early this morning looking for a comment from the NSMBA, but it was the first I had heard of the clear cut and I was groggy (woke me up) so not able to offer any input. They had tried to get in touch with Sharon, and I told them to call Dave Diplock. I take it they didn't get in touch with anyone :(

[stillgoing]

Sounds like CBC has it in for us. Too bad, especially since having our 'showpiece' trail named after them is essentially free advertising.

Hey - there's a thought: Corporate sponsership of trails. "Denny's Dangerous Downhill"?

[Midas]

I have a feeling this could not be above the gravel pit but possibly somewhere on the back side of the mountain, or the other side you cant see going up grouse, you can see the face from the city pretty well and the western facing side from blueberry bowl on grouse all the way up to the peak, also somewhat of the back so this possibly is on the side that sloped into Lynn valley or somewhere on the back. I would like to go for a hike and check this out somewhat... unless there can be mroe information that my rickety putting two and two together and possibly winding up with 5.

[switch]

Originally posted by synchro
great, cbc points out the clearcut is in an area popular with mtn bikers :rolleyes:
The link doesn't say that anymore. :)



Originally posted by synchro
am acre is 208ft x 208ft or about 70m x 70m
Close. It's 660ft x 66ft (220 yds x 22 yds), or 43,560 sq ft (4840 sq yds). :)

[patrolskid]

can someone post utm coordinates ?

[synchro]

Originally posted by switch
The link doesn't say that anymore. :)




Close. It's 660ft x 66ft (220 yds x 22 yds), or 43,560 sq ft (4840 sq yds). :)

yeah, i know the reference on the web is gone rob, i was the one that got them to take it off the website and out of their news reports

Originally posted by synchro
i just got off the phone with the cbc, they will be removing the mountian biking inference from their radio reports and will be getting the website edited.

oh and sorry bout the measurement, i was off by 8.5 inches on each side of the 208ft square, or a huge 0.34%



go spend more time on your bike you noob :P

[Oldfart]

Mayor Harris said on the CBC yesterday morning that it was close the Grouse Mountain gravel pit. If it is still under snow, than perhaps that is too high to grow dope. I don't know any mountainbikers who prefer riding open clear cut areas. Harris said she does not believe it was mountainbikers. I wonder if the cabin builders were building another cabin once the older one below the 7th switchback was discovered and they felt the tearing down of the old one was inevitable.

Could it be that it was a blow down but some one went in and "harvested" the blown down trees and made it look like a tiny logging operation?

Hard to imagine the motivation to clearcut a tiny area way up a mountain like that. How would you get the trees out and not be seen. Must be for a use close to the cut area.

[Duncan]

Originally posted by Oldfart
Mayor Harris said on the CBC yesterday morning that it was close the Grouse Mountain gravel pit. If it is still under snow, than perhaps that is too high to grow dope.

What would be the maximum altitude for growing dope at this latitude? You would think some reefer-poindexter somewhere would have developed cold-tolerant varieties of the stuff. D.

[parksvilleguy]

ok so let me get this straight, someone(s) went out on fromme and cut down an acre worth of tress, which is a fairly good patch of them. and no one ever noticed the noise for one, nevermind how many planes, helicopters or anything else that flys over that area never grew concerned or noticed this fact for almost 2 years. Some people are obviosuly clueless to not notice a thing like that.

oh yea and nevermind helicopter and planes flying around the north shore and forests looking for and fighting small forest fires, no one noticed then either???

[aShogunNamedMarcus]

Originally posted by Oldfart
Hard to imagine the motivation to clearcut a tiny area way up a mountain like that. How would you get the trees out and not be seen. Must be for a use close to the cut area.

On the same note, hard to imagine that someone didnt notice a couple of people luggin up chainsaws and jerry cans. I imagine if they had that, they also had the full face shields and proper loggin equipment.

[cam@nsmb.com]

I just came back from a meeting with the Dist and got some 411 on this.

First of all it's a much larger area. Two to three hectares not acres. It's above the gravel pit and a creek runs through it - well irrigated.

The suspicion is that it was indeed for a grow patch and nobody at the Dist thinks riders are involved and are releasing a statement to that effect.

It was found by a Grouse Mt. helicopter. The timber was felled and left there.

[aShogunNamedMarcus]

thats a lot of herb in that case.

[Nelson]

Who's gonna get all the timber?

[derwood]

As someone who has spent a fair bit of time up on the locals as well as a bit of time in low flying helicopters......I find it hard to belive this went unnoticed until now.

Grouses' bird flys over that area all the time....Talon flys over that area alll the time.If its visible from the ski hill,at least one resort staffer would have noticed something.....

How does one get a truck(I assume) with falling gear in the back all the way up to the gravel pit anywhoo?

With permission or legal access I would guess.

BTW...an area that size with the age of the trees up there would have to be logged in the daytime,unless they were completley nuts.....:rolleyes:

[aShogunNamedMarcus]

Originally posted by derwood

Grouses' bird flys over that area all the time....Talon flys over that area alll the time.If its visible from the ski hill,at least one resort staffer would have noticed something.....

How does one get a truck(I assume) with falling gear in the back all the way up to the gravel pit anywhoo?

With permission or legal access I would guess.

BTW...an area that size with the age of the trees up there would have to be logged in the daytime,unless they were completley nuts.....:rolleyes:

Sooo what exactly are you implying here ?

It was a district grow op???

edit: maybe thats why Ernie wants a moratorium on riding up there.. he's afraid or was afraid that we'd stumble upon his stash mods can edit this to.. or let me know and I will.

[derwood]

Has GMR commented on this.........:???:

[DaveM]

Originally posted by synchro
oh and sorry bout the measurement, i was off by 8.5 inches

Caught trying that one again eh? :D

[CraigH]

That might explain the beater 4x4 trucks that we sometimes ran into on the road during night rides on Fromme.

I had just assumed they were ski hill employees, but now...

[TheGiggler]

there is one 4x4 truck which you might see at night as is totally cool.... some riders/builders do have the gate key. and like you say, Grouse is always having service trucks/pickups up there.

and to those who think it would be tough to walk up there with saws and gear... guess again! especially if you went up early AM. there's a lot of land on fromme, especially up where it sounds like it is...

[Smoke]

I'm sure (actually positive) that there are more 'patches' out there. An acre is pretty small when you get right down to it.

Anyone else remember that plane that they found on Seymour four or five years ago?

It went missing in 1946 or so.

Took over 50 years to find it.

[switch]

Originally posted by davet
Caught trying that one again eh? :D
Damn - beat me to it! :D

Mark - good job and getting CBC to adjust their article.

NS News articles quotes the DNV saying they do not believe it was a grow-op or mountain bikers. Nice to see who we are grouped with. :lol:

Why do they think it was done a couple years ago? Is there noticeable decay?

I hope they release some photos.

[CraigH]

Smoke, did you see this post by Cam about the area?

Originally posted by cam@nsmb.com
I just came back from a meeting with the Dist and got some 411 on this.

First of all it's a much larger area. Two to three hectares not acres. It's above the gravel pit and a creek runs through it - well irrigated.

The suspicion is that it was indeed for a grow patch and nobody at the Dist thinks riders are involved and are releasing a statement to that effect.

It was found by a Grouse Mt. helicopter. The timber was felled and left there.

[Smoke]

No, missed that none.

Ummm, yeah.




Thats a little bigger.

Funny place for a grow op though. The coast is a non starter for that kind of operation.

I first thought it might have been tree poachers. I've seen a lot of that in the past few years.

[cam@nsmb.com]

Originally posted by Nelson
Who's gonna get all the timber?

Apparently there is no timber value because it's getting pretty close to the Alpine. I guess that means no commercial timber value.

[Lady Gravity]

Originally posted by switch
NS News articles quotes the DNV saying they do not believe it was a grow-op or mountain bikers. Nice to see who we are grouped with. :lol:

oh well, we all know that mtnbikers are just a bunch of pot smoking hippies :rolleyes:

[Mr Ripper]

Originally posted by Lady Gravity
oh well, we all know that mtnbikers are just a bunch of pot smoking hippies :rolleyes:

Speak for yourself ;)

[Ashek]

this is bad publicity we just dont need... to even be mentioned in the same article as either tree poachers or a grow-up kind of undermines us as a user group with the average person... and goes along with the "them" and "your kind" comments we see from monica, and, well, HER kind.

[Nelson]

Originally posted by cam@nsmb.com
Apparently there is no timber value because it's getting pretty close to the Alpine. I guess that means no commercial timber value.

NSMBA should call dibs.....:)

[butler]

so is there anything new about this clearcut?