Vancouver 2010 announced recently, that after searching for the best location to host the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events if Vancouver hosts the 2010 Winter Games, it had decided on Cypress Mountain.
But Pique News Magazine reports that plans to introduce snowmaking machines, clear land and put in more facilities on Cypress are worrying some environmentalists.
Katharine Steig of the Friends of Cypress Provincial Park Society said, “personally, I have any number of questions about this. The whole thing has to be thoroughly and publicly aired so that everyone understands what is happening before it is a done deal””
Cypress was selected because it is close to Vancouver and has a paved three-lane highway to the top.
But Pique reports that to host the Games the venue must be able to make snow and to make snow there must be available water either from creeks or from a reservoir which would have to be constructed within the bounds of the provincial park.
Steig says she’s concerned that the noise of the equipment will disturb the environment, the water use may affect the community water supply, and the use of such equipment is not within the framework of sustainability.
She also questions the use of public money to pay for the equipment.
She said, “I noticed that it would be the Olympic Bid Committee that would be paying for the snowmaking. We the public paid for the sewer and water development (at Cypress) and now we are talking about more facilities. If this is considered one of the community benefits I would say personally and very, very strongly that this is not in my view a benefit to this park”.
Vancouver 2010 bid spokesperson Michelle Penz said that environmental and hydrology studies are under way by the bid corporation.
Matthew Broadbent, spokesman for Cypress, said “the process is being driven by the Olympic bid themselves. We are fully aware of what the impacts could be, or at least what the process needs to be, in order to ensure that we minimize or accept any of the impacts and I know that that process is under way, but it is too early to predict the outcome”.
But he added, “there is a lot of work that needs to be done and a lot of careful work for the environment”.
