Stories from Tri-City News headlines of decades past is a recurring feature as the publication marks its 40th anniversary in 2024.
Environmentalists were all smiles in June 1995, when Premier Mike Harcout and other government and First Nations officials signed an agreement to protect 38,000 hectares between Coquitlam and Garibaldi Provincial Park.
But not everyone was happy.
The day after the deal was sealed at a ceremony at Chimo Pool, 50 loggers blockaded the only road leading to Pitt Lake, upset over the loss of timber they could harvest from the massive area.
“We haven’t been heard,” said one stacker, adding the creation of the new park would deprive his company of more than 2,200 hectares of prime logging territory.
Environmentalists like Mark Haddock of the Burke Mountain Naturalists, however, said they were “overwhelmed” the closest old growth forest to the Lower Mainland, in the Boise Valley, would be saved from logging.
“This is a part of Coquitlam life that’s just amazing,” he told the Tri-City News. “Not many people have even seen this.”
Representatives of the Katzie First Nation, which would share management of the protected area, the new park would present other economic opportunities, like wildness lodges and even cross-country skiing facilities.
The Tri-City News has covered civic affairs, local crime, festivals, events, personalities, sports and arts in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody since 1983. Bound back issues of the paper are available at the Coquitlam Archives, while digital versions of several past years can be found at issuu.com.
