Cathedral Grove parking/safety concerns remain on government radar

Environment and Parks minister Tamara Davidson said “we have every option on the table” to address the issues.

“If we build a parking expansion, it’s not that we want to invite more people in, it’s that we want to have the people that are already coming to keep them safe,” Davidson said. “We don’t want them parking on the side of the highway, we don’t want them crossing the highway.”

Limited angle vehicle parking is available on either side of the highway where loop trails are accessed on the north and south sides of the busy corridor.

BC Parks estimates upwards of 500,000 people visit the old growth forest spectacle annually.

Incremental traffic calming and pedestrian enhancements have been made over the years, but restricted parking availability remains an issue, particularly during peak summer travel season.

“We’ve talked about doing a possible walkway over the highway, we’re looking at different options like that, but really any time that we’ve put a proposal on the table we do get a lot of pushback from people who really want to protect the nature of it,” Davidson said.

Parks and Environment Minister Tamara Davidson scans towering old growth Cedar and Douglas Fir trees while walking through Cathedral Grove during a rainy Thursday, March 19.

Mid-Island Pacific Rim MLA Jose Osborne said improved public access at Cathedral Grove needs to be balanced by environmental preservation to protect the cherished area.

“I’m very confident we will be able to find a solution; it’s probably a matter of when, not if,” Osborne told reporters while touring the famed park.

Discussions with local governments, First Nations, forestry stakeholder Mosaic Forest Management, and others have been held to advance improved and safer access to Cathedral Grove, Osborne stated.

“This is a place that inspires people, for some people this is the closest they will ever get to be in an old growth forest and to understand how it feels and that connection to the land and the nature and to the history of this place, we want to be able to preserve and protect that.”

Elevated boardwalk installed in 2021 at the north end of Cathedral Grove’s trail system improves accessibility and assists environmental protection/rehabilitation. (Image Credit: Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Enhanced trail accessibility

Thursday’s tour showcased relatively recent, and planned future upgrades to bolster trail user accessibility at Cathedral Grove, home to a pair of loop trails on both sides of Hwy. 4.

An extended section of elevated Cedar boardwalk trail with guardrails was constructed between 2020 and 2021 with the use of COVID stimulus funding at a cost just under $1 million, according to BC Parks

BC Parks’ Christine Rikley serves as a parks and protected areas section head for mid Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii.

She said investigative work is underway to potentially build a similar boardwalk on the south side of Hwy. 4.

“It’s not just accessibility, it gets people up off the ground and off the roots of the trees, and so we’re hoping to do similar (work) over there; but of course costs have risen and that trail is longer.”

Rikley said ongoing environmental assessment work is discerning how to move forward on potential boardwalk expansion at Cathedral Grove.

She pointed out reconfiguring the trail away from Cameron River’s edge is being discussed to address erosion issues on the south side of Hwy. 4.

BC Parks attempts to maintain non-boardwalk, hard-surface trails within Cathedral Grove to accessible standards to be enjoyed by as many park users as possible, Rikley noted.

Confined in a wheelchair, Juan de Fuca Malahat MLA Dana Lajeunesse serves as the province’s Parliamentary Secretary for Accessibility.

He called it “incredibly fortunate” to use the accessible-friendly portion of trail.

“For years, this type of environment was inaccessible to me, beaches and all of those types of things are not designed for wheelchairs, so to add this type of infrastructure to a place like this makes it accessible again and I love it,” Lajeunesse said.

MLA’s Dana Lajeunesse, Brenda Baily (finance minister) and Josie Osborne (health minister) walking through Cathedral Grove. (Image Credit: Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Subscribe to our daily news wrap. Local news delivered to your email inbox every evening. Stay up to date on everything Nanaimo and Oceanside.

info@nanaimonewsnow.com

Follow us on: Twitter (X) | Bluesky | Facebook

by Ian Holmes

Cathedral Grove parking/safety concerns remain on government radar

More Local News