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Logging planned for Cottonwood Lake and Apex areas

The private land to be logged is owned by Nelson Land Corporation headed by Mike Jenks
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Plans are in place to log the hillside on the right side of this photo, adjacent to the popular cross-country ski trails. Photo courtesy of Nelson Nordic Ski Club

The president of a local ski organization is worried about proposed private land logging at the Apex ski area.

“This is not something the ski club wants at all,” said Louise Poole, president of the Nelson Nordic Ski Club. She said the club is concerned that the logging will create an avalanche hazard.

“Besides being a beautiful piece of land it is very steep, and our concern is for our trails and the rail trail.”

The area to be logged is a swath of privately owned forest beside Highway 6 from Cottonwood Lake past the Apex ski area and partway up Whitewater Road.

One of the areas that would be cut would be the hillside adjacent to the Apex ski trails.

Poole says she has met with Mike Jenks of Nelson Land Corporation, the owner of the land to be logged, and her information is based on that conversation.

“My understanding is that they are planning this year for logging next year.”

Jenks, contacted by the Star, declined to discuss his plans. The Star has so far not been able to obtain a map of the specific area to be logged.

Hans Cunningham, who represents Area G at the Regional District of Central Kootenay, told the Star that an RDCK parks committee recently met to discuss the implications of the logging for Cottonwood Lake Park.

“We understand it is their intention to log the area around Cottonwood Lake, Cunningham said. “The park is quite small and that means that most of the mountainside can be laid bare. Aesthetically that is not going to look very nice.”

Cunningham said the committee has not yet talked to Jenks or to his logging contractor.

“We want to know what their intentions are and how they want to do it,” Cunningham said. “We don’t want to jump the gun because we don’t know what his plans are.”

Poole says the ski club’s options are limited because the land to be logged is private and therefore not subject to regulation.

“When they start planning we will touch base with them again,” she said.

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The hillside to be logged is in the background, behind the ski area entrance shown here. Photo courtesy of Nelson Nordic Ski Club


Bill Metcalfe

About the Author: Bill Metcalfe

I have lived in Nelson since 1994 and worked as a reporter at the Nelson Star since 2015.
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