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Golf Course Map
The golf course for Silver Star Mountain was first proposed in the mid 1990's, with an anticipated opening date of June, 2000. A press release was issued in December 1995 by then Minister of Environment, Moe Sihota "approving in principle" the ski resort's plans to build a golf course. 510 hectares in the southeast corner of the park would be deleted from Silver Star Provincial Park so the resort could build a 149 hectare golf course.
The golf course still does not exist. In April of 2001, the 510 hectares in the southeast corner of the park was deleted by an Order In Council in the B.C. Legislature. The resort sold to new owners about 6 months after the land deletion. The original golf course application lapsed; but in 2006, the resort again applied to develop a golf course in the same place. The map submitted in that application is shown below. The winding road shown on the map does not exist; it is ficticious; however, the locations of fairways #10, 11, 17, and 18 exactly match the UTM coordinates of the 4 fairways logged by the resort in the fall of 2007. These 4 fairways (and the remaining 14) are slated for irrigation with sewage effluent, even though they will remain in the rough-logged condition, including stumps, branches, and assorted logging debris.
Map submitted by Silver Star Mountain Resort to Ministry of Tourism,
Culture and the Arts in its 2006 Golf Course Application
Sewage Effluent Irrigation Map
One might ask, "why would the ski resort want to irrigate the logged clearcuts if there's no grass planted and no golfing will take place there?" To arrive at a satisfactory answer to this pertinent question, it is helpful to review the sewage issues faced by the resort.
Resort expansion and loss of capacity of the exfiltration lagoon (due to clogging with solids) had resulted in the sewage treatment lagoons reaching a critical maximum in 2002, with a subsequent lagoon overflow during a wet season. Effluent irrigation was implemented in the Fall of 2002. Irrigating the Phase I (1.8 hectares) and Phase II ( 4.8 hectares) areas around the lagoons enabled the sewage utility to empty the exfiltraton lagoon every summer. See the diagram below for the layout of the Phase I and Phase II effluent irrigation areas.
Diagram of Sewage Lagoons and Phase I and II Effluent Irrigation Areas
Aerial view of sewage lagoons and Phase 1 and 2 effluent irrigation areas
Typical sign posted around Phase 1 and 2 Effluent Irrigation Areas
By 2006, Silver Star Mountain Resort and its sewage utility, Silverhawk Utilities Inc., were in desperate need of more land for sewage effluent irrigation, due to resort expansion which was producing more sewage than the Phase I and II effluent irrigation areas could handle. So the resort, along with the sewage utility company, applied to the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and the Arts (MTCA) for permission to use the proposed golf course lands for effluent irrigation. Below is the proposed Phase 3A, 3B, and 3C irrigation area map submitted to MTCA. In order to use these lands, the fairways would first have to be clearcut. 4 of the fairways (holes #10,11,17, and 18) were logged in the Fall of 2007.
Proposed effluent irrigation areas 3A, B, and C on proposed golf course
Aerial view of 4 logged fairways and layout of fairways slated to be logged
Once MTCA had approved the proposal, the sewage utility applied for tenure on a statutory right of way which would allow a sewage effluent line to be run the 4 kilometers down to the golf course lands. The drawing of the sewage effluent line and irrigation lines is shown below:
Map of proposed sewage effluent line and fairway irrigation lines
The map shown above shows the road and sewage line fairly accurately, except for a few minor details. Some of the missing information has been added to the map below, to provide a more accurate picture of the present situation.
Marked-up map showing 4 logged fairways and road to Lumby
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