Grand Wall Boulderfields trashed by movieshoot.

[vanclimber]

I was at the Grand Wall today and was amongst many people who were outraged at the level of damage caused by the people shooting a movie near Cacaodemon. The trails had been flagged off, but there were mountains of sandbags outside the tape, and a great deal of underbrush had been destroyed.

Someone had applied some kind of orange goo to the area around the last hold on Easy Chair, and the whole area in front of that boulder had been filled with debris from filming, and they also removed the old log that had been there for ages. There was a fire pit and trash below Baba Hari Dass, and massive stages have been constructed on the trail leading from the old highway to Easy Chair (which had been closed for rehabilitation for the last few years) and all the way up to Permanent Waves.

We took many photos of the wanton destruction and disrespect for all the care that our community has taken to keep the area clean and natural. It looked to me like basically 10+ years of bouldering can't do as much damage as 1 week of filming. I hope to be able to post pics of this as soon as possible for those unable to get up to the Chief to witness it for themselves.

I hope these people can and will be held accountable for their actions. While it is still possible for them to clean up all the debris, I am unsure how they plan to resurrect all the plants and trees that were killed for props and trampled underfoot. I also understand that certain local climbers were either working on the set or in cahoots with these people.

[tattooed_climber]

contact the squamish chamber of commerce or city hall and make a complaint.....i did when they filmed "underworld 2" at the base of the chief....sounds like its no where as bad as what they did to the boulderfeilds though...or, connact the climbers access society of BC, i'm sure they know who to talk to....

[PAW]

I agree. It looked ridiculous when I was up on Friday.

I didn't bother to enter the forest in that area because it was to wet in the forest, but the destruction was evident just on the old road bed, where they cut down bushes, put down gravel to enhance the road that no one drives on seems weird. Does anyone from chamber oversee movie filming??

There was someone on the crew that I recognize as a local climber, I would love to hear from him what he thought.

Does anyone know when the filming is to be finished???

[PAW]

I emailed the Chamber of Commerce, and here is the reply

I think a few organizations would be interested in hearing from you.

District of Squamish - www.squamish.ca
604-892-5217

Squamish Off Road Cycling Assoc. - www.sorca.ca
604-892-8485

Squamish Rock Climbers Association - squamish.vpo.ca
604-892-9092


Elizabeth Carter
Manager, Events and Member Services
Squamish Chamber of Commerce
email: elizabeth@squamishchamber.com
tel: 604-815-4990
toll free: 1-866-333-2010

Anyways I have fired off emails to the District and am waiting for a reply, SORCA is not really a stake holder so whatever, and I left a message for the climbers association.
It looks to me from the districts website that they are responsible for overseeing movie filming because they take $125 fee for "This ensures that filming activity is conducted in accordance with the safety and amenity regulations of the District of Squamish."

Sounds like we the climbers and all our dollars spent in Squamish aren't worth anything in comparrison to a movie shoot.

[gearheart]

I don't think this is District of Squamish issue - its a BC Parks decision, I believe. I gather there have been many e-mails sent to CASBC expressing negative sentiments about this and the Squamish Access Society is also certainly aware of the problem.
There are meetings ongoing with BC Parks and the various climbers organizations and this will no doubt be discussed.
I would love to see those pictures of the mess posted as I haven't walked over to see the mess myself (yet).
Todd

[tattooed_climber]

I don't think this is District of Squamish issue - its a BC Parks decision, I believe. I gather there have been many e-mails sent to CASBC expressing negative sentiments about this and the Squamish Access Society is also certainly aware of the problem.
There are meetings ongoing with BC Parks and the various climbers organizations and this will no doubt be discussed.
I would love to see those pictures of the mess posted as I haven't walked over to see the mess myself (yet).
Todd

thats right...

i'll fire an email off to one of my partners who's a BC parks Ranger...he'll be pissed off to here this too!...

[Aaron]

Water Land & Air Protection
Ministry of &
Parks
Alice Lake Park
Garibaldi
Sunshine Coast District
Phone: (604) 898-3678

Ask to speak to the Area Supervisor for Stawamus Chief Provincial Park. This is the guy to express your concerns to. He's also to guy with the power to issue any fines or -more likely- direct the offending movie company to do reclamation work. If you tell him- in detail- what damage has been done he'll be able to better tell the movie people what needs cleaning up.
If you give them a call, the work will get done. ask for his E-mail address and send him the details. Photos would be great.

[tattooed_climber]

thx for the info aaron

dude, i'll try to call ya this weekend....

[gearheart]

There was a meeting today between climbers, BC Parks and the movie folks. Damage is being assessed and the hope is to sort out some solutions to the problems the filming created.
If you have a view about possible solutions that you would like to see come out of this, post it here before the weekend and I will ensure that it gets passed along. There is a hope that the bouldering community will speak out and that some positive solutions can come out of this. Ideas about how to fix the damage are good, recognizing that they won't be putting everything back where it was (that's impossible).
Hopefully we can get a good result out of this. So, if you have ideas, post 'em here and they'll get heard.
Todd

[vanclimber]

recognizing that they won't be putting everything back where it was (that's impossible).

If this is the case then the obvious answer, at least to me, regarding a solution to the conflict that has occured here is that all BC Parks user groups that require permits should have a plan in place that strives to achieve "leave no trace" and should be held accountable when that plan fails. There is no excuse that since I can be charged $2000 for littering in the forest, a movie company can do exponentially worse damage and not be held liable.

Thanks for attending the meeting Gearheart. Hopefully other people will speak out as well.

[fernpolice]

To all those concerned with recent filming activities at the Chief,

For the past eight years I’ve worked as a film liaison for BC Parks. An important part of my job is to help productions prevent avoidable damage and unacceptable impacts. Before the arrival of the shooting crew I asked that raised wooden platforms and boardwalks be constructed over sensitive areas. Landscape fabric and gravel was placed on the most heavily used lower trails to protect the ground. When the main access trail to one of their shooting locations became muddy and roots began to be exposed we asked that the production construct a sandbag trail. 790 sandbags were brought in to cover the roots and prevent scarring and polishing. 131 rubber backed carpets were placed over mossy rocks, under equipment and around trees to prevent damage. Miles of flagging tape and hundreds of garden stakes were used to define established trails and work corridors. There were many areas that the production asked to access, shortcuts they wanted to take, limbs they asked to remove where I simply said “no”. I was the least popular person on set.

Now that filming is over my job is to ensure that the locations used are returned to their previous state. It is also an opportunity to re-green areas that were heavily impacted before filming began. Garbage will be removed. Trees, ferns, salal and huckleberry will be planted. Primary trails will be better defined through the use of gravel (if desired) and braided and redundant trails can be decommissioned. The main access road, a crumbling mix of asphalt and dirt and mud has been capped with 70 yards of gravel and with permission, the production will narrow the road to a more path-like condition with topsoil and by planting native species. I’ve supervised more than 100 productions within BC Parks over the past eight years and I’ve yet to see a location that didn’t look better when film crews left than when they arrived. I am fully confident that this will be the case here. I’m also a climber who lives here, and won’t settle for less.

The following are issues that I have identified and the steps that have been / are being undertaken to correct them. I am sure that many of you have issues that I may or may not be able to address and would highly encourage your input.

1. Damage to vegetation.
2. Soil Compaction
3. Widening of the road.
4. Gravel on the trails

1. I witnessed incidental damage to about 6 huckleberry bushes, a dozen clumps of salal, four hemlock seedlings, a handful of ferns, and the trampling of a few areas of moss. I have asked the Greens dept. to order approximately 200 plants of the aforementioned species to be planted in areas identified as appropriate by myself, BC Parks, and a consensus of park users.

**I heard a number of reports of “dozens of tree were cut down, ferns were dug up, huge amounts of soil were excavated, and bags of moss were torn from the forest floor”. I can only assume that someone failed to realize that the Greens dept. brought in dozens of cut trees, bags of ferns, and many bags of moss that were used to “green up” areas that had little or no vegetation. All of these props came from outside the park and have been removed. Two rotting alder snags were removed from the “easy in an easy chair” area after having been determined unsafe for both park users and, incidentally, the film crew.

2. Significant soil compaction was restricted to areas already heavily impacted. Shooting and travel corridors were on established trails and areas where there was no vegetation and where roots had been exposed by years of heavy recreational use. Root polishing and scarring was minimized by a layer of sandbags and carpet and organic material. The greens dept has added dozens of garbage cans of needles and twigs to the entire area which, with time, will break down and increase the sponginess of the forest floor. The planting of 200 plants will also serve to break up the soil and encourage new growth as the groundcover spreads. The new plants should also discourage users (and film crews) from entering areas of re-growth.

3. The production “brushed” two areas on the west side of the old highway (with permission from parks and BC Hydro under the condition that the area be replanted.) It is my understanding that a thorough brushing of the road was done in the spring or summer. Some areas of the road were widened by the passage of trucks and other areas appear wider because of the gravel that was laid down over the crumbling asphalt. Where possible (and if desired) the Greens dept. will add soil and organic material to the gravel edges to make the road more pathlike. Low growing species might also be planted. Come summer, and with the re-growth of the berry bushes, the road will be very un-road-like.

4. Gravel was placed to protect the ground and the roots from horses, people, and equipment. A layer of landscape fabric was placed before the gravel to minimize soil and gravel mixing and to ease clean up if necessary. I envision three feasible options.

a) add more gravel to cover the remaining visible roots and landscape fabric keeping the path to no more than four feet wide and extending from the old highway to “superfly” and “easy in an easy chair”. It might be wise to continue to gravel the first 50 feet of the Grand Wall trail.
b) Same as above but cap the gravel with a thin layer of organic material to give the path a head start in blending in with the surrounding area.
c) Remove all of the gravel.




This production went through all the steps required to obtain a Park Use Permit and is working towards a satisfactory restoration.

The appropriateness of filming in provincial parks is a much broader issue that is best tackled on a provincial level. Questions of values, morals, hypocrisy, and environmental philosophy are beyond the scope of my duties as a film liaison though I’d be happy to discuss my thoughts over a beer.

Respectfully yours,

Rob Cocquyt

[fernpolice]

....and i do hope you're able to eat your words, or at least chew on them a little.

Ugh...more rain.

Meeting with a bunch of climbing folks today at noon, hopefully for more input.