The Garibaldi at Squamish is a proposed development project for a year-round resort 15 km north of the town of Squamish. There main focus of the resort is a ski hill. According to the plans it would take 20 years to build and create 900 construction jobs during development and 2500 service jobs after completion. There is some concern over the economic viability of the resort due in part to chancing climate and environmental conditions. Since 1974, it has been reported that skiing under the elevation of 555m above sea level is no longer viable due to the changing climate. Given current day understandings of climate change, this number has been increased to 600m. I am a natural resource planner hired by the BC Snowmobile Federation to examine the Environmental Assessment’s recommendations and Whistler’s criticisms to evaluate 
whether or not I can condone this project. Currently, I am opposed to it, but perhaps this analysis will prove support the project’s development. To determine whether or not this project is a viable option in term of the surrounding environment I will analyze available data using GIS software.
To conduct a complete environmental assessment we must take into account the species living in the proposed park area, the elevation scheme, the distribution of fish-bearing streams, and the presence of old growth forest areas. All of this data can be found on the province of BC’s website. I found layers of data related to old growth forest management, species winter habitat range, endangered species, river systems, and elevation as well as the park boundary coordinates. I delineated all the layers using the park boundary to only show information relevant to the park. I then sorted the data to obtain the areas of each consideration in question. For example, I calculated the percentage of old growth regions in the park. The total percentage of the area of the park affected by the various environmental factors is 46.5% and out of that 31.8% of the land is below 600m. Give than quantity of land below 600m combined with the amount of red-listed species and old growth management that 
would be affected I can’t condone the development of the project. Economically it wouldn’t be viable because there isn’t enough land to ski on. In my opinion, the elevation and the lack of sufficient snow for skiing is the greatest environmental concern. Second to that is the disappearance of endangered species habitats. In my opinion, these are the most important environmental factors. Unfortunately there is no way to mitigate the elevation however; the red-listed species could be put in protected areas of the park as a form of mitigation.
In this case, I personally agree with the findings of the report and of these maps. However, as a proud environmentalist I can see how it would be difficult to be impartial in conducting assessments like this. I expect that I will find myself working against my own values in the future if I continue in this field.