According to Canadian Buisness and CBC, The BC province has given its approval for developing a ski resort for Garibaldi at Squamish.  The two main stakeholders are Luigi Aquilini and Bob Gaglardi, which they have been planning the project for decades.   Many affected stakeholders have filed against the proposed project, holders such as Whistler Blackcomb, First Nations, and Environmental professionals such as applied biologist.

In this analysis, a map of the Garibaldi region has been mapped with important ecological areas.  The data of old growth and ungulate areas were retrieved from the BC Data Catalogue.  The rest of the data was retrieved from the Geography department of the University of British Columbia.

The snow line (see figure 1 below) is set at 555m of vertical.  A professor mentioned during a geographic information science course that Whistler Blackcomb claimed the considerations for skiing below 555m of vertical is ruled out based on climatologist reports.  The report was cited from a 1974 paper , and given the effects of climate change on glaciers and alpine regions, it can be inferred that the snow line has increased in elevation which makes building a winter resort redundant.  Another issue of building a resort is the destruction of the old growth forest, which plays an integral role in the ecosystem such as habitat for endemic species and ecosystem services.  Ungulate habitat areas are also at risk since most of the habitat is found above the snow line.  Fish stocks are also at risk of being destroyed.

Business-wise, creating another ski hill nearby whistler might decrease overall traffic, however this will create competitive pricings which will harm both consumers and businesses.  The main question that may not be resolved is which holds greater value for the province and the people, tourism or ecological services?  Some might say tourism is profitable and the latter can not be.  There could be a case where ecological services can prevent negative externalities such as landslides from soil degradation and deforestation, which can be costly if not mitigated.  One side can bring monetary value, the other mitigates issues and provides services for free; both are assets but which holds greater value?

By collecting public data from the BC government, I have been able to display multiple ecological sensitive areas in Garibaldi park that will be affected by the development of the resort.

Figure 1. Map of ecological areas in Garibaldi at Squamish.