Josh Pressey, the District Manager for Quesnel for the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, says it would provide an emergency exit route to Highway 16 for residents of the Lhoosk’uz Dene or Kluskus Nation reserve and the people in the surrounding area west of Quesnel.
“The road would begin at approximately 53.25 kilometres along the Coglistiko Forest Service Road, cross the Blackwater or the West River River and connect to the end of the Blue 4000 Forest Service Road in the Vanderhoof Natural Resource District. The ministry is consulting with First Nations, stakeholders and the public, as well as undertaking environmental, heritage and recreation reviews before making a decision on whether to proceed with construction.”
Pressey says the road would be built to forest service road standards and it would be a gravel road.
He says they will be taking feedback on-line up until November 15th….
“And it’ll be submitted to the e-mail website…[email protected]. Once we receive all the feedback we’ll be assessing, making sure our mitigations address those concerns by the public and stakeholders and of course our First Nations partners. And then we’ll be looking for make a decision moving forward by the end of December.”
Pressey says the main motivation behind the road is safety, as he says the people in that area have been evacuated half a dozen times in just the past nine years.
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