Farewell, Lannan loop

Published: February 09, 2010 3:00 PM

Dear editor,

More than a few times, Comox Stathcona Probus Club hikers, mostly seniors, have hiked what we called the Lannan Loop starting from Quality Foods, across Lerwick, over to what then was the end of Idiens Way, along the back side of Longlands Golf Course, into the quiet, beautiful Lannan Woods.

Then they would head out onto the east-side perimeter road of Crown Isle by their yard waste dump, and on down to the Anderton traffic lights, etc., then looping back east behind Home Depot and back through greenways to QF. About a three-hour, 20-minute hike.

Today, I started across from QF onto the new paved bike/walking trail, then along behind Longlands and into the Lannan Woods. Looking north, I could see daylight through the trees where I never have seen daylight in the distance before.

Sure enough, soon I was completely blocked by total clear-cut slash. All the trees are down.

I have run on those wonderful trails through there for more than 14 years. This was one helluva shock.

As I stood, almost mouth agape, a man appeared who was in the same state of shock/disgust as I was and we started talking.

He asked me if I knew there was a protest meeting going on right now about the how and the why that lands supposedly in the public domain had ended up in a developer’s hands, why there was a loophole that allows the developers to ask for annexation after the land has been clear-cut with no thought other than how many units can be built. And what is the profit margin?

Well, I followed him, bushwhacking, no trail, for about a half-kilometre through the uncut edge, until I came out on the end of Lannan Road. And wow! — there were about 85 people, some with protest signs.

There were two cameramen, and from the back of a pickup truck we were addressed by Barbara Price, Ruth Masters, two councillors from Courtenay, another councillor from Comox, and others, all pissed off about how this had happened. It was explained that, when this chunk of land became public and up for sale, a provincial decision said it was to be by bids and there was only three weeks to make a bid and the money had to be there.

There was just no time to raise enough money as was the case with saving MacDonald Wood.

Last, some of you hikers may remember a unique, large-girthed cedar tree deep in Lannan Woods. About 15 to 20 feet up on two sides of this old cedar were two huge branches going out like arms horizontally for about eight feet, then turning up at the elbows, like a man flexing his arm muscles. Then, where the man’s biceps would be, were trees about eight inches round growing straight up.

As I said, many years ago, I used to run through there and it was then that I first saw that sign that someone had hung in an 8x10 plastic sleeve that said “Please don’t cut me down.” That sign was still there Dec. 7, 2009, when Morris, Allan, Lynn, Patty and I last hiked through there.

That tree is not standing now.

Farewell, Lannan loop. Bloody shame.

Curt Usherwood,

Courtenay

http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_north/comoxvalleyrecord/opinion/letters/83931222.html