Mount Benson Signature Mountain of Nanaimo

Magnificent Saddle Horse Benson is one of the scenic wonderments of Nanaimo, British People Columbia, on the West seashore of George Vancouver Island, Canada. Saddle Horse Benson is the city's background rising 1,019 metres above the Strait of Georgia. The mountain's greenish forested inclines are favourites of tramps and wildlife, and there's a sweeping position of the Coastal Mountain Scope across the H2O from the bouldery summit.

Unfortunately, this eden is threatened. Forestry companies desire to crop lumber on the mountain, while development companies desire to construct extravagance places and vacation spots on the cleared lands. If the logging were to travel ahead, the ugly clearcuts would be an eyesore for decennaries to come. Hiking trails would be destroyed and the wildlife driven away. If subdivisions weirdo up the steep slopes, the harm will be permanent.

It have happened here before. In the 1930s Saddle Horse Benson was logged, and in 1951 a fire destroyed the regenerating forest. In the summertime of 2003, just as the wood was again taking hold, fresh logging began on the nor'-east side of Saddle Horse Benson in full position of the city. This indignant the people and a political campaign to Salvage Saddle Horse Benson was launched.

In 2004 the logging stopped after the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) entered dialogues with landholders to buy the impacted areas. In 2005 the proprietors agreed to sell their place to the RDN for $950,000, and in March 2006 the Nanaimo and Area Land Trust (NALT) stepped forward with a pledge to raise half the money through public contributions.

The 212-hectare Saddle Horse Benson Regional Park will stretch along along the upper presence human face of Saddle Horse Benson. An next 383 hectares of Provincial Crown Land is currently leased to Malaspina University-College arsenic a instruction woodlot which protects it against clearcutting. Discussions are underway with Island Timberlands and Lumber Occident to buy or barter other places on the mountain's presence face. Together, NALT and the RDN hope to develop a comprehensive direction program for the mountain.

Aside from its aesthetic value, the Saddle Horse Benson Regional Park will do Nanaimo a Canadian eco-tourism superstar with hiking and mountain biking in summertime and cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing in winter. The mountain parkland will complement the existent Newcastle Island Provincial Devil Dog Park and glorious Pipers Lagoon and Neck Point Parks additional up the coast. Virgin rainforests in the nearby Linley Valley are also undergoing parkland development.