As the cold and snowy weather left the island in early January, a massive king tide mixed with strong north-west winds wreaked havoc on many beaches. Not only did this bring a lot of garbage to the beaches but it also caused serious erosion and under-cutting of the banks in a variety of locations. This damage is most evident along the north, mid-island stretch of the island. As a result, the path at Mermaid Beach/Henderson Rd is severely compromised. As this is the only ‘official’ path on the entire north side of the island between the dock and the boat launch, and is heavily used by residents and tourists alike as they access north side beaches and the deep hole, ASIC has requested the qathet Regional District step in to invest in this access point in a similar way to how they previously invested in the beach path/stairs at Julian/Meadows.
While locals meet yearly to shore up access points such as this one, and other access points could also use this type of attention, current conditions of this particular path look to be well beyond the skills and budget of a grassroots approach. ASIC will be submitting a letter to request that the Regional District Board apply to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MoTI) for a permit to build a proper trail/access at this location. This will appear as correspondence at the next Board committee meeting, and ASIC has support from other on-island organizations for this initiative due to the safety and environmental concerns at play. The Regional District will be completing maintenance on the Julian stairs in the near future and while they are on island ASIC has requested that their team assess the Mermaid trail for future reference (they have agreed to this).