Crystal Klym’s efforts to rid Penticton’s Skaha Bluffs of invasive plant species has earned her the nickname “Noxious Weed”. That moniker might not suit everyone’s taste, especially a young woman’s, but during a tour of the bluffs last July, the South Okanagan Valley resident told the Georgia Straight that she proudly wore the handle.

As Klym led the way along the trails that run below a series of renowned climbing pitches, including the sheer-faced Doctor’s Wall, she repeatedly pulled up handfuls of knee-high Dalmatian toadflax. Her interest wasn’t in the yellow flowers budding on the slender stalks. Instead, she examined the stems for signs of a weevil being tested as a bio-control agent on invasive species such as knapweed and thistle. Weevils eat the stems, she explained, which stresses the plant into producing fewer seeds. “Even though toadflax is a root propagator, the bugs might help make the plant feel overwhelmed and,” she sighed, “give up.”

For Bill Turner, giving up is not an option. On the phone from his office in Victoria, the executive director of the Land Conservancy of British Columbia laughed heartily when the Georgia Straight asked if he ever thought the multiyear campaign to purchase the Skaha Bluffs and surrounding land might not bear fruit. “I never lost faith,” he said. “You don’t lose if you never give up. That’s the secret to success in this business.” Indeed, on January 19, the conservancy, the B.C. Ministry of Environment, and the Nature Conservancy of Canada announced that they had joined with Mountain Equipment Co-op (more than 700 of whose members made personal donations), and other supporters to acquire a 304-hectare property, including the popular Skaha Bluffs, for $5.25 million.

Anders Ourum, former executive director of the Climbers Access Society of British Columbia, believes this is the largest sum ever spent in North America to acquire a climbing site. In conversation with the Straight, Ourum said there were both parallels and dissimilarities between the scenario that played out in Penticton and the Access Society’s efforts to preserve the Little Smoke Bluffs in Squamish a decade ago. “They’re both in urban settings. We were able to preserve the Smoke Bluffs for climbers and hikers as a municipal park, but that didn’t stop development for going ahead immediately adjacent.”

Ourum pointed out that although there was still work to do to finalize the details of the proposed Skaha Bluffs Provincial Park, the threat of urban sprawl had been blunted there. “We could be thanking people for a whole week,” he said, particularly MEC, which Ourum credited as being the most instrumental partner. “They went to TLC [the Land Conservancy of B.C.] with $400,000 impetus-and-seed money. That’s where it all started several years ago, when the co-op said the access situation was critical.”

In a city such as Penticton, which routinely hosts large sporting events and festivals, climbing may not seem like much of a tourist-generating engine. Appearances can be deceiving, especially as most of the action on the gneiss rock takes place beyond sight of the surrounding beaches and vineyards. Howie Richardson, author of Skaha Rockclimbs (Elaho Publishing), knows better. When contacted by phone, he asserted that over the course of a year, the bluffs draw as many people as the annual Ironman triathlon, which in one weekend attracts more than 2,500 athletes plus supporters and spectators. “The bluffs are a major destination for climbers throughout western North America, especially in spring, when this area dries out before anywhere else,” said Richardson, who is widely credited with popularizing rock-climbing in the Okanagan. Although a few climbers had explored there in the 1970s, Howie was the first one to begin in earnest, in 1987. Today, he estimates the number of routes is approaching 900. “This is a gem of a little place, with rock sculptures, wildlife habitat, and views over Skaha and Okanagan lakes and the city. When the new park opens, it will be used a lot more than it is now.”

And how. During a phone conversation with the Straight, Keith Baric, a planner at the Ministry of Environment’s Okanagan regional office, pointed out that the area used by climbers, about eight hectares, represents only a small portion of the newly acquired property. Mountain bikers, hunters, wildlife enthusiasts, and community ecologists such as Klym are just as eager to explore the planned park. “A purchase of this magnitude is a new one for me,” Baric said, noting that as far back as 1991 a 109-hectare site surrounding the bluffs was identified as a possible park under the regional land-and-resource management plan. “The ministry has been involved for years but couldn’t muster up funds until TLC got things going.”

In all likelihood, two herds of California bighorn sheep, which Baric characterized as an “umbrella” species, are among the biggest beneficiaries of the land purchase. Baric pointed out that had the property been converted to housing and a golf course, this would have divided the north and south sheep populations, which intermingle in a steep, narrow draw around Gillies Creek. “It’s critical to mitigate the impact of development on wildlife movement through this highly fragmented region between Okanagan Mountain Park and the Vaseux-Bighorn National Wildlife Area.”

Clearly, humans can be just as invasive a species as noxious weeds. On that count, Skaha is a bluff that was called just in the nick of time.

Access: For detailed climbing-route information, visit skaha.org/. Until a new access route is completed in 2009, follow Crescent Hill Road east of South Main Street, then Valleyview Road south to the well-marked trailhead at Braesyde Farms, a short, pleasant drive along a narrow, winding road. Note: depending on the size of vehicle, an escalating parking fee of $10 and up is charged at the farm.