The environmental advocacy organization Wildsight says it is seeking a judicial review of the provincial government’s decision that a proposed ski resort does not require an environmental assessment.

In July, the provincial Environmental Assessment Office said the planned Zincton All-Season Resort, which would be located on approximately 5,000 hectares of private and public land between New Denver and Kaslo, did not require any review of its potential impact on the environment.

Zincton is proposing fewer than 1,700 beds, less than the 2,000 or more that requires an environmental assessment. The province does however have discretion to order an assessment regardless of the number.

In a Dec. 1 statement, Wildsight said it had filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court that argues the province’s decision was unreasonable.

“It is ludicrous that the factor that determines whether a proposed development needs an environmental assessment is the number of beds it contains, rather than its footprint and potential impacts on land, water and wildlife,” said Robyn Duncan, Wildsight executive director, in the statement.

Wildsight and the Sinixt Confederacy previously requested the assessment, arguing the development would impact habitats for species including caribou, grizzlies, mountain goats, mule deer and wolverines.

That was supported last month in a study released by the Ktunaxa Nation, which said the proposed resort would disrupt a corridor used by wildlife between the Slocan and Kootenay lakes, and affect important huckleberry patches that bears rely on.

Nogala Law Group and Columbia Valley Law Corporation filed the petition on behalf of Wildsight.

Ian Moore, a partner with Nogala Law Group, said in the statement the province’s argument that its Mountain Resorts Branch (MRB) could provide an assessment of the proposal in lieu of a formal environmental inspection was misguided.

“These two processes are not equivalent: an environmental assessment is, by law, required to evaluate effects that the MRB need not consider in the same way or to the same extent, including impacts to Indigenous rights, cumulative effects and biodiversity thresholds,” said Moore.