Looked at one way, the unauthorized Frisbee golf course involved the disturbance of a registered archeological site, one that preserves dramatic evidence of an element of the traditional way of life for Lil’wat Nation members before contact with Europeans in the sacred Signal Hill area.

Looked at from another perspective, the course had become a valuable and well-received resource for a free local recreational activity, constructed with care not to disturb sensitive areas and attentiveness to trails and wildlife.

Last week, Lil’wat Nation staff members acted to deconstruct the Frisbee golf course that had been built in Pemberton near the end of the Lumpy’s Epic trail, with some holes around the location of several significant-sized depressions that are the remnants and reminders of traditional Lil’wat pit houses (istken).

Lil’wat officials said the course altered ground around the archeological site registered with the Province – a designation meaning it has evidence of human life or use predating 1846. Harriet VanWart, referral co-ordinator for the Lil’wat Nation, said officials had noticed last summer that someone was setting up a Frisbee golf course around the site, and it was a concern because of the possibility of disrupting artifacts of traditional Lil’wat ways of life.

Officials posted notices on trees next to the depressions, indicating the Province’s prohibitions and penalties for disturbing an established heritage site. Attempts to contact the people who set up the course were unsuccessful, VanWart added.

After getting approval from the Heritage Branch of the B.C. Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, VanWart said, Lil’wat staff took down the course last Wednesday (Aug. 18). She said they left the materials by the trail for the course creators, along with a message about what had been done and their contact information.

“We’re quite happy to support having a Frisbee golf course in another location,” one where no archeological sites are disturbed, VanWart said.

She said there is no appetite to pursue any penalties for disturbance of the site. Lil’wat officials would simply want to preserve and eventually showcase the remnants of the pit houses and accompanying cache pit depressions, living reminders of the traditions of the people who have inhabited the area for thousands of years.

Johnny Jones, a cultural technician for the Lil’wat Nation, has been watching over the historic sites on the sacred Signal Hill mountainside since the 1970s, and he thinks the Wolf Clan pit house depressions probably date back “way beyond 1848.” The deep frames in the ground range in perimeter size from about two metres to eight metres square, remainders of the mound-like traditional houses.

“To us, it’s a way of life before contact. That’s why we wanted to keep them preserved as they are, untouched, undamaged,” Jones said. A process has been started to get a permit for establishing informative signs and a fence to identify the area while allowing people in to learn, he added.

In an email to The Question, one of the course builders wrote about the 2 ½-year process of carefully creating a well-reviewed source of free recreation in the outdoors while contributing to the community by trimming around the Lumpy’s trail.

The course builder, Michael Marshall, said he wasn’t sure what the istken sites were when he first saw them, nor did he realize their full significance given the other activities allowed in the area and other similar old unmarked foundations in the region.

“The first time I saw a notice on and around one of these pit house foundations, we read it obviously, and… we respected what was asked of us,” he wrote. “We had to move three holes on the course and redesign it so that it didn’t disturb any of these sensitive areas.”

He said the course creators tried to do everything they could to respect the istken sites and the notices, when they were posted about six months into the construction of the course. But he did question why the Lil’wat concerns that led to last week’s deconstruction were not raised earlier in a note for the course creators, or by someone coming in person.

“It’s funny because the more people who read the notices thought it was cool to be able to see a part of this country’s heritage, and all the people I have seen out there respected the importance of these areas,” he wrote.

He wrote that the pins for three holes were thrown away and the others left untouched, so he went out on Monday night (Aug. 23) and took down the other pins to ensure people won’t continue to play.

VanWart said she was contacted by one of the Frisbee golf course creators last Thursday (Aug. 19), asking about the buffer around the pit house sites to make sure to build outside of it. VanWart said it’s unfortunately not that simple: The area has been identified and registered as an archeological site, but it hasn’t been fully shovel tested to check for any other artifacts around the former village site. That testing would require more money, and funding is always the challenge, she said.

She encouraged the course builder to approach the Province about building on Crown land, saying, “The reality is that there is a process you’re supposed to follow, particularly when you’re doing ground-altering activities.”