Recently a proposal came forth to start a company giving tours on an airboat up the granby and kettle rivers. This was met with a lot of opposition from the community. It also served as a catalyst to facing the many other issues the rivers are facing such as low water levels, rising temperatures, the endanged speckled dace fish habitat, water allocations, and more. There is hope that a RiverWatch group will start and work with the other groups in the Boundary already working on water issues to face these issues. On a promising note, the RDKB has agreed to begin the process that will ban certain motorized boats on the river and provide regulations for use on the rivers. The template letter below is being signed by concerned citizens and hopefully a large number of signed letters will aid the process in getting these regulations on the rivers. Letters can be signed and dropped off at Contact Photo Arts in Grand Forks or mailed to the Granby Wilderness Society at Granby Wilderness SocietyBox 2532, Grand Forks , BCv0h 1h0.
PROTECT ECOSYSTEMS WITHIN
THE KETTLE RIVER WATERSHED
Date: _________________
Attention: Board of Trustees of the Regional District of
Kootenay Boundary
Trail, B.C.
Re: Use of motorized water craft within the Kettle River watershed
I am opposed to the use of motorized watercraft (power boats, air boats, jet skis,) within the Kettle River watershed (Kettle, West Kettle, Granby Rivers and Christina Creek) for the following reasons:
The use of motorized watercraft poses an imminent threat to the safety of swimmers, float tubers, rafters, canoeists, persons fishing, kayaking or engaged in other water activities.
The use of motorized watercraft poses an unacceptable threat to fish (some endangered), fish eggs, diverse aquatic ecosystems, and a variety of river-dependent wildlife.
The wake caused by these vessels results in stream bank erosion – this has been well documented. This then becomes a cost to our communities and leads to habitat destruction.
The disturbing noise from these machines, especially the airboats, encroaches on the rights of other river users and residents who wish to enjoy the rivers’ peace and quiet and sounds of nature.
I therefore strongly request that the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary (RDKB) commence the Boating Restriction Process as outlined by Transport Canada with the objective of imposing a ban on the use of motorized watercraft (some exceptions allowed) on the above mentioned vulnerable waterways.
I look forward to a favourable reply,
Thank you,
Name: ________________________________________
Signature: _____________________________________
Address: _____________________________________
About US
- OUR MISSION IS TO CONSERVE AND PROTECT THE ECOSYSTEMS OF THE BOUNDARY AND THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE THAT THEY SUSTAIN.
- Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada
- The director's of the Granby Wilderness Society are please to welcome you to our Blog. The intent of this Blog is quite simple; to encourage dialogue between the community and to involve our youth in those issues that affect our lives and nature, now and into the future. Some of those issues include the loss of wild nature, threatened and endangered species, physical and spiritual connections to nature, air quality due to industrial pollutions, water quality within our rivers, lakes and underground aquifers. It is our hope that through this Blog we will come together as a community willing to set aside some of our prejudices, and work together for the common good. We hope that the youth of our community will step forward and voice their concerns and in so doing make it clear to our elected officials that we need a different approach to the issues of quality of life for people, as well as nature. We look forward to your suggestions, experiences and comments on what you read within the pages of this blog. Sincerely, Directors of the Granby Wilderness Society
Tuesday
Monday
Stand Up for the Kettle
The Committee for a Clean Kettle Valley is assembling a data base for a Class Action Lawsuit against the BC Government (Mines) and/or several uranium mining companies who wish to put us at risk by mining uranium in the Okanagan Highlands and thus polluting either or both branches of the Kettle River and of course the main river to its junction with the Columbia River in the U.S. The risk of Radon contamination of our entire land mass is also a distinct possibility. These opinions are suppositions but are based on a careful study of all publicly available data on underground, open-pit and ISL uranium mines in the world since uranium mining started. We will ask B.C.Supreme Court judges to determine to what extent our property values are at risk.
Our basis for claim will be the risk of loss of property value as a result of what we deem to be the inevitable and irreversible pollution by radioactive and heavy metal tailings, ISL acid and Radon.
The information that we will need as a basis for our claim is available at the Land Titles Office and we may have to resort to extracting some there, but so far 95% of the landowners who hear of our plan have volunteered the information. This is good for our claim in court. The property value that we are attaching to each Lot is the 2008 Assessment value. It is relative, is a BC Government figure, and is in the public domain.
We wish to include every private Lot that lies, in Canada, south of Trapping Creek and Damfino Creek down to the Orient Border Crossing and that does, or could, if it was needed draw water from the Kettle River aquifer.
Willy Floyd, CCKV Researcher
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Please provide the following statistics (from your 2008 Land Assessment Form) for each Lot separately;
Lot PID #___________________ Lot Street Address__________________________
Owners’ Name _______________________ Property Classification (r/f/c)______
Total Assessed Value $_____,______.
Send to Box 193, Westbridge or email tester13@xplornet.com
or phone me at 250 446 2242
Your comments will be welcome. We will happily provide a speaker to your event.
Our basis for claim will be the risk of loss of property value as a result of what we deem to be the inevitable and irreversible pollution by radioactive and heavy metal tailings, ISL acid and Radon.
The information that we will need as a basis for our claim is available at the Land Titles Office and we may have to resort to extracting some there, but so far 95% of the landowners who hear of our plan have volunteered the information. This is good for our claim in court. The property value that we are attaching to each Lot is the 2008 Assessment value. It is relative, is a BC Government figure, and is in the public domain.
We wish to include every private Lot that lies, in Canada, south of Trapping Creek and Damfino Creek down to the Orient Border Crossing and that does, or could, if it was needed draw water from the Kettle River aquifer.
Willy Floyd, CCKV Researcher
-------------clip----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please provide the following statistics (from your 2008 Land Assessment Form) for each Lot separately;
Lot PID #___________________ Lot Street Address__________________________
Owners’ Name _______________________ Property Classification (r/f/c)______
Total Assessed Value $_____,______.
Send to Box 193, Westbridge or email tester13@xplornet.com
or phone me at 250 446 2242
Your comments will be welcome. We will happily provide a speaker to your event.
Thursday
Gilpin Grasslands Wildlife Management Unit
The Ministy of Environment is proposing to designate an area of the Gilpin Grasslands as a Wildlife Management Unit. There are differing views amongst interest groups. Click on the title to find out the details at the Ministry of Environment Website. What do you think?
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