Rocky Mountain Goat The Your source for weekly news and views in the Robson Valley Wednesday, July 21, 2010 Volume 1 Issue 6 Free! www.therockymountaingoat.com More Inside: From Moldova with Love Jasper farmer’s market takes root Laura Keil [email protected]Where has all the water gone? Valemount’s Cranberry Marsh muddy; wells run dry Cont’ A4 Photo: Laura Keil Saas Fee condo project overcomes “hiccups”: village “Last year, we had three out of four dugouts dry. is year all four are dry.” Ron Baer, resident adjacent to Cranberry Marsh Laura Keil [email protected]Valemount’s Cranberry Marsh was developed by Ducks Unlimited in the 1980s. e Bailey portion was never meant to be dry. Drought conditions have dried both portions of the marsh further. While there is still no word on financing for the Saas Fee condo proposal for Valemount, some roadblocks have been cleared on the government side. Valemount Village adminis- trator Tom Dall says there were some “hiccups” in communica- tion between the Ministry of Transportation and Saas Fee. “We’ve cleared up those and hopefully we’ll have a resolu- tion to that within the next three weeks,” he says. In order to change local zon- ing bylaws for the development, the Village had to get approval from the Ministry of Transpor- tation. Approval is necessary for any development within 700 metres of the highway. e approval is one issue that was outstanding, Dall says. e Saas Fee development was first proposed two years ago. Developers have been work- ing on obtaining financing and government approvals. “We’re working very hard to make it happen,” Dall says. Shirley Saunders, president of Saas Fee did not wish to comment at this time. Valemount’s muddy Cran- berry marsh is not much use to canoers this year. Mud flats have grown their tentacles this summer as another dry season takes its grip. Residents around the marsh are also suffering. Ron Baer owns land adja- cent to Cranber- ry Marsh. “ere is no wa- ter table,” Baer says. He says the ta- ble has dropped some 15 feet in the last seven years. He had to dig a 305-foot well to reach water. And other water around his property is still drying up. “Last year, we had three out of four dugouts dry. is year all four are dry.” Now his horses and cattle have to come up to the house where there’s a well. ey had to buy hay this year because didn’t have enough water to make it themselves this past year. He guesses part of the problem is the low snow-pack. “In the last couple of years the snow has had no substance to it. It’s just been kernels, but no content.” People with stan- dard 18-foot wells have now had to go deeper, he says. e water qual- ity has also gone down, with more iron, Baer says. Some residences near the marshland are on village water – but many still get their water from the ground. “You can’t condemn people for wanting to move to the coun- try, and have a five-acre plot of their own,” Baer says. “But on the other hand, when there’s a lot of hot years and we’re on a sand pile, then the water levels take a beating.” e marsh itself has never been full, says Bruce Harrison with Ducks Unlimited. But the combination of leakage, little rain, and below-average snow- pack has meant the marsh is looking more like a meadow.
Transcript
Rocky Mountain GoatThe
Your source for weekly news and views in the Robson ValleyWednesday, July 21, 2010 Volume 1 Issue 6
Free!
www.therockymountaingoat.com
More Inside:From Moldova with Love Jasper farmer’s market takes root
Valemount’s Cranberry Marsh was developed by Ducks Unlimited in the 1980s. The Bailey portion was never meant to be dry. Drought conditions have dried both portions of the marsh further.
While there is still no word on financing for the Saas Fee condo proposal for Valemount, some roadblocks have been cleared on the government side. Valemount Village adminis-
trator Tom Dall says there were some “hiccups” in communica-tion between the Ministry of Transportation and Saas Fee. “We’ve cleared up those and hopefully we’ll have a resolu-tion to that within the next
three weeks,” he says. In order to change local zon-ing bylaws for the development, the Village had to get approval from the Ministry of Transpor-tation. Approval is necessary for any development within
700 metres of the highway. The approval is one issue that was outstanding, Dall says. The Saas Fee development was first proposed two years ago. Developers have been work-ing on obtaining financing and
government approvals. “We’re working very hard to make it happen,” Dall says. Shirley Saunders, president of Saas Fee did not wish to comment at this time.
Valemount’s muddy Cran-berry marsh is not much use to canoers this year. Mud flats have grown their tentacles this summer as another dry season takes its grip. Residents around the marsh are also suffering. Ron Baer owns land adja-cent to Cranber-ry Marsh. “There is no wa-ter table,” Baer says. He says the ta-ble has dropped some 15 feet in the last seven years. He had to dig a 305-foot well to reach water. And other water around his property is still drying up. “Last year, we had three out of four dugouts dry. This year all four are dry.” Now his horses and cattle have
to come up to the house where there’s a well. They had to buy hay this year because didn’t have enough water to make it themselves this past year.He guesses part of the problem is the low snow-pack. “In the last couple of years the
snow has had no substance to it. It’s just been kernels, but no content.”People with stan-dard 18-foot wells have now had to go deeper, he says. The water qual-ity has also gone
down, with more iron, Baer says. Some residences near the marshland are on village water – but many still get their water from the ground. “You can’t condemn people for wanting to move to the coun-try, and have a five-acre plot of
their own,” Baer says. “But on the other hand, when there’s a lot of hot years and we’re on a sand pile, then the water levels
take a beating.” The marsh itself has never been full, says Bruce Harrison with Ducks Unlimited. But the
combination of leakage, little rain, and below-average snow-pack has meant the marsh is looking more like a meadow.
A2 Wednesday, July 21 2010 www.therockymountaingoat.com
Photo: Laura Keil
Cross-border farmer’s market
“Jasper is an un-tapped market for the Robson Valley, because we do have good growing soil and Jasper doesn’t.”
Pete Amyoony, Robson Valley Growers
Deb Cochrane of Dunster set up her table under a tarp at the Jasper Legion last Wednesday for Jasper’s first Farmer’s Market. She had 50 heads of lettuce for sale. At the end of the market, she had only a dozen remaining. John Crowley, who was also selling food at the market, hawked the remaining fresh greens to Jasper restaurants. It took less than an hour to get rid of the rest. “The Jasper market is just amazing,“ says Pete Amoony, one of the people involved in the growers group. “The market in Jasper is an untapped market for the Robson Valley, because we do have good growing soil and Jasper doesn’t.” The vendors at the market were primarily from the Robson Valley and members of the Three Valleys Community Development Co-operative. The co-op formed a sub-group last winter dedicated to growers in the region. It costs $100 for a lifetime membership to the co-op, which allows membership to the Robson Valley Growers. Amyoony says the idea is to connect growers in the re-gion to help one another and to encourage younger growers. The growers group is also open to crafts makers in the region. Amyoony says while the prices may be slightly higher than the supermarket, the trade-off is worth it. “If you’re getting chemically-treated, GMO food from Brazil or California, it’s not as good for you as locally-grown organic stuff. So you should expect to pay a little more.”
Giriish Bromley of Valemount trucked his pine pole benches and a bed frame to Jasper last Wednesday.
Above: Nicole Gaboury checks out the Kale at vendor John Crowley’s table. Right: Su Young-Leslie of Jasper was one of only a handful of Jasper merchants. She advertised her “one-block” diet of Chard. She lives less than a block from the Farmer’s Market.
Photo: Laura Keil
Photo: Laura Keil
fresh valueessentialsservice
qualityenjoy life taste it!
savingsselection
variety
Just 25 minutes west from Mt. Robson...
R.V. Parking!5th Avenue, Valemount BC
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 A3 www.therockymountaingoat.com
Some 50-100 people showed up last Saturday for the Dunster farmer’s market, which runs each Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Community Hall. Above, Karen Baer of Dunster sells baked good to Helen Harmon and Blanche Powell of Valemount.
Explosion wakes residents A loud bang south of Valemount woke up nearby residents early Sunday morning. “We could feel the cabin shaking, like the walls were vibrating a little bit,” said Rebecca Lerch, who was at home when she heard the explosion. “I thought it was a tree that fell on the roof because we have a lot of big trees around there.” A Valemount resident had contacted authorities on Saturday saying he had found detonator cord used for explo-sives while cleaning out his residence. Constable Howard Price says they called in demolition experts from the Vancouver RCMP in order to safely
detonate the cord, which has explosive properties. “We found a pit area that was nice and deep,” he says. “We detonated it in a safe area, just so it could be disposed and not used again.” The detonation took place away from residences in a pit, west of highway 5, Price says. The cord was likely more than a decade old, and was used by the man in a former job. The type of explosives found in the garage were legal, Price said, and the man followed proper protocol by turn-ing them in to the RCMP.
Dunster Farmer’s Market a-buzz
Get exposure! Fill this space for only $50/week.
$47.50/week for 4 weeks, or $37.50/week for 10 weeks
As the deadline approaches for a re-port to reach Valemount council on the potential for a prison in the village, spokespeople from B.C. Corrections and Corrections Canada say there are no current plans to expand this way anytime soon. Alain Charette, Spokesperson for Cor-rections Canada Pacific Region, says that from the federal perspective, noth-ing new is on the radar anywhere. “I checked with Ottawa and our re-sponse is quite simple: there are no plans to build new federal correctional institutions at this time.”
Alain also says that any new capacity will be developed on the sites of existing institutions. B.C. Corrections echoed the federal government’s stance. Marnie Mayhew, spokesperson for B.C. Corrections, says the province has already developed a three-phase capital plan. Only three projects under phase one has been approved for funding at this time: the Prince George Regional Corrections Center has been expanded by 20 cells. These cells are for female inmates and the project should be com-pleted within a month. In the lower
mainland, The Alouette Correctional Centre for Women, a medium-security facility for low-risk offenders, will also be expanded by 104 cells to accommo-date higher risk inmates. This will free up more space for male inmates at the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre which will also be expanded by 180 cells. These projects should be completed by early 2011, Mayhew says. She adds that while there are addition-al demands from around the province at this point in time, there is no approved funding for any projects beyond the first phase.
Valemount is not the only interior B.C. town lobbying for a correctional facility. The Bear Creek Correctional Center in Clearwater was closed in 2002. It was a minimum-security facility with an inmate-run sawmill. It was built to hold approximately 60 inmates. Recently, there have been calls from within the Clearwater community as well as by the B.C. Government and Service Employ-ees’ Union to re-open the correctional centre.
Do you support a prison in Valemount?Visit our website to vote on our poll!
bia system is now covered under international treaty. “To try to divert water out of the Columbia system which also travels through the United States, would exceptionally difficult to open up that treaty again.” He says even if you could do that, there’s not a whole lot of water open to use. “Even if you got permission to do that, that water is mostly under license for other users, so it’s not certain we’d even be able to put it into the marsh for conserva-tion purposes.” He says the post-t re at m e nt water from the village that flows into the marsh helps some to sustain the water level. “It’s maybe a little ster-ile, but it’s still pretty good stuff. So that defi-nitely helps, but there’s just not enough water flowing into Cranberry to make a difference,” he says. The new water treatment plant may have decreased the amount of water flowing into the marsh as well. Harrison says wetlands across B.C. have suffered from a dry decade. He says the reality is that most wet-lands in B.C. are still recharged to a large extent by the snow pack, which has not arrived in the same quantity as before. Maria Lerch and Gerhard Oberauer live 1 km from the marsh on Cranberry Lake Road. They built a new well this past winter, after losing raspberry bushes and fruit trees.
A4 Wednesday, July 21, 2010 www.therockymountaingoat.com
Fewer tree roots to retain water after Pine Beetle
Within Canada ($90/Year) International ($90/Year +Postage)Robson Valley ($70/Year)
Subscriber’s Name:
P.O. Box #:
Street Address:City/Province/Country:
Postal/Zip Code:
e-mail:
Phone:Please check off the appropriate boxes, fill out all of the lines, cut out the form along the dotted line, and mail with a cheque, or money order to:SubscriptionThe Rocky Mountain GoatBox 21Valemount, BCV0E 2Z0
Convenience Mail Delivery Subscription For questions, call The Goat at (250) 566-4606, or e-mail [email protected]
The Rocky Mountain Goat is produced and distributed by ‘The Rocky Mountain Goat News’ and is subject to copyright. Reproduction, or distribution of any article, photo, or other content must recieve prior consent from Joseph Nusse (Co-Owner/Publisher) or Laura Keil (Co-Owner/Editor).
The Rocky Mountain Goat is a free distribution newspaper serving a population base of approximately 4,000 residents from Blue River and Valemount, to McBride and Dome Creek.
The Rocky Mountain Goat is distributed free weekly
Illustrations by Luke Siemens
“The marsh just hap-pens to be the most graphic example of that reduced water table,”
Wayne Van Velzen, Min-istry of the Environment,
Parks and Protected Areas
Cont’ from A1 Ducks Unlimited has been monitoring the marsh water levels since they created the wetland in 1981. They built the dyking systems, pathways, and water controls that prevent the water from running out of the marsh. The land became a provincial wildlife man-agement area after it was created. The two sections of the marsh – McKirdy and Bai-ley – were never filled completely, Harrison says. Part of the problem is leakage. Ducks Unlimited punctured gravel seams in the earth under the marsh during con-struction, which now lets water escape into the water table, instead of being held there as it normally would be. “The Bailey portion is dry, and it was never intended to be dry,” Harrison says. Harrison says their data shows the water levels have cycled up and down, with distinct drops of half a me-tre in the mid-1980s, 1993-1994, 2004-2005 and again recently. “There is no improvement in sight, unfortunately,” he says. “Without a supplementary source of water such as McKirdy Creek, we’re at the mercy of Mother Na-ture. McKirdy Creek used to run into the marsh, but was diverted in the 1950s to run into Canoe River instead. “That sort of thing would never happen now, but back in the 1950s, it was different rules.” Ducks Unlimited has looked at a number of ways of increasing the water in the marsh since the 1980s, Harrison says. One way, he says, would be to try to re-divert McKirdy Creek so it empties back in Cranberry Marsh instead of the Columbia system – but Colum-
“The ground was completely dry,” Lerch says. They came to the Valley 15 years ago, and said they noticed the water level dropped when the old golf course was put in. Now that the gold course is gone, however, it’s unclear where the water is going. Wayne Van Velzen, Area Supervisor, Mount Rob-son Ministry of the Environment, Parks and Protected Areas Division, who oversees the marsh, says he has investigated all the water that usually flows into the wetland. “What’s supposed to be going into the marsh is going into the marsh,” he says. “There’s just more going out than going in.” He says the run-off is quick, the snow-pack is low, and the mountain pine beetle has destroyed a lot of trees that used to retain run-off. “The root systems of those trees aren’t retaining the moisture in the soil,” he says. “As much as the pine are consuming water, they are also conserving water, whereas now the water is just going down the slope and disappearing and not really having a benefit.” The most graphic example, he says, is homeowners who have been here 20-30 years who have never had trouble with the water table until now. They have had to decrease consumption or build new wells. “The marsh just happens to be the most graphic ex-ample of that reduced water table,” Van Velzen says. “You can pour water into it all you like and it’s just go-ing to get distributed into the water table, instead of staying in the marsh.”
Photo courtesy of the Valemount museum
Photos: Laura Keil
Jim McKirdy and his family stand on a ridge overlooking the North Thompson River. The cable cart is on the other side. The only way across the gulf is the cart. Some 40 feet below them water gushes over rocks. Jim, in his early 50s, rubs his hands together, stares up at the cable and grabs it. He swings his legs up; the cable bends with his weight. His daugh-ter, Flossie, and son, Walt, watch his nimble body shimmy across the gulf, moving hand over hand, high above the water. “Dad just hopped on the cable and put his feet up there with no safety equip-ment at all,” Flossie Smith says. Now at age 90, Jim’s dare-devil antics have waned, but the McKirdy legacy as a pioneer family lives on in stories. On Sunday Jim celebrated nine decades in the Valley. His wife Doris sat across from him at a folding wooden table in the yard of their daughter and son-in-law on McKirdy Road. The road was named after Jim’s father, who staked his homestead in 1907. Before coming to the Valley, Jim’s fa-ther Fulton McKirdy worked on rail-road bridges, sleeping in the wooden matrix under the bridge as trains rattled through the canyons in the mountains. He kept watch for fire, and never had much trouble with heights – a trait he likely passed to Jim. On Sunday, some great-grandchildren and other young relatives leapt on the trampoline, bouncing high and throw-ing off each other’s balance.
Jim McKirdy turns 90, parties like it’s 1945 Relatives from as far as Ontario pic-nicked on the lawn or sat around wood-en tables in the yard and ate lunch. Jim got up and ambled across the lawn to fill his plate. He came back with two pieces of watermelon, some berry sauce and two spoons. He lay one spoon next to Doris and sat down.Offering food to others was always part of the McKirdy philosophy, Smith says. As the McKirdy’s raised their six children, the food they produced was mostly for their own sustenance, but there was never any doubt about having enough, Smith says. “Someone would stop by and Mom would say ‘Come on in for d i n n e r ’ and add some wa-ter to the soup,” she says.She re-m e m b e r s her Mom b r i n g i n g home visi-tors to stay for dinner. S o m e t i m e s they would stay years. “There was actually a brother and sister that came and knocked on the door and said ‘Our uncle’s beating up on us can we come live with you?’ And they did. They lived with them probably about five years un-til they were old enough to move out on their own.” In total, Doris and Jim raised about 20 children including their own. “There was the idea that there’s always going to be enough,” Smith says, who learned to cook for 12 people by the time she was a teenager. After cupcakes from the birthday cake were served, the sky took on a gloomy grey. Jim and Doris’ daughter Ann and son-in-law Gordon Carson struck up music on guitar and accordion on the covered porch. Smith says the music re-minds her of family jam sessions when she was young. Her dad would play the fiddle, often late into the evening. “I’d be upstairs in my bed and I’d be
listening to him as he played,” she says. Even though age has crept up on him, jim has tried to keep the same energy as when he was younger. He still drives, albeit slower than his younger days, and once in his 70s, he gathered around the grandchil-
dren to show off a skill he’d learned in the army. The trick was to jump over a broomstick without letting go. He made it – but injured some tendons in his leg. “He still expects that he should be able to do everything that he did when he
was 20,” Smith says, smiling. Jim says he’s in better shape than most people at his age. He doesn’t do much work anymore, but takes it easy with Doris in the house they have lived in for nearly half a century.
From above, counter-clockwise: Doris McKirdy and great-granddaughter Renee Rondeau. Jim McKirdy at his birthday celebration July 18th in Valemount. Great-grandchildren Wyatt Rondeau and Kai Bolla. Doris McKirdy and Jim McK-irdy raised about 20 children, including their own. They also welcomed many guests into their home when they ran a Bed and Breakfast, some of whom are re-membered on the McKirdy’s photo wall.
Jim and Angus McKirdy both served in the Canadian Forces during the Second World War.
A6 Wednesday, July 21, 2010 www.therockymountaingoat.com
WWOOFing in the Valley
Photo: Laura Keil
Several dozen WWOOFers make the Robson Valley their home each sum-mer. The young organic farm work-ers come from all parts of the world, and of varied backgrounds. Above, Danielle Denis-Lalonde of Calgary, a chartered accountant, hangs out in a school bus converted into WWOOF-ing living quarters with fellow WWOOFer Stuart Hart, a graphic designer from England.
At one point in time, travellers with little money would stop by a farm, offer to help for a couple weeks for room and board and then move along. Today those frugal itinerants are organized and knocking on doors all over the world. They are wwoofers and every year they descend into the Rob-son Valley to work on organic farms for four to six hours a day in exchange for food and a bed. Wwoof stands for World-Wide Op-portunities on Organic Farms, and travellers can find wwoof hosts in over 40 countries in the world. They regis-ter through a website where they make contact with hosts. Nancy Taylor has been hosting at her acreage in Dunster since 2003, but hasn’t been listed in directory in last couple years. She says she does a lot of “sub-woofing” – in other words, bor-rowing wwoofers from other hosts.
A6 Wednesday, July 21, 2010 www.therockymountaingoat.com
WWOOF work: a chore others avoid
Photo: Laura Keil
Today, five wwoofers are in her yard helping to tear stucco off the outside of her house. The sun is out and so are the mosquitoes. They run into a problem with the insulation under the siding, so instead Taylor asks the five young people to pick Red Clover heads in the garden to dry for tea. “It’s amazing. You get four people doing it, and in 15 minutes, you have enough for the winter,” she says. Taylor has done wwoofing herself, when she studied in Nova Scotia. She says she did regular wwoofing work, such as stacking wood and weeding.“It was fun,” she says. “Often when you’re touring a place, you’re just skim-ming the surface. You don’t really get to know what’s really happening there.” A lot of people can’t afford to travel because of accommodation and food, Taylor says. Wwoofing gives them the opportunity to travel cheaply and con-nect with the community they are in. Many wwoofers are students, or young people taking the summers off of their full-time jobs.
Danielle Denis-Lalonde, 29, lives in Calgary, but has wwoofed in the Rob-son Valley for the past three years. She is a char-tered accountant, but was working with the Alberta government in environ-mental work. Last year, she quit her job to wwoof full-time. “I got fed-up with the pace of change,” she says, of working at her job. She plans to work at a ski re-sort this winter, before returning to wwoof again next year. She has organized out-ings this summer such as hikes to Kinney and Berg Lakes for wwoof-ers and anyone who is interested. She also helped organize bonfires and movies nights in Dunster for wwoofers. “People often feel a bit isolated,” De-
nis-Lalonde says of her effort to con-nect wwoofers in the Valley. “We have often found that some WWOOFers get left out simply because we didn’t know they were here and/or had no way to contact them.” A whole vocabulary has developed around wwoofing: wwoofer, wwoof work, sub-wwoofing, wwoof fam-ilies, and wwoofettes - or what happens when wwoofers have chil-dren. Despite the manual labour during the day, at more relaxed farms, wwoofers can roughly set their own hours, getting up just before noon, if they so choose. On the weekend, wwoofers gathered at one of the host’s in Dunster and
Coline Mollard-Ravanel, 21, studies physical geography in her home country of France.
Martin of Italy and Tobi of Germany built a new deck on their wwoofing farm in Valemount.
built a campfire next to the school bus that was renovated as wwoofing living quarters. Other wwoofers live in old campers overgrown with tall grass, but cozy nonetheless. The six wwoofers here tonight
are from France, Ger-many, England, the United States and Can-ada. They listen to mu-sic that pumps out of the school bus on a ste-reo that Denis-Lalonde installed two years ago when she stayed at this farm. An apple’s throw from the campfire are
fields of vegetables the tend to during the day. Some are here for two weeks, some for six. They have all travelled a long way to spend time with the people of the Robson Valley.
“Often when you’re touring a place, you’re just skimming the surface. You don’t re-ally get to know what’s really happening there.”
Nancy Taylor, Dunster WWOOF host
A WWOOF outhouse. Sometimes WWOOFers are asked to build outhouses.
A8 Wednesday, July 21, 2010 www.therockymountaingoat.com
Do you like The Rocky Mountain Goat?Tell your municipal, regional, and provincial government representatives that you prefer to read announcements in The Rocky Mountain Goat
As owners, we live here too!
The concept of mileage-based vehicle insurance rates has been around for a while, but now Vancouver filmmaker Cliff Caprani is leading a citizen’s charge to try and get such a system implement-ed in B.C. in the near future. His fight includes an online petition, which is gaining momen-tum. Insurance rates are a contentious issue for many Valemount resi-dents. While Mc-Bride is included in the Prince George sub-region of ICBC’s massive North Central Region, Valemount has been included in the Williams Lake sub-region. Simply put, this translates into higher rates for many drivers. The dif-ference in rates is not petty cash either. “In P.G. I pay something like $200 a year less for insurance than when I register my vehicle in Valemount” says Jimmy Lerch, a UNBC student who re-turns to Valemount to work during the
summers. Former Valemount mayor, Jeannette Townsend, says that in the past this is-sue was brought up many times at vil-lage council. “They told us that accident rates were high. I went to see the solicitor general
about the acci-dents issue. He would not accom-modate. He said the province was divided up into regions.” Ed Jerick, ICBC District Supervi-
sor for the Williams Lake sub-region, says that Valemount is not the only mu-nicipality in northern B.C. that has com-plained about ICBC insurance rates. “Smithers and Telkwa also get excited. They are right on a regional borderline,” he says. Jerick says that Underwriters has looked into refuted accident rates many times. “They go by crash frequency, and the
postal code of the person making the claim. An Albertan claim for an acci-dent on Highway 16 will not reflect on Valemount’s insurance rates. If some-one from Valemount gets in a crash in Kelowna, for instance, the claim would register under their Valemount postal code as well.” Jerick does stress that if any group feels that they have their own statistics to re-fute ICBC’s rates, they should not hesi-tate to lobby. “The UBCM (the Union of B.C. Mu-nicipalities) could lobby if the villages wanted to go this way.” He says that at the moment however, frequency of accident claims with Vale-mount postal codes attached to them is reflective of the Williams Lake sub-re-gion. He also says that while he is aware of mileage-based rate lobby groups, ICBC has not moved in this direction yet. Minister of Transportation and Infra-structure Shirley Bond says that while ICBC does not currently offer rates based on mileage, they do offer cus-
tomers the choice of some rate classes that take in account distances travelled. While the province has started looking into way to encourage B.C. citizens to drive less, she has concerns regarding how a strictly mileage-based insurance system would affect the north of the province. “Residents in the northern region commonly have long commutes and therefore any change towards this type of policy should not be taken lightly.” She does, however, see a mileage-based system as something work considering. She says other jurisdictions have un-dertaken pilot projects to test the viabil-ity of distance-based rating plans. Bond encourages anybody to send feedback regarding ICBC rates, and how they affect northern communities. Back in Vancouver, the push to limit the use of cars through insurance rates continues to gain support. A copy of Caprani’s petition to implement a prov-ince wide pay-as-you-drive insurance policy can be viewed online.
Valemount insurance high, tied to Williams LakePay-as-you-drive gaining momentumJoseph [email protected]
“In P.G. I pay something like $200 a year less for insurance than when I register my vehicle in Vale-mount” Jimmy Lerch, UNBC student from Valemount.
Gardening with PetePeter AmyoonySpecial to the Goat
Pete Amyoony is a gardener in the Robson Valley of central B.C. high in the Rocky Mountains near Mount Robson. He has lived, worked and gardened in the Dun-ster area for almost thirty years.
The past few days have brought that mid-summer heat which reminds us how important water is to growing a good garden. If you are gardening on quick draining sandy soil this is a good time to apply a mulch of old straw, leaves, grass clippings, etc. You can also add some sawdust or wood shavings to any of the above. Recent studies have shown that the sawdust or shavings do not rob nitrogen from the soil other than at the very surface. Once plants are established, it has very little nega-tive effect on them. Remember too that when you water, it is better to water in the early morning or the evening as you will lose less water to evaporation. This also gives the plants a chance to absorb lots of water to get them through the warm part of the day. It is also better to really soak the garden a few times a week rather than a light sprinkling ev-ery day. The light sprinkling encourages
the roots to come to the surface and the plant will be stressed when the surface dries out on hot afternoons. This time of year it is also important to keep your eye on your garlic and onions. This is especially important if you planted your garlic last fall. (Mid October is the ideal time to plant garlic, but you can still get a decent crop if you plant in early spring.) Fall planted hard neck garlic will be forming the scapes about now. Scapes are the little pigtail stems that grow out of the center of the leaves. Try to cut off the scapes before they have made one coil as they rob en-ergy from the underground bulb. You can use the scapes fresh wherever you use garlic or you can chop and freeze them for winter use. Both garlic and onions should be fed and well watered until mid to late July. This encourages lots of top growth of leaves. I side-dress with sifted sheep
manure. From the end of July on, they should get no water or feed. This en-courages them to dry down and put all the top growth into the bulb. Keep your eye on the lower two or three leaves of garlic. When they turn brown, it is time to check a few bulbs. Dig around a few to see if they have formed cloves yet. (Garlic grows a round solid bulb first before maturing into the individual cloves.) Also look to see if the “papers” (skins) have formed well. After the papers are well formed, you don’t want them to get any more water as the skins will rot and the garlic will not keep well. If it does get rainy, it is best to pull the heads and hang them in an airy shed to finish curing. When your onions start to fall over (usually around Aug 1) it is time to hold back all water and help them cure for winter storage. Some people break the tops over with a rake, but there is a
danger of center rot if rain gets into the broken leaves. I find it best to pull some dirt away from the bulbs and leave only the bottom of the bulb and the white roots in the ground. The onions usually fall over on their own in a few days. The tops will begin to brown and die back. If it looks like rain, I pull the onions, tie them in bunches of 6 or 8 and hang them in a warm dry place to continue curing. (More on this in a later column) P.S. – Don’t forget to pinch off the wilted flower blossoms in your contain-ers, hanging baskets and flowerbeds if you want the plants to continue bloom-ing all summer.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 A9 www.therockymountaingoat.com
The Tourism Directory
The Business Directory
Teepee Meadows CottageSpectacular mountain and marshland scenery
Located 3 km west of ValemountHosts: Claude, Alke & Noland Germain
545 Jack Adams Road, Box 786Valemount, BC V0E 2Z0
Phone:250-566-9875
$50 for 4 weeks, or $20 for one weekCall Joe at 250-566-1444 or
Community Events SUN PEAKS IS OFFICIALLY BRIT-ISH COLUMBIA’S 161st INCORPO-RATED MUNICIPALITY. On June 12, 2010, Sun Peaks electors chose Al Raine as mayor, and Dr. Mario Pozza, Ines Popig and Mike Forster as councillors. Darcy Alexander, vice-president and general manager of Sun Peaks Resort Corporation, was ap-pointed by the Province as the final member of council under special leg-islative provisions for mountain resort municipalities. The Province presented the new municipal council with two cheques: a pro-rated Small Community Grant in the amount of $115, 597 and a per capita grant of $59,400. This funding will help Sun Peaks transition from an unincorporated community to a municipality. Sun Peaks is the first mountain resort municipality established under the Lo-cal Government Act. The municipality is also B.C.’s 188th local government (161st municipality), and the newest municipality since the incorporation of West Kelowna in December 2007.
MAJOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN BC AT UNMATCHED LEVELS An unprecedented 896 major con-struction projects, worth an estimated record of $191 billion, were planned or underway in British Columbia during the first quarter of 2010. The number of proposed projects, 547, is also an all-time high. Since 2001, the number of projects has nearly tripled, and their value has more than quadrupled
BUILDING PERMITS ON THE RISE According to Statistics Canada, the value of building permits issued in British Columbia during May 2010 was $754 million, a 53 per cent increase compared with May 2009. The value of year-to-date building permits totals $3.6 billion, up by $1.2 billion or 51 per cent compared with the first five months of 2009. The CMHC reports than British Columbia is Canada’s in new housing starts in 2010. Over the first half of the year, almost 11,500 new housing units broke ground, up by 117 per cent com-pared with the same period in 2009.
APPROVED DESTINATION STATUS WITH CHINA NOW IN EFFECT In June 2010, Approved Destination Status with Canada took effect, en-abling Chinese visitors to travel to Can-ada through organized, pre-sold group tours. With Approved Destination Status designation, tourism businesses, destination marketing organizations and tour operators can actively market British Columbian and Canadian tour-ism products and experiences within China. Previously, Chinese travellers could obtain exit visas to Canada only if travelling for study, visiting friends and relatives, business or independent tourism activities.
BC’S HOUSEING SALES CONTINUE POSITIVE REBOUND The British Columbia Real Estate As-sociation reports there were more than 34,600 residential home sales during the first five months of 2010, a 31 per cent increase over sales numbers from the same period in 2009. In 2009 more than 85,000 homes changed hands in British Columbia, a 23 per cent in-crease over 2008’s sales figures.
Open at 4:30 pm daily
1002 5th Avenue Valemount, B.C.
Visit us at www.caribougrill.com
Salvaged metal siding for sale. Perfect for any out-building or shop. Approxi-mately 550-600 square foot coverage. Will consider any offer! Call Joe 250-566-1444
Hanging propane shop heater for sale. Listed as 65,000 BTU. Comes with mounting bracket. Will consider any offer! Call Joe 250-566-1444.
Varying lengths of flores-cent light fixtures for sale. Will consider any offer! Call Joe 250-566-1444
Used Building Materials
Twenty for a Toonie: The Classified Ads Plain Talk HoroscopesBy Craig Elder, M.A. Economics
Aries: Your life is prone to seeming like a sitcom this week. Avoid wacky neighbours to minimize the effects.Taurus: You will have ‘Mary had a little lamb’ stuck in your head for a few days this week.Gemini: You should not have read Taurus’ horo-scope. You can already hear the tune echoing in your head.Cancer: You don’t need to worry about another birthday for a year, so just relax.Leo: Be very careful, recent sun spot activity has opened many portals to worlds our eyes were not meant to see.Virgo: The universe feels pretty bad and a little guilty about the last few weeks. Expect a pleasant surprise to make up for it.Libra: Your problems will likely go away today if you just ignore them.Scorpio: If you are at a crossroads, spin around until you are really dizzy, then choose a path.Sagittarius: Thursday you will be hit by an over-whelming desire for pizza.Capricorn: I forget what your horoscope is.Aquarius: No one believes you.Pieces: Your search for inspiration will annoy those around you.
Be the first to sponsor the $2 classified ads!Let The Rocky Mountain Goat assist your business
with targeted marketing ideas.
Wanted
Trusses for sale. Approxi-mately 42 foot span. 14 units. Single slant, could be modified with a chalk lineand skill saw. Now consid-ering offers! Call Joe 250-566-1444 and skill saw. Now considering offers! Call Joe 250-566-1444
A10 Wednesday, July 21, 2010 www.therockymountaingoat.com
To submit your classified ad, e-mail or call the goat, or place your ad in an envelope with pay-ment and drop it in our mailbox, 1070 5th Ave
Exclusive 2.25 inches high by a whole page width at the bottom of the calssified page for $85/week
How to submit an ad
500 gal. single-wall fuel tank. Asking $200. Call 250-566-5069, ask for Jared
For Sale
Small truck canopy to fit S-10. Length 75” by width 60”. Message 250-566-1588
Lost
Two fishing tackle boxes. 22km on the West side of Kinbasket Lake. If found, please return to David Le-rch, 566-0010.
For free! Desperately seek-ing a good home for a small 3-year old blue-healer-rott-weiller cross male dog, or if you can also provide tempo-rary foster parenting as well, please call: 250-566-0173.
For Free
Classified ads policy
If it is for free, it is free. Up to 20 words for $2, 30 words for $3, 40 words for $4 etc. If the asking price is over $499, then it is $5 for 20 words, $6 for 30 words etc.
Non-business an-nouncements are wel-come at the same rates. The Rocky Mountain Goat reserves the right to refuse to print any classified submission that is not an advertise-ment of a private sale, or rental arrangement.
Looking for copper piping. 1/2 inch rigid or solf. Will take 3/4 inch. Call 566-9875, ask for Noland.
Harwood Flooring. 150 square feet or more. Call 566-0010 before 10:00am and after 7:00pm, ask for Jimmy
Garage Sale. Valemount Ho-tel Parking Lot July 24th10 Am. No early Birds !!
Garage Sale
Mobile Home with full ad-dition, and large garage on a lot, in Valemount re-cently renovated. comes w/ fridge stove washer dryer. Currently rented. Asking $110.000.00 O.B.OCall 778 328 7285 leave a message.
Lost Black Samsung Telus Cell Phone. Please call 250-566-4044.
Heifer and one-year old llama for sale. Cute kitten to give away. Call 250-566-0010, ask for Maria.
House For Rent. 3 bed-rooms. 14 th. Wood Heat and propane. $900/month. Call 1-867-332-4778. Ask for Ryan.
House for sale. Three bed-rooms. Two bathrooms. 14th Avenue. Asking $175, 000. Call 1-867-332-4778. Ask for Ryan.
For Rent
within a classified ad for only $10/week.
Place a small photo of your item
Seeking girl to tie me down. I have been flighty for most of my life, but recently a close call has led me to re-evaluate what I want. I am well built. I tread lightly, but always leave lasting im-pressions wherever I go. I have been through two re-lationships. I was suddenly replaced once and stolen the second time. Don’t be fooled, if you want to posses the combination to every-thing that I am, call me up, and we can go for a friendly ride. Call 250-566-4606. Ask for the red bike.
Personals
Why pay more for a classified ad than what you are selling
is worth?
Our classified Ads are cheap,
and EVERYBODY
reads a free newspaper.
Call 250-566-1444 to place your ad today!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 A11www.therockymountaingoat.com
He had never heard of the Robson Valley before coming here, but Corneliu Candu says that living and working here has changed how he views the world. “My city is compact. Everybody walks or bikes there. Everything is closer. The streets are narrower, not de-signed for cars.” Candu says that while infrastructure is one major difference between our two countries, there are still major political differences too, despite the fall of com-munism. “Some say it was better during the Soviet Union. Cur-rency was more stable. In Moldova, times have always been hard. Before the collapse, people had enough money to buy whatever they needed, although things were rationed. One person could only buy one loaf of bread.” Candu remembers the period between 1991 and 2000 as being particularly hard. “There were no jobs, no money. People would have to trade. My father had ten pigs. He traded the bigger pigs for honey. He also traded some for a T.V. This was about fifteen years ago.” Bartering livestock as a way of life may seem normal to many, even in Canada, but Corneliu’s fa-ther was no farmer. “We are a middle-class Molda-vian family. My father was a me-chanical engineer, and my mother was a chef. My father designed heater systems specifically for schools. But we did not have a car.” Modern Moldova is a country which, according the Candu, is inspiring much more hope within its citizens. “The last four years things are a little better. There has been some increase in salary.” While these gains are welcomed by Moldavians, Candu says that most in his country earn a fraction of what people earn here, even people working in hotels like himself. “I make about $11/hout working at a hotel here. It is much easier to save money here than in Moldova. In most jobs in Canada, I would make in one month what in Moldova the same job makes in one year. Food and rent is cheaper in Moldova, but technology is twice as expensive as here. Rent in my city is only $30-40 per month!” Despite the high costs, Candu says that Moldavians are starting to embrace technology. “Everybody has a cell phone now” There are other developments changing Moldova too. “Maybe fifty percent of Moldova youth are going to University now.” But obtaining a university degree in Moldova does require dedication outside of the classroom. “I pay $500 for a year of university in Moldova. This
equals 2-3 months of work saving everything, living with my parents.” Candu is working towards becoming a physio thera-pist. He has two more years left. He says that a grow-ing number of Moldovan youth are travelling now, al-though these costs are usually prohibitive. “I saved my money for six years to come to Canada for one year.” According to Candu, it was an early fascination with Canada that led to him deciding to come here. “When I was little, I would study about countries. I learned that 60% of all lakes in the world are in Cana-da. I was fascinated with fishing and Moldovan fishers would talk about Canada. I went fishing here, but I did not catch anything,” Candu laughs. There were also other reasons why Candu chose Canada. “There are two languages in Canada. I liked this too.”
Moldova is a country with many languages. Roma-nian is the main language, but Russian and French are also spoken. Candu says that he does miss his home, and he looks forward to his return to his city, Straseni. “My city is a very proud city. It is very green. We are one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. It is very clean too. The lakes are pretty clean.” Candu says that his city is a regional hub with a pop-ulation of about 18,000. “It’s a mixed economy, lots of vineyards and orchards too. There is agriculture, but there is some industry as well. But it is giving way to more agriculture.” Candu attributes this phenomena to a lack of foreign investment into Moldova’s industrial economy. For Candu, it is Moldova’s wine industry which car-ries the most pride. “One of my earliest childhood memories is visiting the wine cellars. In Moldova we have two of the larg-
est underground wine cellars in the world. In Cricova there is a wine cellar I visited as a child. Vladimir Putin celebrated his 50th birthday in one of the luxury suites in this cellar. In this city, the streets are named after types of wines” Candu says that the international tourism market is also picking up back home. “Definitely more Western tourists are coming to our city during the last four years.” Candu says that becoming a year-long tourist has changed his own perceptions. “I climbed McKirdy Mountain with three friends. I took my shoes off on the way down because my shoes were too slippery. The local guys I was hiking with were amazed. In the villages in Moldova during the summer people go bare foot all the time.” For Candu, the hike was memorable in other ways as well. “On top of the summit I could see all the mountains
around. On the horizon, nothing but moun-tains. In my country we do not have this. There was some snow too. We slid down like a toboggan. We also had lunch on the top of the mountain. The hike was amazing, won-derful, fabulous.” For Candu, the last 11 months in Canada have clarified many misconceptions he had about Canadians as well. “It surprised me about Canadians. Some say that Americans do not know much about outside their country, but I found that many Canadians are the same. For instance, Can-ada has two official languages, but Canadian kids do not care to learn more than one.” Candu says this is very different than in his own country. “In Moldova all the young people are in-terested in other countries. We study on our own a lot more than here. Young Moldavi-ans really dream about internships in other countries, Canada, USA, Italy and Spain. Our government does not try to keep tal-ented people in our country. Many doctors leave. A doctor in our country makes the
same as a cook.” Candu also has some other opinions on Canadian kids. “In my opinion, kids need to be outside. Canadian kids are very vulnerable. They spend too much time in the house on computers. In my country, kids spend their time outside. Even in the city, kids play on the street. Some kids here in Valemount have never hiked up a mountain,” he laughs. “It is so beautiful here, I do not understand why.” With his final week in Canada drawing to a close, Candu says that he is already thinking about how he will miss Canada and Valemount, the town he has called home since December. “I have here very good friends and I will miss them.”
“The vehicles are so big here”Reflections of a Moldavian student learning English in Valemount
Cathy Crofford is now renting bikes at Cathy’s Premier Laundry and Sasquatch Cafe along Highway 5 in Valemount. She says people have been asking about rental bikes at the info centre every week. She plans to rent out six bikes until Thanksgiving and open up again on May long weekend. Anyone over age 12 will be able to rent a 21 or 28 speed bike, with helmet and lock. The bikes are avail-able to take overnight.
Business Watch
Jody Newham and Leah Zeilinger of Valemount (left) and Emma, Lowyn and Ben Van Waerbeke of McBride wait for the train on the Valemount train platform last week. Below: Canoe Mountain
