The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 4, 1994 - C1

INSIDE SECTION Cc

MALCOLM BAXTER 638-7283

SPORTS MENU C2

- SKEENA ANGLER:
ROB BROWN

HE AREA IN the Lakelse Valley that

extends from Old Remo to the airport

is full of clay deposits. I’m told this

is marine clay left there after alarge :
glacier that once covered the area melted,

There ‘are a number of creeks flowing running’
through the area. Alwyn Creck is one. The Upper’
end of Alwyn can be gained from the railroad .
tracks. At the upper end, the creek is thick with
brush, and usually runs clean; at the lower end, .
after. running through cleared land, it seldom
does. ;

A number of yeats ago, while trapping fry as
part of one of those government sponsored make
work projects, we found Alwyn Creek clear as
gin. To set our snares we were forced ta wade the ,
Stream. With each step clouds of fine, blue silt|
Tose up behind our feet like smoke, reducing the
clarity to zero for long periods. We trapped only a:
few small trout that day.

’ As far as fish are concerned clay is a deleterious .
substance. Silt will smother spawning gravel. Silt
born of clay is even worse because it is so fine it.
cannot be filtered. As far as fishermen are con--
cermed clay is the kiss of death.

Provided an angler is willing to make some
aesthetic concessions fish can be caught in re-
markably dirty water, but even the quarterback of
the All-Pro Angling Team will not catch fish
when the river has been turned the opacity of
house paint thanks to clay,

The Zymacord River still has coho, steelhead,
chinook, dolly varden and cutthroat trout, but a
jot fewer than it once had. Run after appealing
run slide by under your craft when you Hoat the
river, yet you rarely get a chance to angle them

‘thanks to an impressive slide just upstream’of Er- *

.. landsen Creek.

When the builders of the logging road began -
cutting through the upper valley they laid the
right of way close to the river and right through a
seclion of forest growing out of a thin layer of
topsoil over clay.

Things proceeded accarding to logging plan:
‘after the road was cut; the forest was cut clear; the
whole area was subjecied to the scorched earth
policy then very much in vogue in the forestry
biz; and the loggers moved on. What happened
hext was not part of the plan, but it was so pre~
dictable it might as well have been,

First rain and wind took care of much of the
soil, a fask made casy now that the roots of what
were formerly trees were now the roots of stumps
~ and had lost their holding power, The land te-
tween the road and the river was particularly un-
slable since the road had severed it fom the rest
of the land mass, It did what unstable land does: it
slid, Right into an outside bend where the river
could put all its erosive powers to work on the
clay. The Zymacord became a victim.

The Zymoctz+is the most spectacular example of
a world class angling river ruined because of clay.
Like the Zymacord the Zymoetz valley is in large
part laid on a slippery foundation of clay. Some
major tributaries, like Red Canyon Creek, have
always been capable of fouling the entire river be-
low it, All the more reason to take special care. It
was nol to be, Like so many of our river valleys,
the Zymoctz became a corridor for industry.

Now there is a slide at four mile on the Clore
River, the Zymoetz’ largest tributary, that fills the
tiver with clay al even slight increases in water
height. This Clore slide is on an unlogged side of
the river, but huge tracts of the River Valley has
been shorn of its trees, It's hard to imagine that
this defoliation, with the attendant increase in rate
of run off, didn’t contribute to the heavy flooding
(hat has ripped the valley apart.

Last week Webb and J toured the site of the
Jatest clay disaster, Mink Creek, a small stream
which fecds the middle section of the Lakelse
River, It was the same story: a huge clear cut with
a thin band of trees left alongside the river.
Where the forest was intact nothing had changed;
where it has been logged some kind of seismic ac+
livily had sent a chunk of land a kilometer square
into motion.

The whole cutblock looked as if it had been hit
by an air strike. The pathetic leave strip of mature
limber is matchwood. The clay slough has
dammed the creek anda lake full of clay water
has built up behind it. The creek itself has no dis-
tinct channel, just fingers running over blue clay,
all its water headed for the Lakeise River,
~ To fix this mess will cost millions. Ail this fora
few hemlock and a few short term jobs. Here is a
part of an invaluable watershed, so unstable it
should never have seen the axe. Studies done at
.Camalion. Creek when the Fish Forestry
Guidelines were developed tell us the effects of
this kind. of damage remain with us for years. In-
fact, they may get worse.

- On. stable land clear cutting is a highly

questionable practise, in places like Mink Creek it
is asin. A responsible company would live up to
ils moral obligations and pay for the repair work.
I bel they don’t,

Athletics has eye ei future

THE SCHOOL athletics season
opened in the northwest this past
weckend in Prince Rupert.

But this week sees the launch of
& program which looks ahead te
seasons yet to come.

I’s called Mini-Track and
targets prade six and seven stu-
dents throughout Terrace and
Thornhill, from both public and
private schools.

Terrace Schools team coach Joe
Murphy said the idea is to offer
students attending elementary
schoois that don’t have a program
of their own an opportunity to
participate in track and field.

And Mini-Track will also be a
useful exira even for those who

do have one.

The more serious grade seven
athlctcs could use the program to
prepare for try outs for the zones
in the Bantam division.

But, he emphasized, the idea
was also that students just come
out and enjoy themselves, .

There will be two sessions a
week, Tucsday and Thursdays,
3:45-5:00 p.m.. at Skeena- Jr.
Secondary. These would rin
through to the Elementary track
mett, likely to be held the first
week of June.

Murphy also pointed out stu-
dents could come along at any
time, that missing the beginning
of the program didn’! mean ex-

clusion.

He said Gord Buxton at Centen-
nial Christian school had spear-
headed the organizational effort,
and was being assisted in running
the program. by a number of
teachers from other elementary
schools.

Secondary school coaches
would also likely lend a hand,
perhaps through staging informal
workshops,

As for the Terrace team, Mur-
phy said they would be taking
part in this weekend’s Sub-Zero
mest in Prince George then host
its own mect at Skecna Saturday,
May 14.

And the following week it’s the

zones in Smithers. That doesn’t
leave much time for athletes to
prepare for them, but Murphy
said Terrace has been fortunate to
pick up a pair of excellent
coaches this season.

Dave O’Brien (field) and Scott
Stewarl (sprints) have both trans-
ferred down from Stewart and
bring with them track experience
of their own and solid coaching
record,

Murphy will be looking after
the distance runners.

’ As for the team itself, he said

most of the athletes will be
returnees from last year, includ-
ing strong competitors Lor
Buteau and Mike Davis.

co

THERE WAS competilive-
ness, there were prizes, but
there was also a realization

Run was about 4 lot more,

The 3km walk/run event
was raising money for B.C.
Special Olympics to help es-
tablish a “* Buddy’? program.

Designed to encourage
mentally disabled young
people to participate in Spe-
cial Olympics, the Buddy
program will include
recruiting and training
secondary school students
as volunteer Buddies for
Special Olympians.

At Thornhill Jr.
Secondary, one of seven
Regional Kick-Off schools
for this year’s event, they
recognized the connection
by inviting locat Special
Olympians to take part

And the Thornhill students
did a fine job when it came
to bringing in pledges,

At last count, they had
raised $2,250, closé ta $10
per student.

Across the river at Centen-
nial Christian, 75 grade 7-10
Studenls ran their 3km
through the Horseshoe area
and added another $300 to
lhe total raised throughout
the two communities.

that the 16th annual Milk f

AND THEY'RE OFF! At top, 7§ Centennial Christian students charge, or stroll, from the start
of thelr 3km Milk Run. Above, Thornhill Ur. Secondary teacher Brian Draper bears down as
student Brad Allard launches a challenge with the finish line looming.

Downs is hot in Sub-Zero ©

IT’S BEEN a long season for the
Bluebacks and it showed a little
at the recent Prince George meet.

“The kids looked good in the
water,’ coach Mike Carlyle said,
but conceded they were also ‘‘a
bit tired”’,

Add in that the club has been
concentrating on turning techni-
que rather than speed and the lack
of tough competition to push
them in some cases, and it was
not surprising the percentage of
best times took a dip,

However, Seth Downs, 14, pro-
duced some “exceptional”
swims in posting seven of eight
personal bests and taking the
overall silver in his age class.

His best result was in the 400m
Free where he chopped off more
than three seconds despite being
ill that day.

Noting Downs continues to
lower his AAA qualifying times,
Carlyle said there was a chance -

he could make finals at the
provincials this summer.

It was also 2 solid meet for
Dylan Evans, “‘the class of the
10-year-alds’’.

The top point-getter for the
Paints North team, of which the
Bluebacks were members, Evans
finished with six wins and .two
seconds to take the overall gold in
his divisian.

“He put in good swims but
there was no-one who could real-
ly push him,”’ Carlyle said.

However, Evans had been able
to lower his mark in three events.
‘“*The way he’s been improving,
he should make finals at the
AAAs,” Carlyle added.

Tristan Browt celebraled his

first overall medal, a bronze, -
since moving up to tine 11:12 year

old class.

Wilh the. boys and: gitts ‘swim.
ming against each other, Carlyle
sald Brown's. 400m Free. ‘was Cte

tertaining for the Bluebacks as
they watched him battle it out
with teammate Marina Checkley.

“They were side by side in the
outside lanes, pacing off each
ather all the way, then sprinted
the last 25m,’” he recalled,

Checkley won the private race
by. 18/100ths of a second and
slashed four scconds off her best
time in the process. : Brown
lowered his mark by nearly three
seconds. .

Checkley finished fourth over-

all in 11-12 Girls followed closc-

ly by fellow Bluebacks Audrey
Erb and Stacey Parr.

Carlyle ‘said Julie. Vanderlee

continued to impress, going seven

- for eight on personal bests includ-

ing destroying her 100m Fly and

200m IM marks by 10 seconds.

“She's improved in leaps. and _
bounds over the year,'’ he sald, |

adding she ‘should do well at the
Junior Provincials. ors

The Bluebacks once again an-
chored the Points North 13-14
Boys, Kevin Andolfatto taking
the bronze with Jamie Kerman
fourth and Garth Coxford and

- Chris Kerman ticd for sixth.

Noting they’d been dolng a tot
of work lately on lengthening
Andolfatto’s stroke, Carlyle sald
the improvement was. evident
over the longer distances.

That was especially the case in
the 400m Free where he took off
anamazing 16 seconds.

There were also AA qualifying

‘times to celebrate: Brian Palah-

icky now has enough to go to the

championships while Liam Mur-

phy needs only one more to make

the trip. He'll be trying for that in

Kitimat, May 13-15,
Judy Stevenson made her tally

- eight while the.:-team shared in

Desiree Peters excttement ag the

. 10-year-old notched her first AA
-: mes a.