B6 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 26, 2005

_ MARGARET SPEIRS _

«ROB BROWN

“Vee Lakelse’River is’ such a glorious ex-
«ample of a-well working natural system.
" “you’d expect that even the most calloused :

of sensibilities ‘could appreciate ‘its won-
ders. Surély anyone who has stood riext to, or in, its

dark clear water amid schools of crimson coho after .

the first frost,of the year has painted yellow streaks

on the surrounding hillsides, would understand that ©

the. river was special.

Anyone who has left tracks in the snow’ cover:
- ing the, abandoned bear trails, heard the chortling of _
swans, glimpsed them, large and brilliantly white :

against the. tea-coloured water, then heard the tat-
too of their wings, their fanfare and the rush of the

If you have visited the river in spring when

under log jams to spawn, unperturbed by the slash:

| ing of marauding sea run‘cutthroats, dolly varden
and Rocky Mountain white fish all hunting silvery |
salmon fry and aquatic insects, or have been there —

in the summer wher everything i is grown up so lush

; ‘and ‘green its radiance is enough to make your eyes
water, you’d:‘have to come away with the idea that -
. itis a place deserving reverence. |

The smoothed shapes and shadows of history
endure along the Lakelse River corridor: crabapple

_ sharp, cool air. through their flight feathers could ©
“not fail to be moved by the magic of the place.

steelhead have drifted back from the outlet of the _
lake or moved from the deepest pools or out from’

trees grow on the hummocks of First Nations’ fish- -
ing sites at Hermans’ Point, below the Canyon and -

. near the spot where the river joins the Skeena; ce- .

dars with 14 foot'strips neatly stripped from one
side. preside over the fading trail that follows. the
river’s right side.

Well worn paths littered with fish bits, uprooted
skunk cabbage, shredded logs, scat and spoor testify
to the fact that bears, black, brown and off white are

plentiful, as you’d-expect in a place where things

are working pretty much as things should work
when they’re working well.
Beaver, otter, martin, porcupine, and wolverine

are the mammalian species I’ve seen in the Lakelse .
- corridor, and I’m sure there are more.”

Years ago, Peter Broomhall told me of the first
time he fished the Lakelse River.”
“I caught a white fish,” he told me, “then a cut-

throat. And after I’d released them, I hooked a coho, ~

_ then later in the day, a steelhead. And I wondered

if the fishermen i in | this area appreciated what they
have in this river.”
The answer to his question is, very few do, ap-

little river by all kinds of abuser groups are enough
to make you think they must hold it in contempt.

The river corridor. should never have been
logged, yet it has, and badly. Small nursery creeks
in the Thunderbird area were defoliated by loggers
who treated them with blatant disregard. The entire
Thunderbird area is full of marine clay that should
have been left undisturbed. If it had been, there
would have been no Mink Creek slide.

‘parently. In fact, the injuries inflicted on this special -

The gargantuan swath that was torn from a near-

by mountain adjacent to the lower river by heli-log-

_ gers is far too big, will be subject to erosion and will

regenerate with difficulty. Coldwater Creek, vital to
spawning chinook and steelhead was logged to its
banks, thanks to some planning snafu,

Even the old growth strip adjacent to the river
would have. been logged had it not been for the
efforts of Jorma Jyrkannen, Jim Culp, Lars Rees-
Hansen and the members of the local branch of the
Steelhead Society.

The arial assault on the river. valley. is visible
from the end of my street on clear day. The cloud

tions in Kitimat — waste that could and should be
eliminated at its source — drifts up the valley of the
same name then flows right down the Lakelse River
corridor leaving toxic deposition in its wake.

Then there’s the persistent threat of dredging fo-
mented by lakeside dwellers who have it in: their
heads that dredging some of the richest. fisheries

habitat in the world is necessary to prevent flooding

on the homes they have built on the flood plane of a
lake that turns over seven times some years and has
always been prone to flooding.

Then there are the quotidian abuses from the self

_of airborne waste produced by the industrial exer- .

centered slobs who defecate near the- trail, leave

beer bottles and other garbage in fire pits at Her-

mans Hole, next to the Flats, at Thunderbird and at

‘the Forestry campsite.

And in the last few years unofficial guides have

been showing up in rental cars to rip off the resource.

and spit in the face of hard won regulations.

For all these reasons, the Lakelse River needs
one or two river guardians who can monitor logging
practices, report illegal guides, see that the place is
kept clean and together with Fisheries officers, en-
sure that conservation is maintained through adher-
ence to the regulations.

ry

a)

ma TERRACE STANDARD

y

River Kings drain Williams | Lake

, MARGARET SPEIRS.
‘THE. RIVER KINGS iced the
Williams Lake Stampeders in their

- first meetings at the Terrace Arena
Oct. 15 and 16: a

- Terrace toppled Williams Lake
7-4 and 3-1:

The first game. proved to be a"
hard-hitting match with players on-
-both sides slamming into the glass ~

‘and each other.

One hit stopped action about half-_

way through the third as a Williams
‘Lake player lay flat on his back to

_ the left of River Kings goalie Craig .
» Walsh. ;
__, Paramedics and ‘trainers helped
2 the Stampeder off the ice: 7
. .. He feportedly suffered a hit to his
_ left eye, was taken to hospital for ob: _

_ servation and later released. .
~ Terrace opened the. scoring, ‘with |
Troy Farkvam and Rich Clair giving

the River Kings a two goal lead in
the first five minutes.

Willams Lake’s Grant Johnson:

scored at 8:13.

The. River ‘Kings’ dominated. thé
rest of the first,period with three
more goals'scored by Richie Rogers,
Troy Kaye and Ryan Muldoe to put

them up 5-1.

Williams Lake fought back in the
second with goals by Aaron Zurak
and Wilfred Robbins to move them

“- within two at 5-3. oe

Terrace added ‘one ‘more thanks

to Ryan° Watson’s successful shot °
|. with six seconds left i in the second to -

make it 6-3.
“In the third, Willis Harry added

- the Stampeders’ last ‘goal with just

over six minutes left.
Corey Paulson: finished off the

. game, netting Terrace’s seventh goal
_ in the final three seconds.

After the game, coach Trevor

Hendry said the team played well in:
. the first, had a terrible-second period

but rallied for a good third.

-* He wasn’t too pleased with how

the River Kings 5-1 lead after the
first became only a three-point lead
after the second. ° ,
- Hendry said Craig Walsh played
outstandingly in net.
Walsh said he was starting to feel
“a lot more comfortable” on the ice.
“T fought the puck a bit and pulled
it together by the end of the game,”
he said.

Williams Lake got a couple of .

clean shots off from the slot, but that
‘didn’t bother him.

said.

Alternate goalie Burny Carlsen .

“spent the game sitting on the steps

' next to the River Kings bench, a feat

more difficult than ‘it looked.

“Tt is very hard: I want to be stop- -
he said, adding

ping some pucks,”
that regular weekly practices have
made a noticeable improvement
with the team.

He thanked the community for

" its support.

THE TERRACE
midget rep «ji
_ bench looks on
as a teammate,
right, waits for
a pass during
‘a game against
Kitimat Oct. 15.
Terrace skated
away with a 2-1
Mictory.

MIDGET rep hockey came close to two victories at home,
narrowly losing their second game against Kitimat in the

waning seconds.

Terrace won 2-1 and lost 4-3 on Oct. 14 and 15.

The second game remained at a three-all tie until the final |
20 seconds, when Kitimat scored for the win. -

“It’s good for the boys to get tight games like that because
they learn what it takes to win,” said coach Herb Goriak,
adding that Kitimat is a well-coached team.

Both games were excellent with lots of hard hitting. and

back and forth action, he said.

“Tm happy. with the win,” he —

Samm Pass
ca

neo 7

CRAIG WALSH, River Kings ¢ netminder, takes a break during Terrace’s 7-4 victory against V Williams Lake .

at home Oct 15. Walsh had an outstanding | game and said afterward he’s beginning to feel more com-

fortable on the ice.

MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO

. “We -have the best fans in the
league,” he said.
“They're totally behind us and

100 per cent mad at us if we get pen- |
‘alties.”

Hendry predicted Terrace’s sec-

.ond win and said he planned to add
‘forwards Terry Zaporzan,

Mike

Diblee and Chris Brown to the game
‘for some “fresh legs.”

Despite scoring ’ first within the
opening five minutes of Sunday’s

game, Williams Lake couldn’t add
any more points to the scoreboard.
Terrace tied it up with Phil Morri-
son’s goal at 1:18 left in the first and
Ryan Watson followed 23. seconds

- later to put the River Kings up 2-1.

Watson scored his second with
8:16 remaining in the second to give
Terrace the 3-1 lead that held for the

‘rest of the game. ;
Hendry said the River Kings

played better in their second meet-

ing with the Stampeders.
‘““We had a bad second yesterday
and today they smartened up on de-

- fence,” he said.

“Bury: [Carlsen] played great.
He’s the player of the game.” —

‘Hendry said the team knows what .

areas it needs to work on and will fo-
cus on those issues in practice.
The River Kings host the Mack-

enzie Moose in a double header this:

weekend.

Sports
Menu

@ October 28
Drop-in wallyball: bounc-

. Northwest Community Col-
lege from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
| for non-competitive players
and from 7, p.m. to 10 p.m.
for competitive players.
Drop-in squash plays at
7 p.m. The cost for either is
$4.50.

Ml October 29 and 30

. Join. the’ crowd in the

stands to watch the River
_ Kings host the Mackenzie
' Moose Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

and Sunday at 11:45 a.m at

says.

Midget reps win and tie Kitimat

missed Saturday’ $ game, he heard it was even better. ©
A good Terrace-Kitimat rivalry is already brewing, he -

“They're got some talented players and teally good goal-
ies,” Goriak said about Kitimat.“Whoever puts the extra ef-
fort in will win the game.” __

The midgets play Prince Rupert and Smithers, teams they
haven’t faced, over the next two weekends.

“Apparently, they played well against each other so we
expect some pretty good players in those games,” he said.

1

the Terrace Arena.

@ November 6
The Terrace Bluebacks
_ Splash into their new season
as they host an in-house re-
gional meet at the Terrace
Aquatic Centre,

i November 7
The Terrace Minor Hock-

ey Association holds its gen- -

eral meeting at 8 p.m. at the
Happy Gang Centre.

638-7283

es off the walls at the Kiva at °