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SPORTS MENU C12

KEENA ANGLER |
ROB BROWN

Repairs overdue

ECENTLY, Ken Popovitch, Ed
Chaplow, Finlay and I went out
after cutthroat trout.
Our first choice was the Kitimat
River because, even in its dis-
hevelled state, it is still capable of providing
fine trout fishing.
Unfortunately, a night of hard rain had set the

silt disturbed by a glacial upheaval the week be-

fore in motion again.

We watched a log drift by in the turbid flow,
huddled, then tumed and made for the Lakelse
River via the road that skirts Lakelse Lake,

Ken, who hadn’t fished for about'a decade,
remarked on the amount of development around’

. the lake and the change to the once treed

tandscape adjacent to Herman Creek.

We left Ed and Fin at Herman Point and
soldiered on over the flats, the waler so low the
backs of the male pinks stuck out everywhere.

Fishing these situations is really quite hope-
less, but we cast our lines a3 we waded, setting
scurrying crowds of salmon and the few trout
bold enough to venture into the low clear water.

Coldwater Creek was putting some colour into
the river. I recalled a time, prior to extensive
logging, when it never did. We stopped there
and fished the pool.

In.a short time I landed a 16 inch rainbow, a
cutthroat only a bit smaller, a large dolly varden
and.a large whitefish. Catching four species in
one pool is an opportunity provided by very few

tivers and it put me in mind. of Peter. Broom- .

“hall's story of his first day on the Lakelse when

__ be had the same experience.

“I wondered,’’ Pete told me, nig the people
around here know what a treasure they have.’’

Given the way the watershed has been treated
over the last 10 years, and long before that, it
scems obvious most of them had no idea.

This kind of thing CAN be fixed
and it should be incumbent upon the
company which started the problem to
da so.

TRAC, the representative committee set up by
the Forests ministry to come up with a develop-
ment plan for the watershed, has reached con-
sensus on a sensible way {fo proceed, but it has
only dealt with a portion of the Lakelse
watershed, and an already heavily exploited
portion at that.

The lake and all her tributaries are vital to the
health of the river. All the effort to protect what
remains of the integrity of the river is in grave
danger of being rendered meaningless by
thoughtless development in the Williams Creek
valley, on land adjacent to Clearwater Creek
and, most importantly, on the lake itself.

The concept of community resource boards

like TRAC is a good one, but they also need to
deal with pristine watersheds as well. Moreover,

. preservation and restoration must be options.

In the Lakelse process a moratorium on log-
ging was never an option even though most of
the watershed had already been logged.

And what about restoration and mitigation?

Later in the same day, Ken and J drove the
back road to the middle section of the river, Al
the Clay Bank we were shocked to find one old
creek and two new ones pumping so much silt
into the river that everything below them was
too filthy to fish.

Upon closer examination, the cause for the
mayhem became obvious,.There was always a
swamp there but, with the disappearance of the

_ big trees, the willow and the beavers took over.

Using the decaying road as a dam, the in-
dustrious rodents had enlarged the swamp and

created an impressive series of ponds and

After heavy rains, the newly created creeks
swell. One‘ruus over the marine clay while the
other percolaies through it.

’ This scenario is likely. to. repeat itself for a

long, long time to the detriment of fish habitat.

This kind of thing can be fixed and. it should be
incumbent upon the company whlch Started the
problem todos:

Resource boards should be flagging these

"kinds of problems and developing prescriptions

to deal with them.
: For some time now. it has been well-known

-. that the negative impacts of logging last for
- years after the activity hasceased. =

In the Lakelse swatershed it is time we started

ensuring thai ‘amends are made for. the abuse
-; that” has’ becn heaped. upon it since the time,
a Columbia Cellulose began operations there: ~

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 13, 1993 - C1

- FINAL STRIDES, Ed Ansems closes in on the line in the All Sea-
sons 6km. Ansems took second overall in the Men's event and
finished at the head of the Masters Men's division. At top right,

Chris Desjardins hams it up after winning the Half Marathon.

Erb, Brown crack speed list

THE DYNAMIC DUO! |
That’s what you could call
Audrey Erb and Tristan. Brown,
the Blueback specdsters wlio
have catapulted themselves into
the Top Plus semi-annual swim
rankings.

Those rankings ate based on

_ times achieved in long course

(50m pool) races between April
and August this ycar.

Exb hit the highest placing
achieved by any Blueback this
year, recording the sixth fastest

time in the 100m Breast in the
under-10 years division.

Tristan Brown’s hot finish to
the scason translated to no fewer
than three lop 15 rankings in the
boys’ under-10 group.

Freeslyling his way to 8th over
100m, he also clocked a 12th in
the 400m Free and a 14th in the
100m ’Fly. ;

Brown siill has a couple of
more meets in that division -- he
turns 11 in January -- while Erb
will be competing on the junior

rong turn costly

| “SECTION c
MALCOLM BAXTER 638-7283

| Simpson win wraps —
up a perfect season

FINDING HIS WAY to Terrace
proved a lot casier than following
the route of the All Seasons Half
Marathon for Dominic Baldwin.

Out on his own at the head of

the field, the Coquillam native
soon found himself really on his
own after taking a wrong turn.
- By the time he realized his crror
and backtracked, all hope of win-
ning the northwest running sea-
son’s finale event was gone,

That left Chris Desjardins to
break the iape in the 21km cvent,
a minute and a half clear of fel-
low Smithereen Peter Krause.

Despite his detour, Baldwin still
managed to finish third, less than
three minutes off the pace.

On a day when visitors domi-

"nated the overall winners list, Sue

Simpson lifted the hometown
crawd as the first female to finish
in the 21km.

Crossing the line in 1:30:28,
Simpson was fully 11 minutes
clear of closest pursuer, Poppy
Hoffman of Smithers,

Terracites picked
up a healthy share
of age group firsis
in the 5km.

The victory gave. ‘Simpson a
perfect all-win season's record.

In the All’ Seasons 5km “and”

10km’ women’s : events,. Prince
Ruperters shone, Chery! Martello
faking the title over the shorter
course, Debbie MecFayden
duplicating at 10km,

Martello, however, was pressed
hard by Kitimat’s Natasha
DeSousa who finished just 29
seconds back while Lisa Sambo,

another Rupert entry, was only

another 10 seconds adrift in third.

McFayden had an easier time,

coming home with nearly four
Minutes 10 spare over fellow
coast city runner Lori Paolinelii.
Paolinelli had to beat off a
strong challenge from Terrace’s
Rose Schibli, winning the runner-
up duel by a mere nine seconds,
Curtis Schreiber of Kitimat pre-
vented the Prince Rupert club
sweeping up its third overall title
in the Men’s 10km, his 36:44

end of the 10-12 years group this
scason.

Both hit the competitive pool
for the first. time this weekend
when 32 Bluebacks’ head for
Prince. Rupert and the opening
regional mect-of the season.

‘Blueback coach Mike Carlyle
said the team will be starting out
easy, cach swimmer taking on a
limited number of events.

Pointing oul they’ve only been
back in training for three weeks,
he said the idea was to gel some

TRIPLE RATING. Blueback Tristan Brown's times over the long course last season put him in the
fastest 15 in Canada In his age group. Last week (above) he was hard at work putting the practice

‘needed to get faster yet. The club opens its compelitive season this weekend in Prince Rupert.

Chris Desjardins

enough to hold off Eric DeJong.
In the Men’s 5im Kevin Silver-
son had cnongh pace to stay
ahead of home town hope Ed
Ansems, Berwyn McKilligan tak-

ing third in an event that saw less

than a minute cover the first four.

Although almost shut out of the
overall: honours, Terracites picked
up a healthy share of age group
firsts in the 5km.

Nathan Northridge came home
at the head of the Boys field
while Rachel Wilkerson had two
minutes to spare in taking the
Girls side.

Ansems (Masters Men), Sherrie
Hamer (Masters Women) and

Ray Warner (Open Meti) added
‘three more successes as Skeena

Valley club runners took five of

the age groups at the distance.
Marilyn Earl (Masters Women)

and Murray Warner (Open Men)

- provided Terrace - one-two fin-

ishes in their events.

Kim Barriere narrowly missed
second in the Open Women’s
category with teammate Heidi
Siebring hard on her heels.

Becky Schumacher (Youth
Women) and Morgan Evans
(Boys) raced to thirds in their
respective divisions. ©

The lone wheelchair entry, Ter-
race’s Paul Clark was first across
the 21km line in a time of
1:07:53.

Although no individual records

were set this year, the number of

runners (143) left the best-ever
entry mark far behind.

racing in but have fun at the same
time.

This is the same approach he

adopted last year.

Then, Carlyle made it clear the
goal was steady improvement and
working towards the provincial
events rather than overworking
tcam members carly and risking
burn-out.

It also ties into his obvious phi-
losophy. that swimmers should
enjoy the sport even when excell-
ing.

Carlyle said the Bluebacks
number 48 to date, including
cight new faces.

However, cven though ihe sea-
son is under way the club is ‘more
than ready to welcome new or
relurning members,

“Our target is 60 by the end of

the year,”’ he said.

In particular, he.said there is
room for swimmers in the Novice
and Development I programs.

Development I covers young:
sters from 8-12 yeats while those

from seven fo nine fall into the.

Novice category.
The latter are already enjoying

ihe coaching of Cathy .-Hennett, -

the ex-Blucback looking afier the
program. -
“She's really excellent,'’ .Car-
lyle said. ‘“The kids are having a
lol of fun.”

And the first mest to be hosted
by Terrace will be a Novices OnG,
It takes place Sunday, Nov. 7: °