Officer |
cleared

A TERRACE conservation
officer wasn’t reckless when
he fired a shot that
rleocheted and went through
the window of a house in
Kitimat, an environment
ministry intemal inquiry has
found.

Glen Slater fired the shot
at a problem bear in.

. Kitlmat’s Whitesail neigh-
~ bourhood: on Sept. 9 after
conservation officers
received 30 bear complaints
in two weeks from that area.

The: sholgun slug
ricocheted and hit a
Bartholomew St. house.

An RCMP investigation of
the incident is still un-
derway.

“Our investigation found
no wanton or reckless use of
firearms,” the inquiry report
stales.

The report says Slater's
qualifications — 19 years as
a conservation officer, and
several years experience as
a wildlife control officer —
are not in dispute.

“The conservation of-
ficers involved were forced
to make a judgment call and
both officers perceived the

_ bear to bea potential risk to
public safety,’’ the report
says. ‘This bear had be--
come experienced in avoid-
ing traps and snares,’”
The same bear approached
a resident in his carport and
‘came within eight feet, bare-
ly reacting when an object
_| was thrown at it, the report
says, -
After following the bear
info the backyard of a Baker
Street home, the officers’
options became ‘‘seriously
limited,”’ the report says.
The bear was trapped
against a fence with a bark-
ing German shepherd on

‘|. one side and the conserva-

‘tion officers on the other.
“It’s only avenue of es-

cape. was , unintentionally
blocked by ‘he conservation
officers.” -

They shot the, bear from a

a% distance of 10 metres.

. The report recommends:

i 8 A, Procedure be estabs, ath?

| fished to advise residents

: [who fired. shots” and why -
“when such incidents take,

. plice 1 near r residential areas.

wal

It began in 1980s

Rush leads to mine

HOMESTAKE CANADA’S plan
to develop a gold and silver mine
at Eskay Creck is the end resull
of a massive 1980s staking rush

in the area,

The area was regarded as one of
the premicr gold exploration
areas in North America at its

height.
A lot of that was fueled through

various companies controlled or:

influenced by Vancouver stock

promoter Murray Pezim.
Homestake Mining Company,
an intemational mining company

’ and parent to Homestake Canada,

C

we 7,

became the major player last year

when it acquired control of Inter- -

national Corona, up until then the
dominant company in the Eskay
area.

Homestake also ended up with
a 20 per cent position in the
Cominco-owned Snip gold mine
in the Iskut Valley through its In-
temational Corona acquisition.

The key to development of the
Iskut Valley — close to the Alas-
kan Panhandle and west of
Hwy37 — and the Eskay Creek

area to the south has been road
construction,

Mining companies began lob-
bying for a road in the 1980s,
saying air-only operations were

too expensive and that a ground ©
route would open the area {0

more exploration.

Skyline Gold did open its
Johnny Mountain mine in the Is-
kut using aircraft in the 1980s.

And Cominco did develop its

Chariotie
islonds

—— QUINN
ESKAY CREEK’

BRITISH

COLUMBIA

Snip mine using aircraft and a
hovercraft. on the Iskut River
based in Wrangell, Alaska.

The road plan ‘called for three
roads — a common spur leading
into the Iskut Valley from Bob
Quinn Lake at Hwy37, a road
stretching south to Eskay Creek
and a road leading west to the
Snip mine.

That plan was based on the as-
sumption the provincial govem-
ment would help finance the
common part with companies
responsible for the two spur
Toads.

Construction of the common
spur began in 1991, during the
Tun up to the provincial election
that year, when the Social Credit

government announced it would
provide up to $7 million to Inter-
national Corona as a loan for con-
struction.

But the $7 miilion was put on
hold after the NDP took power
and it has yet to be paid.

The province and Homestake,
which acquired the road when it
bought International Corona, are |
now negotiating a settlement.

““We have made a proposal to
Homestake and they are consider-
ing. it,’ said provincial mines
minister Anne Edwards recently.

"She termed the Social Credit $7
million commitment as a “‘last
minute election giveaway, so lo
speak.”

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 13, 1998 - AI3

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Month

Facts about KCP

Number three ina series answering the questions most often raised
with Alcan about the Kemano Completion Project

Q.
A.

What is Alcan doing to make sure that reduced water
levels after KCP wouldn’t cause economic losses along
the Nechako?

Alcan recognizes the value of the river for irrigation, domestic \ water supplies .
and other economic uses. Since the early 1980s, it has been consulting | with |

local people to identify potential problems and seek solutions.

“With its: shared- resource approach, to designing I KCP, Alcan planned sini for, eqns

tha yihhs

milena irt0)

the tieeds Of fish.,.The resulting ‘flow regime: was then assessed ; foils widens ADA
+ potential effects on other economic users of the river, Several requirements -
__,were identified -- notably the need to modify certain water intakes and t to |
. "advance: scheduled upgrades of sewage treatment facilities.

a In the’ 1987 Settlement Agreement, ‘Alcan’ S obligations were to give up --

--without compensation -- the necessary amount of water'to operate the. - -
fisheries conservation program and to pay for all fish habitat development.”
work carried out under this program. ' It was understood that any effectson’ ..-
municipal water and sewage treatment facilities would be dealt with by the we
“province, working with the communities affected.

The « effects of lower water Jevels on the private facilities of individual

“property owners along the river were not covered by the 1987 Agreement.

Bor example, some residents would face interference with the water supply.

: Nonetheless, Alcan has undertaken to work with local residents to resolve
problems identified and to cover the cost of necessary modifications.

_. for their homes, or for irrigation systems using parts of the upper river. The _
~~. “usual solution is to relocate intakes to deeper water. Shallow wells can also: ~
be relocated or extended to greater depth. Where subirrigation of shoreline

oS fields may be impaired, Alcan is working with farmers on an individual basis.

- Other forins of mitigation have also been brought forward, such asnew
. fencing for cattle control and site improvements for moorage and float plane
operations. ‘Local consultation goes on, and it leads to action. -

Most of the effects are relatively easy to deal with since the minimum water
levels after KCP do not differ greatly from today’s, Much of the water for °-
~ additional. power generation comes from large summer. discharges’ from the: .
“reservoir that have been needed to lower the downstream temperature for
- migrating sockeye salmon. After KCP, salmon will be protected by a new:
Kenney Dam facility ‘releasing colder water. in smaller quantities.

oo From ‘April to November, the KCP base flows will be much like: you see now.
* in the fall.. During winter (November to March), flows. will be reduced from
“present levels, with an actual drop in river depth of less than a foot at’
Vanderhoof and much less still downstream,

River watching

its prospects.

M.

This is a good time of year for a new look at the Nechako and perhaps a better awareness of

If you're driving south this week and want an idea of how the Nechako River wilt be affected
at this time of year after KCP, take a look out the window, At Vanderhoof and Prince .
George, the river this week looks the same as it will look in mid- October. after KCP...

: KCP. Information Centre now open i in 1 Kitimat”

Alcan has opened a Kemano Completion Project Information Centre in xikinat Tt you"

have any questions or just want to know more about KCP, drop by Monday, Wednesday, -
. or Friday from 10 a.m, to 4 p.m. ; ae

Kemano Completion Project _

KITIMAT.

INFORMATION CENTRE

224 City Centre

Kitimat, B.C. V8C 17s

Tal: 632-4712