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 SKEENA-ANGLER |.
ROB BROWN

Zymacord slide

he Zymacord is a beautiful river. I discovered
this years ago, before the big floods of the
late seventies and early eighties.

It was a day in spring. The landscape was bril-
liant. The sun was warm enough to set the snow on
the tops of the blue mountains in motion at midday,
but the white patches on the valley bottoms had a
crust hard enough to hold my weight and that of my}
ten speed as I carried it into the bush near Remo Bar.

With my red bike hidden in a clump of alders, 1
returned to the truck and drove through New Remo
and up the Zymacord valley. The road was failing
quickly: the river was gnawing at it in a couple of
spots. Where beavers had plugged a haphazardly
laid culvert, pond water spilled across the road.

Knowing almost nothing of the river, I peered
through and around the brush for glimpses of it, like
a peeping Tom looking through a curtain crack,
while simultaneously attempting to avoid rocks and
other road hazards. Spur roads appeared and disap-
peated, none of them navigable in my two by four.

I.came to a substantial bridge built over a sub-
stantial creek. In the distance [ could see the
Zymacord, It seemed a good place to put in the raft.

It was the only place to do so without dragging the —

boat through alder snarl. I cast off. Almost as new to
the boat as to the river, I misjudged the current and
distance and found myself hurtling downstream
bow first, narrowly missing an upturned spruce and

a log pile before I could get possession of the oars.
After that brush with death“] found, myself: in’

calmer waters wondering What snares might’be | lurk-
ing around ‘the next bend. Soon after that anxious
thought, the stream wound around its own bend and
disappeared in a sea of beautiful distractions: there

‘were sparkling riffles; rock walls halding up droop-

ing trees, grouse drumming, and grouse hooting;
moving brush ~ moose mevement, I guessed — all of
these things enveloped in the spring musk

I didn’t read water as well then as [ do now. I’m
sure I slid over more than a few fish, but one pool
was so inviting, I couldn’t miss it. I fished it awk-
wardly but stil! found a small glistening steelhead.
After that there were dollies, a lot of them, crowded
into places like the black holes behind big snags and

_ where pools turn into riffles, where they waited to
| ambush young salmon. This was fortunate, for ] was
fishing the silver minnow, the mock salmon fry fly

everyone seemed to fish in those days.

So it went on, riffle after riffle, after pool after
run, until the river turned into long green and shady
meanders. Even then, the place was magic. 1 was
high on it when I took the raft out.

Yet the Zymacord gets no rave reviews from fish-
ers singing praises of the Lakelse, the Kalum, the
Copper, and of the Skeena. They don’t because the
most exciting part of the river, the part below
Erlandsen I floated that day, is almost always dirty.

Before I made that float a logging road was cut up
the valley above my launch site. It was built too
close to the river. A short way up the valley it sev-
ered an artery of clay and began a slow inexorable
slide of clay into the river. When the Zymacord rises
it chews at the toe of that stide. Even when the river
is low and quiet, chunks of clay calve off and fall
into the flow, colouring everything from there to the
Skeena, making the river impossible to fish.

The effluent from the slide isn’t just clay, it con-
tains sediment. Sediment plugs spawning gravel.
It’s bad for fish. Jim Culp, who flies the Zymacord
annually to count coho, reports there almost none in
the dirty water below the slide, despite the fine habi-
tat there, but scads of them above it. “You only need
to go 20 feet above the slide to see fish,” Jim told
me, “We found a only a few places where fish had
been using the lower river. They, were near the edge
where We think there was ground water coming up
through the gravel.”

Dionys deLeeuw has spent a lot of time walking
around the Zymacord valley. Biologist, naturalist,
angler, and philosopher that he is, Dionys is always
thinking. He’s pondered the Zymacord slide and
thinks it can be mended, Conceding it will be a job
for big engineering and big machines, Dionys
points out there is already a road ta convey the
equipment needed to carry the rows of shot rock
and gravel necessary to shield the clay from the
Zymacord and divert it into the canyon below,

The damage of the Zymacord resulted from log-
ging, therefore it qualifies for Forest Renewal
money. Money from this source and Fisheries
Renewal has been used for questionable schemes
recently. Here is a solid idea that will reclaim habi-
tat for salmon and will reclaim a sport fishery to die
for, atid we have the men and machines. Let! 5 get it
done.

TERRACE STANDARD ~

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 12, 2000 - BS

SPORTS |

Narzt nears Olympic time

TERRACE SWIMMERS lined up against some of Western
Canada’s top swimmers al the Ice Breaker Classic swim
meet in Kamloops last month and recorded their fastest
times ever.

Leading the pack was 16- year-old Kyle Narzt, who re-
corded three club records and three youth national times
and a Junior National time.

Nar2t’s 59:98 100-metre backstroke is now just 1.88
seconds off the Olympic qualifying time off 58.10 seconds,
a goal his coach Mike Carlyle feels Narzt’s is capable of.

Even though Narzt was well-rested and shaved to boost
speed and confidence going into the pool, Carlyle was sur-
prised by Narzt’s peak performances.

“We didn’t have any expectations that he would be
going that fast in the finals,” said Carlyle,

In his 200-metre backstroke, Narzt is 2.77 seconds off
the Olympic qualifying time, giving him added motivation
to qualify at provincials later this spring. His 200-metre

backstroke clocked in at 2:08.57 minutes, earning hima -

silver medal in the race.

Narzt’s third club record and youth national time in the
50-metre freestyle, earned him a sixth place finish in the
meet. All Narzt’s swims, including a seventh place 400-
metre freestyle finish, were best-ever times for Narzt.

Kyle’s older brother Greg Narzt, now 18, also recorded
four best-ever times in the meet, clocking two 12th place
finishes in the 100 and 200-metre breaststrokes. Greg Narzt
also finished 15th in the 50-metre freestyle swim.

Greg Narat also earned a bronze medal in the 200-metre
freestyle relay and a fourth place finish for his part on the
200-metre medley relay team.

Fourteen-year-old Jenine Barton charted twa club re-
cords for two swims.

First, she shaved almost three seconds off her 100-metre
breaststroke in the finals to finish ninth overall in the race
and record a 1:19:18 time, which qualifies her for youth
nationals. Barton also swam a 2:33.95 in the 200 back-
stroke to chart her second club record. The time was 2.25
seconds faster than her entry time and gave her a well-
eamed 10th place finish.

Barton’s best placing in Kamloops was a 1:10.83 in the
100-metre butterfly, which gave her a seventh place finish.

Carlyle expects both Kyle Narzt and Jenine Barton to
rank high on national age group rankings due out at the end
of this month.

Terrace’s Evan Palahicky, 13, charted a fifth and 13th
place finish in the 100-metre and 200-metre breaststroke.

Kaya Downs, said Carlyle, swam four races in Kam-
loops and greatly improved | her technical skills.

wil

Skeena

e i Me Signe rd tert

SKEENA CABLEVISION
are champions in Terrace's
final tournament of the 20th
century. The team went a
perfect 4-and-0 in the Ban-
tam House Tournament
held Dec. 29 and 30.

The team's first game
against Terrace’s Lakelse
Logging Wednesday night
was a close one as Skeena
Cablevision won 3-2. Both
teams had short benches

' due to players on vacations

during the holidays.

Their second game was
apainst Sujitra’s Suds from
Kitimat Thursday, at 11:30
a.m.

Kitimat came out strong
in this game with a 2-0 lead
after the first period. How-
ever, Skeena Cablevision
made a huge comeback.
Brian Todd scored the first
goal on a breakaway to nar-
row the gap to 2-1.

Near the end of the sec-

ond period, Kitimat had
thought they scored the 3-1
goal.

However, referees deci-
ded the puck was batted in
with a high-stick, causing
the goal to be disallowed. In
the third period, Skeena Ca-
blevision kept on coming.
They scored four more un-
answered goals, including
two goals from Tyler
Noble, io finish with a 5-2
victory.

After a three-hour break,
Skeena Cablevision took to
the ice again, this time to
face the Hazelton Bulldogs
in the 3:45 p.m. game.

The strong Bulldogs
team took Skeena Cablevi-
sion too lightly as the Ter-
tace team opened the scor-
ing with a breakaway goal
from Tyler Sheasby. Brian
Todd later added a natural
hat-trick to make the score
4-1. The Hazelton team

638-7283

KYLE NARZT takes a dip in the pool at the Terrace Aquatic Centre Thursday, Jan.
6. Narzt's 100-metre backstroke time, recorded at a competitive meet in Kamloops
last month, was less than two seconds off the Olympic qualifying time.

AT THE ARENA’
TYLER NOBLE

tried to make the comeback
but it was a case of too Lit-
tle, too late. After Brian
Todd added a fourth goal,
Skeena Cablevision held on
to win 5-2. With the vic-
tory, Terrace would have to
face the Hazelton Bulldogs
again in the finals.
Immediately after the

Shames offers course on
avalanche awareness

WHAT A TEAM: Johann Slam and his dog Bene
will hit the slopes at Shames Mountain Jan. 15-16
to demonstrate avalanche rescue techniques.

SHAMES MOUNTAIN
kicks off National Ski and:
Snowboard week Saturday,
Jan. 15 with Avalanche
Awareness Days.

The two-day event,
sponsored by the Canadian
Avalanche Association,
promotes public awareness
of the national associa-
tion’s many safety pro-
grams.

Weekend activities in-
clude a search by a mini-
stry of transportation and
highways avalanche tech-
nician Johann Slam and
Bene, his dog, on Big
Bunny, avalanche equip-
ment displays and other
weather-related demon-
strations.

Avalanche days is orga-
nized by the Mount Remo
and Prince Rupert Back-
country Societies, the
ministry of transportation
and highways and Shames
Mountain.

Call Steve Brushey at
638-1840 for more infor-
mation.

3:45 p.m, game was the
third place game at 5:15
p.m. ,

The game featured Kiti-
mat's Sujitra's Suds and
Terrace's Remax. The Kiti-
mat team easily took Ter-
race Remax to claim third
place in the tournament.
Remax finished a well-de-
served fourth.

The tournament cham-
pionship, at 6:45 p.m., fea-
tured a rematch between the
Hazelton Bulldogs and
Skeena Cablevision. The
Bulldogs were looking for
sweet revenge after their
loss in the 3:45 p.m. game.

Skeena Cablevision
came out strong. Tyler
Sheasby opened the scoring
early in the first period to
make the score 1-0. Tyler
Noble later added two more
to make the game 3-0.
Skeena Cablevision's short
bench gave the team a scare

‘Cablevision win bantam tourney

as the Hazelton team added
a goal in the first period and
one more in the second to
make the score 3-2,

Skeena Cablevision real-
ized they had to find the lit-
tle bit of energy they had
left. And they. did, as
Christian Gough added an-
other goal to increase the
score to 4-2. Solid defen-
sive play, including spectac-
ular goaltending from Cory
Duben prevented the Bull-
dogs from getting any clo-
ser.

Terrace's Skeena Cable-
vision took first place in the
six-team 1999 Terrace Ban-
tam House Tournament.
The Hazelton Bulldogs fin-
ished a hard-fought second
while the Kitimat Sujitras
and Terrace Remax finished
third and fourth. Terrace
Lakelse Logging won the
most sportsmanlike team
award.

Sports Scope

Kids charity event.

game's play.

contributing cities.

all are welcome to attend,

Bowl for charity’
WHETHER YOU bowl strikes or spares, your help is
needed to raise money for special needs children in B.C.
during the Variety Club of B.C.’s annual B.C. Bowls for

For a minimum $30 donation, bowlers will receive a
commemorative B.C. Bowls for Kids pin.
every $30 raised, names will be entered into a draw.
Participants could win a one week trip for four to Dis-
neyland, a one-week trip for two to Puerto Vallarta,
Mexico or a weekend trip for two to San Francisco.
Pledge forms are based on points earned during one

And Terrace has a reputation to uphold. Since 1987,
the Terrace Bowling Lanes has raised more than
$39,535, That total makes Terrace one of B.C’s top 12

So pick up a pledge form, book a date this month to
bowl and bring family, friends and co-workers for a fun
night at the Terrace Bowling Lanes. All proceeds will be
donated to the Variety Clubs of B.C. .

Drop-in futsal

INTERESTED in playing indoor soccer, but not sure
you can commit to a full season of league play?

Why not try Thursday night drop in futsal at Thornhill
Elementary. The session begins Jan. 6 and tun for two
hours from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

This {s a more relaxed form of coed indoor soccer and

And for