CHRISTIANA WIENS «wpebabae eee ee? eee ee ee ee ee ee ee Tes ee eee ee ee ee 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