and operated newspaper

Vieikaces Dati

Your hometown locally owned

+.

| Can’t keep up with the da

Forestry recreation sites
suffering from vandalism

Repairing damage done to for-

estry recreation sites by vandals is
consuming more than half the
operational budget for recreation in
the Kaium Forest District. Bob
Childs, the district’s. resource
officer for recreation, wants the
help of the general public in trying
to bring the problem down to a
reasonable level.

"We're using an
amount of time to clean up delib-
erate damage," Childs said in an
interview last week. "IE this keeps
up we may have to shut some of
the sites down."

The Kalum district office main-
tains five recreational sites, all of
them rustic and natural: Exstew
River 30 kilometres west of Ter-
race, Red Sands at the north end of
Kalum Lake and the nearby Hart
Farm, the Lakelse River site and
Clements Lake north of Stewart.
To maintain and enhance those
sites, the district has a budget of
$25,000. So far this year repairing
wilful damage has cost $14,000,
Childs said.

The Exstew River site was
trashed on the Victoria Day week-
end, traditionally the year’s first
weekend of mass outdoor recre-
ation in the Northwest. Picnic
tables, which Childs values at
about $500 each, were torn apart
and burned, Outhouses with a
culvert system cost about $1,000 to
put up; those were overturned and
smashed. The site had been com-
pletely refurbished only a few
weeks before.

mer htt

inordinate

On the weekend of June 22 a
crowd estimated at between 400
and 500 people converged on Red
Sands following a series of grad
parties. Childs notes that the hoard
was not entirely grads, and
believes some of the vandals were
just late night drinkers who left
local pubs at closing time, There
were chain saws involved, and the
damage to the carefully maintained
recreation site was extensive.

The Clements Lake recreation
was completely renovated last
August. "It was gone by October,"
Childs said.

Maintenance contracts for the
Lakelse River recreation site are
not being tendered. "We're waiting
for the vandalism to stabilize,"
Childs said.

He sees numerous repercussions
to the widespread and visible dam-
age being inflicted on the forest
recreation sites. "If we can’t fix it,
the users suffer." Users include
local hikers, anglers, people who
just want to get out in the woods
for a while, and tourists. The tour-
ists are not impressed, Childs
noted, by sites with burned picnic
tables, overturned outhouses and
broad scatterings of trash and
broken glass. And when the sites
are degraded, he said, people tend
to treat them with less respect,
compounding the problem.

-The forest service’s resources are
limited, and so are those of the
police, Childs believes the only
way to make maintaining and
enhancing the forest service recre-

Sports

~ Features

Community News
Arts & Entertainment

. oa
= Ame

-SENSELESS

OFFENSES. The charred remains of a picnic table were photographed after
Victoria Day weekend at the B.C. For
Rupert and Terrace, just off Highway

est Service recreation site by Exstew river between Prince
46. The site had been renovated just a few weeks before.

-ation sites a realistic goal is with

the help of the general public. "If
we had the information, at least we
could talk to the people who are
doing this," he says. "People have
to get involved."

Childs encourages anyone who
witnesses acts of deliberate de-
struction at the recreation sites —
or anyone who has indications that
such acts are going to occur — to
contact the forest service or the
police with the information.
"We're looking after your moncy,
we're maintaining a public
resource for the benefit of the
public,” he says. "It’s a big tour-
ism draw. We try to keep things
neat, but if we can’t upgrade the

B ay

Damage inflicted on the Exstew River forest recreation site Is just one example of extensive
vandalism that has taken place on the sites, frequented by locals and tourists alike, in recent
months. The Kalum District Forest office resources are so occupied with repairs that they are
unable to add further developments to the area.

sites, the damage tends to acceler-
ate." ,
Noting the recent programs in

urban areas called "adopt-a-park",

-Childs urges people in the area to

"adopt a concern".

Angling tourists
enjoy scenery,
local hospitality

by Gregg Halfyard

Every year at this time thou-
sands of tourists visit Tetrace.
For many of them the dream of
landing a mighty chinook is the
drawing card. On a recent trek
to a popular fishing spot on the
Skeena River, I spoke to some
out of town anglers.

Joe Abel and his friend drove
up from the farming community
of Stetler, Alberta. ‘“We’re just
uj. for a couple of days of
fishing.” This is the first time
that Joe has been to Terrace. He
was impressed with the moun-
tains and ‘‘beautiful scenery’’
and next year, he says ‘‘I think
’ll bring my wife with me and
stay longer.”

Even though staying for only
two days, Joe purchased a full-
season non-resident angling
license. ‘This way I can come
back for the fall run,” he ex-
plained.

Twila Roper and her husband
of LaGrand, Oregon have been
coming to Terrace for 10 years.
They usually stay for two
months per visit, Twila reports
that the locals are always con-

siderate. ‘“We just love it up
here, the people are always
friendly.” The Chafins are a
local couple that have become
good friends with the Ropers.
Each year the Chafins set up the
Ropers with supplies and lodg-
ings. According to Roper,
‘They really help out, they take
care of us,”’

One thing that keeps the
Ropers coming back is the quiet
solitude and wide open environ-
ment that the Terrace area has to
offer. “‘It is too crowded down
in Oregon, there’s more people
fishing than there are fish,’’ she
says. .

It seems that uncrowded
fishing spots-are not the only
thing that pleases the Ropers.
After battling a huge spring
salmon for 45 minutes, Twila
hauted in a beautiful silver male.
However, at the conclusion of
the tiresome struggle Twila ap-
peared shocked by the apparent
conservative weigh-in. ‘Only 35
pounds! That can’t be right —
let’s throw him back!’? Of
course, she did have an ear-to-
eat grin as she was uttering those
words.

t

Oe a oe ee oe

Be ah ME Om ae

La

wot