- themselves in this sad situation, but -

Dredgeheads are all wet

By the time this cojunin sees ink
the Lakelse Lake Residents Associ-
ation will have had a-mecting con-
cerning the flooding around the
lake,

A group of lakeside dwellers
whose homes sit on the floodplain
Surrounding the lake are once again
upset because they have water in
their basements.

‘Having water in one’s house, or
even in one’s garage for that mat-
ter, is very distressing, and I
sympathize with people who find

if you buy or build a home next toa
freeway you should expect to hear
traffic noise; if you build or buy
nextto a river or a lake — especial-
ly the volatile rivers and-lakes in
this rain-soaked country —- you
should be prepared to wake up one
morning and find yourself sur-
rounded by water.

The practice of allowing residen-
tial construction around lakes,
rivers, streams and ocean frontage

_ 18 questionable at best. The people

who live in these areas get all the
benefits of living next to their
respective waterfronts, alicnate
some of the best wildlife habitat on
the planet, restrict access to the
water they live beside then, and
when they are faced with the in-
evitable calamities attending watcr-
side living they run lo the govern-
ment demanding welfare to hold
them over until the next calamity.
This has been the case on the Co-
quihalla in Hope and the Vedder in
Chilliwack where dikes com-
promising the river habitat have

. been thrown up to prevent Mooding

on‘areas which should never have
seen development in the first place,
and it has been the case in count-
less.similar situations all over the
province for as jong as I can re-
member.

Ifa waterside home ower is hit
by a flood and bailed out with tax
dollars once, fine. But if the same

- people are looking for bail outs the

gaepeaeaen eve anunnana ae

next time the water rises because
they have not relocated or taken
suitable precautions, they should

The Skeena
Angler
by Rob Brown

expect no more compcnsation.
After all, floods in this area are not
a recent or rare phenomencn.
Coincidentally and ironically, a
group of hydrologists was recently
in Terrace for a conference. When I
qucstioned some of them about the

Copper River, in particular the ap-.

parent increase in devastating
floods that river has had in the Jast
fifteen years, they assurcd me that
these inundalions were not a new
occurance at all, in fact, they said,
their studies — fortified by air
photos and historic data — showed
that the Copper was more unstable
in the late thirties. The river, they
were quick to point out, seemed to
cycle through pericds of instability,
had gone through a period of rela-
tive stabilily and now appeared to
be entering, another unstable phase.
But the common denominator
through all these riverine upheavals
were floods.

The pictures on the walls of the
Overwaitea store also testify that
floods are a regular occurance in
the Skeena Valley.

What is particularly frustrating
about the Lakelse flooding is the
insistence of some Lakelse resi-
dents that changes in the gravel
bedload in the upper Lakelse River,
around the arca of Herman’s Creek,
is somehow responsible for the
flooding, and that dredging the up-
per river would alleviate their
woes.

Tn the past the lobby of these
folks has had former MLAs and en-
vironment ministers taking helitrips
over the arca at our expense, and
Jed to political directives to the
Water Branch to study the matter.

The results of those studies have
shown that millions of cubic metres

will vary depending on size.

| saw your picture in the paper!

Now you can keep a copy of that picture forever through a
new service offered by THE TERRACE STANDARD. Come in and
browse through our news photo file. Reprints of black & white
news photos or the color front page photo are available. Prices

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of precious spawning gravel would
have to be dredged from the
Lakelse River to have any effect
upon the water level in the lake at
all, and cven then it is far from
certain that even that kind of mas-
sive undertaking would relieve the
problems of the lake dwellers.

You might think the work done in
the early seventics and in 1988 by
the engineers and hydrologists —
people who have studied these kind
of things and make. their living
dealing with such problems —
would convince the lakeside tob-
byists of the absurdity of their
theories, but no such luck.

_ Last week regional district dircc-
tor Sandy Sandhals was on TV
once again awkwardly trotting out
the same tired _pseudo-scicntilic
hokum.

The gravel on the bottom of the
Lakelse River is more valuable
than gold. The river is one of the
most prolific spawning strcams on
the entire west coast. The upper
Lakelse is irreplaceable wildlife
habitat. For the local fishermen it is
hallowed.

Firmly convinced that their
“science”? is somchow superior to
that of the professionals, Mr. Sand-
hals and his cronies are advocating
that this habitat be violated and
damaged, possibly irreparably, so
that their Qood-prone, floodplain
dwellings might be spared during
frequent floods,

As for the fish, the commercial
fishermen, the sporisfishermen and
all the wildlife to whom the Upper
Lakelse is so important, apparently
the advocates of the dredge see the
needs of these other users as Icss
important than their own.

Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 7, 1992 — Page C3

IN THE KNOW: This is Badminton Awareness Week. But judging by the turnout at the local
club's evenings so far this season, there's a lot of people in.the community who are already
well aware of the fun and exercise the game offers, The club is marking the special week
with a Level | coaching clinic which is being held this. coming Sunday, Oct. 11 at Thomhill ur.
Secondary school, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Anyone wanting more information on the clinic, or the
club, can phone 635-9419,

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