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Worry over water levels, Page 2 PAID PARKING NOW IN THE HANDS OF LEAD
AUTHOR TELLS KIDS ABOUT LIGHT YEARS
NEWS | PAGE 6
ARTS | PAGE 7
WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2016
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HELPING HANDS Fort Mac fire makes local impact
JAMES GOLDIE GAZETTE
“There but for the grace of God go I,” thought Brother John Burtch, pastor of the Youbou Community Church, last week while watching news reports of the fires in Fort McMurray. For those who may not be familiar with the expression, it basically means but for the g race of God, the speaker might have suffered the same misfortunate as someone else. In this case, the devastating wildfires that surrounded Fort McMurray and forced the mandatory evacuation of all 80,000 residents on May 3. “All of us around the lake, with the right conditions, could go up [in flames] in a heartbeat,” said Burtch. The disaster struck close to home, which is why the church hosted a prayer vigil the following evening for all those impacted by the wildfires. The idea was that of parishioner Lesley Joy, who was also moved by the images of the disaster she saw on the news. “Watching these incredible pictures of people heading away into who knows what, no way of knowing what they’re going to come back to,” she said, upon arriving at the church.
Gray Blatchford, left, Jady Thomas, Jack Thomas, Casey Thomas and Abi Blatchford take a short break from their Fort McMurray fundraiser. The kids set up a Kool-Aid and cookies sale to raise money for the victims of the wildfires in northern Alberta. They raised over $300.
See FORT MAC, Page 3
[TRACEY JOHNSON PHOTO]
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2 Wednesday, May 11, 2016 | THE LAKE COWICHAN GAZETTE | www.lakecowichangazette.com
ENVIRONMENT
As kids learn, officials worry over water levels JAMES GOLDIE GAZETTE
Kim Walters’ second grade class is wrapping up their study of salmon and river ecosystems, and recently released close to 100 tiny chum salmon they raised in the classroom from eggs. On April 29, Walters took her students to Oliver Creek, which runs through the wooded area behind Palsson Elementary School, and — two or three tiny fish at a time — they released all the salmon into the waterway. “It’s a good use of that beautiful piece of property beside us there. We’re so fortunate to have it. It’s a living science lab,” she said. “They get to see the actual environment where the fish are going.” Walters said the opportunity for the children to introduce the fish to their natural habitat provides students with a greater appreciation of the local environment. “They’ve learned the importance of keeping that forested area clean and healthy for the salmon because they’ve gone
“You’ll soon see our people out with aerators and pails and rescuing salmon from pools. You’ll see a side channel that’s been disconnected from the main stream and then it gets smaller every day and the birds start coming and attacking the salmon. So we’ll come out with nets...” BOB CRANDALL, Cowichan Lake Salmonid Society
through this effort to raise them,” she said. Bob Crandall, president of the Cowichan Lake Salmonid Enhancement Society, runs salmon incubation programs at several Cowichan Valley schools, including Palsson Elementary and Lake Cowichan School. He said the water level in Oliver Creek is dramatically lower than when he and Wal-
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ters brought her previous class there last year for the same activity. He said dropping water levels is the greatest risk facing salmon around the lake right now. “You’ll soon see our people out with aerators and pails and rescuing salmon from pools. You’ll see a side channel that’s been disconnected from the main stream and then it gets smaller every day and the birds start coming and attacking the salmon,” he said. “So we’ll come out with nets and scoop and carry them over to the main [streams].” Crandall said his group likes to include young people in these rescues, but it’s not possible to bring entire classes because carrying heavy water pails over rocks is too much of a safety hazard for such large groups. Salmon rescues in lower parts of the Cowichan River have already begun. Crandall said he and other volunteers will soon be checking all the tributaries around the lake and measuring their water levels.
Jordyn Kelly, left, and Morgan Turner get ready to release their salmon into Oliver Creek behind Palsson Elementary. [JAMES GOLDIE/GAZETTE]
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Avery Finlayson says goodbye to her salmon. From here they will swim down the Cowichan River to the ocean.
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Autumn Kelly, left, and Alex de Groot hold up their hatchling chum salmon before releasing them into the wild.
www.lakecowichangazette.com | THE LAKE COWICHAN GAZETTE | Wednesday, May 11, 2016 3
FROM THE FRONT
Charlie Vincent saw fatal crash as he fled town “We just have a different appreciation for what they’re going through...” LESLEY JOY, Lake resident
FORT MAC, From Page 1 Joy said she would be praying for people across Canada. “Whether they’re in Timmins, Ont., because they have a relative there or they’ve fled the fire or they’re fighting the fire. There are so many people affected,” she said. Joy echoed Burtch’s sentiments about how people in the Cowichan Lake district can likely relate to what’s happened in Fort McMurray because of how dry recent summers have been. “Because of the drought, because of the fires that were close to here,” she said. “We just have a different appreciation for what they’re going through than someone might, say, living in a high-rise apartment in Vancouver.” Burtch described the Benedictine practice of “praying the news,” in which a person watches a television newscast, praying about its more difficult contents. “Things like war in the Middle East or terrible car wrecks,” he said, adding that just before coming to the evening’s prayer vigil he saw a news item about the fatal car crash south of Fort McMurray, the only deaths reported to date in connection with the fires. Lake Cowichan resident Charlie Vincent was on the same stretch of highway when that May 4 accident took place. Both occupants of an SUV were killed when it collided with a tractor trailer on Highway 881 and burst into flames. Vincent, a maintenance planner at the Nexen oil sands facility in Long Lake, had been evacuated with his coworkers and was on a bus travelling south with other evacuees when the accident occurred. “It actually started a fire on the side of the road there. We sat there for three hours watching water bombers driving to douse the flames on the side of the road,” he said. “I found it a little disturbing. We were supposed to be leaving a fire and instead we sort of drove right into one. At the time I didn’t realize it was an accident.” Vincent was back at Lake Cowichan by Thursday, and although he said his experience was nothing like some of the people fleeing Fort McMurray, he did describe the journey as somewhat of an odyssey. “One thing that did kind of strike me while I was on the bus is the people who had been evacuated, they had their dogs and their children and it suddenly struck me it was like being on a bus full of refugees,” he said. There is no word on when Vincent will be able to return to work at the Nexen plant, but he said it will be at least two weeks, if not longer. In the meantime, he’s happy to be with his family. “It always feels good to be back home,” he said.
Fort McMurray fire a ‘real wake up call’: officials The situation in Fort McMurray has prompted jurisdictions across Canada to reflect on their own emergency preparedness in the event of a large-scale wildfire. Cybille Sanderson, emergency program manager with the Cowichan Valley Regional District, described the recent fires up north as a “real wake up call” and said she hopes more people will take emergency preparation seriously as a result. “We had five wildfires last year and we were really lucky that none of them involved structures. But the reality is we could have that happen this year,” she said. Sanderson is responsible for emergency management — preparing for, responding to, recovering from and mitigating major emergencies — for the entire region, including the four municipalities, nine electoral areas and all eight First Nations. She said when it comes to a major fire, her department works closely with the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (FLNRO) and relies on its expertise in understanding factors like where and how quickly the fire is traveling. In any emergency, the CVRD will order a mandatory evacuation as soon as homes and lives are threatened. “It’s really about our people, homes and structures. Are they impacted? If they are, then we do evacuate,” said Sanderson. Working with FLNRO, the regional district will get a sense of which areas may need to be evacuated and will issue alerts if appropriate. “Potentially what we would probably do is put out an advisory letting people know they may be required to evacuate on short notice, because as we know, fires can quickly change directions,” she said. The CVRD has an emergency notification system people can sign up for through their website. This system allows the regional district to phone residents with a recorded message telling them they are on alert and should begin preparing for a potential evacuation. The recording also informs residents of the evacuee reception centre and suggests items to bring when leaving their homes. Sanderson’s staff are not responsible for going door-to-door, notifying residents — that work is handled by the RCMP. Lake Cowichan RCMP Sgt. Wes Olsen said during an emergency, he and his officers work to ensure an orderly evacuation in terms of traffic control and, if necessary, go door-to-door to inform people of the situation and ensure they get out. “Even though the fire may be burning around Fort McMurray or, say, Lake Cowichan, we don’t abandon our responsibility and our duties. Personal safety is number one but we also protect personal property,” he said. “If a full evacuation is ordered, I
Lesley Joy and Brother John Burtch participate in a vigil at Youbou Community Church for Fort McMurray fire victims. [JAMES GOLDIE/GAZETTE] send my family out but unfortunately I have to stay behind and we’ve got to manage the policing requirements of the community we’re in.” He said contrary to some beliefs, there is no universal evacuation plan for Lake Cowichan for all severe wildfires because each wildfire is unique and needs to be assessed individually. Although Duncan is the obvious destination point in the event of a fire striking Lake Cowichan from the west, if Highway 18 or the old Cowichan Lake highway were cut off due to wildfires, there are two possible westward escape routes — to Port Alberni via Nitinat or to Sooke and Victoria via the Pacific Marine Circle Route. The mayor of Lake Cowichan can declare a local state of emergency in the event of a smaller-scale situation such as flooding on a street or a fire that affects just one area and is contained. “That would be something he would be responsible for declaring and we would make sure those people have adequate accommodations and lodging and food,” said Joseph Fernandez, the town’s chief administrative officer. “But if it’s something that goes beyond our boundaries we have to rely on others like the Ministry of Forests and the regional district obviously and other agencies.” Centennial Hall and the Cowichan Lake Sports Arena are the designated reception area in the event of a local emergency. Fernandez said this
HONEYMOON BAY LODGE & RETREAT PARTNERS WITH YOUTH FOR CHRIST! Honeymoon Bay Retreat is located near Lake Cowichan on Vancouver Island. The Retreat is pleased to announce an exciting partnership with Youth For Christ! They will be working together to serve the community of Vancouver Island and Canada by providing a beautiful and relaxing retreat centre for healing, training, group meetings, workshops, counselling, weddings, reunions, and for many other purposeful events. YFC is an international and Canada wide organization that ministers to at risk youth. YFC will use the Retreat to nurture their leaders by providing a place for rest, renewal, and growth. The Retreat will continue to be open to the public to rent as a whole or partial facility! “We will continue on with business as usual” said Tim Erickson the Executive Director. If you have any questions or would like to book a personal or group retreat, please call 1-888-749-4252. 7600846
location might also be used in the event of a larger disaster, but only if the situation does not require residents to evacuate the area. In the event of a large wildfire, the town relies on the regional district’s emergency management team to determine where residents must go. james.goldie@lakecowichangazette.com
25th Anniversary OF THE
SENIORS’ CENTRE IN LAKE COWICHAN
Thursday, May 12th
Kitchen opens at 11:00am, Music from noon. Enjoy cake, old pictures and history with founding members
250-749-6121 55 Coronation St.
LAKE COWICHAN FAMILY HERITAGE DAYS 2016 Hanging Baskets Sale - funds raised go to Schools $15.00 each Saturday May 21, 2016 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Saywell Park sponsored by Communities in Bloom Contact Pat Foster: 250 749-3730 for further information
4 Wednesday, May 11, 2016 | THE LAKE COWICHAN GAZETTE | www.lakecowichangazette.com
OPINION OUR VIEW
Fort McMurray reminds us to plan ahead Do you have an emergency plan? What would you take if you had only minutes to escape? These questions have been on the minds of Cowichan Valley residents as we watch and read about the fire in Fort McMurray, which, by Friday morning had burned more than 100,000 hectares and forced the evacuation of a city of 80,000 people. While reports are that firefighters have managed to preserve most of the community’s key service buildings thus far, including the airport, hospital, etc., flames have claimed over
2,400 homes, and now even communities to the south of Fort McMurray have been evacuated, as the fire shifted last Thursday. Tales from the fire zone have included many from people who didn’t have even hours to prepare for departure — they were literally running out the door with the clothes on their backs while they saw the neighbour’s house consumed by flames, and theirs was next. So what would you grab if it were you? The first and most obvious thing is to make sure that all of the human beings are safe —
kids, elderly parents and grandparents etc. Then there are your fourlegged friends. For most people they are far more vital than any material possessions could ever be and making sure they’re making their escape with you is key. After that come the practical and irreplaceable things like your purse/wallet/identification, laptop or backup hard drive, food and water in the former case, and family photos and mementos in the latter. If you have mere moments, it pays to have thought a bit about this in advance, so you know
where your key items/people/ pets are and can round everything up fast. It’s also a good idea to make sure everyone in the household has the same set of priorities and is working on the same plan. Everyone can be given particular jobs, making a necessary exodus even faster. Planning can help control the fear and chaos of the moment. The Cowichan Lake area is a series of communities surrounded by forest. History of the area tells of terrible fires of the past. Last summer, smoke blanketed the area from wildfires
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both far and distressingly near. The dread possibilities are something that most residents have likely at least briefly entertained. Fort McMurray is like a worst case scenario — though loss of life has, incredibly, been very small. It’s worth considering what you’d do if it was you.
Lake Cowichan
Gazette YOUR LETTERS Stop creating definitions of proportional rep. Our new government in Canada has pledged to replace firstpast-the-post federal elections before Canada’s next federal election in 2019. But I haven’t heard anything about the multiparty committee that was promised to be created, and a recent newspaper article suggested that, if they don’t get started soon, they won’t be able to fulfill their pledge. Some groups are promoting what they call proportional representation. The Oxford English Dictionary defines proportional representation as “An electoral system in which parties gain seats in proportion to the number of votes cast for them.” This definition
SUBSCRIBE TODAY means that a party which gets five per cent of the total number of votes cast in a federal election, is entitled to 16 seats in Parliament (five per cent of the available 338 seats). But, according to the information which is available on the internet, not a single organization in Canada is promoting a voting system which is in accord with the dictionary definition of proportional representation. One of the characteristics of PR is that, in a country like Canada, which has a number of registered political parties, it is unlikely that any political party will get a majority of votes and two or more parties will have to form a coalition (and fight among themselves as to who will be prime minister) in order
to have a majority of seats in Parliament. Perhaps the desirable PR should include a selection of the prime minister by a majority of members of parliament (MPs), similar to the protocol used to select the speaker of the House of Commons. This would make it obvious that the prime minister is responsible to Parliament and would make it easier for a majority of the MPs to change the prime minister without calling an election. In the meantime, I wish that people would stop creating their own definitions of proportional representation and stick with the one that is in the English dictionaries. Robert Radford Duncan
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www.lakecowichangazette.com | THE LAKE COWICHAN GAZETTE | Wednesday, May 11, 2016 5
Street Beat
With Malcolm Chalmers
The Gazette asked: Are you concerned about recent incidents of vandalism in Lake Cowichan? Bert Lievre “I haven’t really heard of any incidents lately.”
Corry Brooks
Donna Grewal
Marg Corbett
Grant Parr
“Actually I haven’t known about any here. I did hear about some in Mesachie Lake though.”
“That is always a concern; seems there is more here now. Maybe we should set up some neighbourhood committees to watch out for it.”
“Have there been some? I haven’t heard of any lately but I think it has always been here. There use to be a lot more when my boys were growing up but there use to be more kids around then.”
“No, I wasn’t aware of them.”
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Send your items to: editor@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
We must oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership Shiv Chopra was recently in Duncan to give a talk trying to raise awareness of the threat of the Trans Pacific Partnership to our food and health safety. At 82 years old he is still passionate about Canada’s laws and policies around food. As a scientist who worked for Health Canada he was fired for failing to approve the usage of a number of animal drugs. He is labelled as a whistleblower because he was fired for standing up for his belief that the animal antibiotics he was being asked to approve would end up in human food with negative consequences. He maintains our Food and Drug Act is not being implemented as it is written. It is under pressure from pharmaceutical companies to approve drugs and from companies that want to spray pesticides and insecticides on food. The TPP will open the Canadian market to U.S. milk, which contains Bovine Growth Hormone. Canada does not allow BGH in our milk. A requirement of the TPP will be no country of origin label, so we will not know where our milk comes from. The TPP will threaten “buy local” policies as that would restrict foreign companies from doing business here. If a foreign corporation feels they are not being allowed the business opportunity they want they will have the right to sue Canada. Increasingly our tax dollars are being used to pay off these lawsuits. The TPP will weaken our laws around environmental regulation, food safety, minimum
wages, social programs, etc. What happens to our sovereignty if we can be sued for laws we have fought to implement? We have seen corporations challenge pesticide bans, public health warnings on cigarettes, the rejection of pipeline projects, fracking bans and much more. Either the government continues to pay after being sued or they stop enacting policies and regulations that are in the public interest but not corporate interest. We need to stand up to our government and say we don’t want the TPP. And by the way, these so called “public consultations” that Christia Freeland is holding are turning out to be anything but public. Check out the Council of Canadians website for more information. Donna Cameron Duncan
To not make any effort to store water shameful Who, if anyone, came up with what looks to be an astronomical amount of cash to take care of raising the lake level? I’m sure that a modern built weir about 50 yards downstream would not cost half that amount. Or, as a temporary measure, new boards added to the existing structure raising the water level some 16 inches? Knowing of the weather patterns, less snowpack etc. to not make any effort to alleviate this coming problem really is shameful. George Manners Cowichan Bay
OPINION
Growing trees for climate change Tom Fletcher
BC Views
D
isagreements persist on the extent of humanity’s role in the current changes to B.C.’s climate, and our ability to influence it, as many readers have told me in the past week. But almost everyone seems to agree that growing more and healthier forests is a good strategy. I would add that harvesting and building with wood preserves its captured carbon, a fact not much discussed in emotional appeals against logging. The B.C. government is finally spending some money on community fuel load removal projects this year, after an initial flurry following the Kelowna fires of 2003 faded in hard times. But the effects of decades of fire suppression in a fire-dependent forest system remain, as northern B.C. and Alberta are showing us again. There is some positive news here. A Victoria-based government research team has published a study that calculates B.C.’s pine beetle-damaged forests are regenerating more quickly than expected. Warmer temperatures, increased precipitation and the “fertilizer effect” of more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are factors. “By 2020, the enhanced growth due to climate change and increased CO2 more than compensates for the carbon
Pine beetle-affected trees burn in the B.C. Interior in 2014. [BLACK PRESS FILES]
loss from dead, rotting trees,” said lead researcher Vivek Arora of the Canadian Centre for Modeling and Analysis. This recovery even overcomes the projected increase in forest fire loss that comes with gradually increasing temperatures and drier periods. The federal government is still working on its plan to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets agreed to in Paris last year. But the forest industry has stepped up with its own goal. I spoke last week with Derek Nighbor, president of the Forest Products Association of Canada, after he announced his industry’s “30 by 30 Climate Change Challenge.” That’s a goal to reduce the industry’s net carbon emissions by 30 megatonnes a year by 2030. That would be 13 per cent of the Canadian government emission target. One of the main strategies is salvage harvesting and developing more products that use wood. “It’s basically trying to use every part of the tree,” Nighbor said. “In forest operations right now, this is where we see a big part of the opportunity. Instead of the residual branches and whatnot just being left aside and slashing and burning, bring more of that out and turn it into something.”
That something might be a console in a luxury car constructed with wood fibre, or an 18-storey wood student residence building planned for the University of B.C. The other is improving forest growth. Logging operations have long been required to replant areas they cut, not just in B.C. but across Canada. Another way to improve forest carbon capture is with more productive species, with genetic techniques that increase resiliency as well as wood mass. A background paper from the B.C. forests ministry responds to common misconceptions about forest carbon, including the idea that logging should be stopped to maximize storage. “Maximizing carbon storage in the ecosystem would make sense only if society stopped building new homes, acquiring new furniture and consuming in general,” it says. “If the flow of forest products stops, society will turn to other products with higher greenhouse gas footprints, e.g. plastics, metal or concrete. In addition, if harvesting stopped and we continued to suppress natural disturbances, there is increased potential for larger catastrophic disturbances in the future.” If Canada wants to make a bigger contribution to reducing greenhouse gases, forests are a good area to focus on. At 348 million hectares from the B.C. coast to Newfoundland, they represent nine per cent of the world’s forests. Tom Fletcher is B.C. legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Email: tfletcher@ blackpress.ca Twitter: @tomfletcherbc
6 Wednesday, May 11, 2016 | THE LAKE COWICHAN GAZETTE | www.lakecowichangazette.com
SENIORS’ CENTRE
Anniversary May 12 Carolyn Austin
Seniors Report
O
n Thursday, May 12 we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Seniors’ Centre in Lake Cowichan. The building was originally named the Seniors’ Centre and is now called the 50 Plus Activity Centre. Visit the centre on the 12th to meet some of the special people who worked so hard to build this significant part of our community. View old photos of the many events held at the centre, newspaper clippings and other items of our history. The kitchen opens at 11 a.m. for lunch, music with the Goodtime Boys starts at noon and founding members will be serving cake to everyone until 1 p.m. or when it runs out. The “50 Plus” is an active place during the week and we encourage those new to the area to check us out. Our Food Safe kitchen serves reasonably-priced, homemade soups, sandwiches and desserts from 11 a.m. until 1:15 p.m. from Monday to Friday. During the year the Golden Agers’ Society offers a variety of special events for our members. Dedicated volunteers
organize Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas banquets as well as spring and fall bazaars. Several trips are organized annually to local farms and wineries, the Chemainus Theatre and the IMAX/Museum in Victoria. And, this year we are planning a Sock Hop for Oct. 29 with all our favourite 50s and 60s music. Some weekly activities are exercises with Pat Jung Monday/Wednesday/Friday, line dancing Monday and Friday, euchre Monday, bridge Tuesdays, carpet bowling Wednesday, bingo Wednesday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m., music day Thursday from noon and crib and canasta Fridays. We welcome newcomers to all our activities. If you are interested in membership in the C.L. Golden Agers’ Society the hostess at the front desk can help from 10 a.m. Until 2 p.m. Monday to Friday. Membership is $15 per calendar year and the benefits are subsidies for trips, dances and banquets as well as one ambulance reimbursement per year per member. Consider a visit. Stay for lunch, play pool or shuffleboard in our games room, or check out the wares of the craft ladies on Thursdays. And we welcome volunteers to help us keep things running smoothly. For further info call 7496121 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Carolyn Austin is the past president of the Golden Agers Society.
JUNE 5TH- 12TH 2016
Special Section Featuring: • Lady of the Lake Contestants • Weekly Program • Editorial • Events
JUNE 1 ST
GA ZET TE
J U N E 3 RD CITIZEN
Publication Date: D JJune 1st Deadline: May 29th • 9am
For more iinfo F f call ll llaurie i Lauri Meanley • 250-748-2666 x 227 Lauri.meanley@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
LAKE COWICHAN COUNCIL
BOB DAY
ROSS FORREST
JAMES GOLDIE GAZETTE
might be problematic,” he said. McGonigle said he felt council should offer up (to LEAD organizers) the parking spaces the town has control over but should not get involved with the actual management of those areas during Sunfest. “What they do with them should not be a policy at this table,” he said. Coun. Bob Day spoke up against the motion, which would see all town-owned parking areas potentially open to pay parking that weekend. He said he did not like the idea of charging for parking at places like Greendale Park, the Cowichan Lake Sports Arena or the boat launch. “If I was going to offer anything up to this group, I would offer the closest parking location to town or the two or three [closest], the Stanley Gordon [School] or Centennial Park and that’s where they could charge,” he said, referring to earlier comments that Stanley Gordon School could potentially be available for parking that weekend. “That’s what I would recommend. Pick a large location and make that a place to do business but leave the other ones as they are the rest of the year.” However, superintendent of public works Nagy Rizk pointed out that Centennial Park may not be available for parking due to construction. Ultimately, the original motion was defeated and council unanimously decided to provide a list of town-owned parking spaces to LEAD’s Sunfest committee, asking them to select the parking areas where they would like to offer pay parking, pending final approval by council. Council also directed staff to contact the school district about the possible availability of Stanley Gordon School for parking.
Paid parking now in the hands of LEAD Potential parking issues during Sunfest generated much discussion at the Town of Lake Cowichan’s Public Works and Environmental Services committee meeting as councillors debated how best to manage the town’s public parking spaces at a time when a large influx of motorists is anticipated. The council and staff discussed a list of available parking areas in the town, and which of these areas should be designated pay parking during the Sunfest weekend to be controlled by volunteer organizations who could then keep the money raised through parking fees. “Personally I think it’s a good opportunity for non-profit groups. I think it’s a service they will be providing the community by having some control over parking, [during] what is probably going to be a busy weekend,” said Mayor Ross Forrest. “If it’s just everybody for themselves, you’re going to have people parking everywhere out here.” He put forward a motion that the town offer up its public parking for non-profits through LEAD’s Sunfest welcoming committee. Coun. Tim McGonigle expressed some concerns about how charging for parking could potentially impact businesses, particularly in central locations like Saywell Park. He also pointed out the logistical challenges of charging for parking along parts of South Shore Road without proper infrastructure like meters. “I do support it because we will need the parking, but I think we may have a learning experience in the first year of seeing how this works. I’m finding that that
www.lakecowichangazette.com | THE LAKE COWICHAN GAZETTE | Wednesday, May 11, 2016 7
SCHOOLS
Author tells kids about her Light Years “Many people are quite astounded by the variety of the tasks we perform, from daily sea water samples, twice-daily climate reports, and all manner of assistance to the public...”
JAMES GOLDIE GAZETTE
CAROLINE WOODWARD, author
Caroline Woodward visits Palsson Elementary School to talk about being a lighthouse keeper and to promote her new book, ‘Light Years: Memoir of a Modern Lighthouse Keeper’. Woodward is also the author of the acclaimed children’s book ‘Singing Away the Dark’. [JAMES GOLDIE/GAZETTE] a list of the flora and fauna they encounter on a daily basis. The idea for the book was born out of a piece of fiction told from the perspective of a lighthouse keeper. It was one paragraph in the story taken directly from Woodward’s life that caught the attention of an editor. “I was encouraged to write more and voila, the right publisher read it and asked if I had a book with more stories like that. So I wrote it,” she said. Eight years ago, Woodward and her husband were seeking an adventure when the opportunity
to work in lighthouses presented itself. Woodward said her childhood on a rural homestead in the Peace River region had prepared her for the isolated life at a lighthouse. She also saw it as an opportunity to focus more on her writing — not that she had so much free time! “Many people are quite astounded by the variety of the tasks we perform, from daily sea water samples, twice-daily climate reports, and all manner of assistance to the public: boaters, hikers, surfers, float planes, people out on the water or in the
coastal wilderness with medical and other emergencies,” she said. Light Years shares the perspective of a modern lighthouse keeper, and does not delve into the history or mechanics of lighthouses. “Those readers who want technical information should read winch engine manuals,” she said. “Some members of the public want romantic notions of lighthouse life reinforced, [such as] lighthouse life and working conditions set in the 1930s or earlier.” A l t h o u g h Wo o dwa r d h a s worked at a variety of lighthouses along the B.C. coast, she
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and her husband have been primarily based on Lennard Island, off the west coast of Vancouver Island near Tofino. She said spending time outdoors every day — “[observing] the state of the trees, the inter-tidal pools, the caves and channels, the buildings, the birds, the sea mammals, the ocean itself” — helps to stave off monotony and constantly keep her imagination engaged. “I find inspiration in saving asparagus seeds and having them germinate in the greenhouse for the first time ever. I enjoy being able to identify migrating birds and to know the right names for all the wild and domestic plants on the island,” she said, adding the internet and remote library service through the Vancouver Island Regional Library have also been very important. “It is a challenge on Foggy Day #8 but it makes me dig deep and write.” Woodward said she hopes the children at Palsson Elementary see that anyone can become a writer, you don’t have to be from a big city. “I came from a farming place of 300 people,” she said. “We all have stories and they’re all valid and we need to express them. I hope that kids from Lake Cowichan and Youbou and places like that really get that.” Oh hey, you’re looking for the legal, right? Take a look, here it is: Take a look, here it is: Vehicle(s) may be shown with optional equipment. Dealer may sell or lease for less. Limited time offers. Offers only valid at participating dealers. Retail offers may be cancelled or changed at any time without notice. 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Although Caroline Woodward’s latest book, Light Years: A Memoir of a Modern Lighthouse Keeper, was written for adults, these structures and the landscapes they inhabit have a universal power, which is what brought the author to Palsson Elementary School on April 29. Woodward, whose book was nominated for the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award at this year’s BC Book Awards (ultimately it lost out to Susan Musgrave’s A Taste of Haida Gwaii: Food Gathering and Feasting at the Edge of the World), spoke to the school about her many experiences as a lighthouse keeper, which she accompanied with a slideshow of pictures taken by her husband, photographer Jeff George. “Having visuals for the K to three age group is important,” said Woodward, who had already visited nine other schools as part of her book tour. Woodward started by reading to students one of her earlier works, a picture book called Singing Away the Dark, which was published in 2010. Woodward has written for a wide range of age groups, and said her choice of audience all comes down to content. “Different material suits different genres or age groups,” she said. “I’m working on a series more from [early] in my life because your memories are so vivid and pure… You see the world in a clear way that we tend to muddy as we get older.” The presentation at Palsson featured an explanation of Woodward’s and her husband’s tasks as lighthouse keepers, the risks and dangers the coastline can present to ships and paddlers and
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8 Wednesday, May 11, 2016 | THE LAKE COWICHAN GAZETTE | www.lakecowichangazette.com
EDUCATION
Donation drives expansion of school gardens JAMES GOLDIE GAZETTE
L
Quinton Darnell, left, presents LCS Grade 12 student Raimund Mullins with a cheque in support of the school’s new garden initiative on behalf of Jim Pattison Toyota Duncan. [JAMES GOLDIE/GAZETTE]
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ake Cowichan School is expanding its gardens, with plans to incorporate their increased harvest into pre-existing school programs, thanks to a donation from a Duncan car dealership. On May 3, Quinton Darnell, sales manager at Jim Pattison Toyota Duncan, presented LCS with a cheque for $650. The money will go to a variety of initiatives, including the construction of eight to 10 planter boxes, garden supplies and eventually a second greenhouse. The funds come as part of the Toyota-Evergreen Learning Grounds program, in which Toyota Canada contributes to projects aimed at transforming school grounds into greener environments. Darnell said his dealership had heard about the program for quite some time, but this was the first opportunity they had to participate with a school. “[Toyota Canada] put us in touch with a school that’s closest to us that’s doing the program and that happens to be Lake Cowichan,” he said. “Whatever we can do as a local dealership in the future, I want to reach out to help out because when I was going to school it wasn’t like that so I was very impressed.” The plan for the gardens at LCS is to grow food that can be used to subsidize pre-existing programs in the school which rely on purchased produce, such as the cooking/foods class, the lunch and breakfast programs and even the school’s Meals on Wheels program. “So instead of having to pay for groceries for that, now that money can go towards other things,” said teacher Noni Battye who first identified the Evergreen program as a possibility. “This is where we’re starting to become, I suppose, a little more sustainable.” When she first learned of the Evergreen program, Battye and some of her students surveyed the LCS grounds to decide what they could potentially put the money towards. Eventually they would like to add benches and native plants to different parts of the school property, and to design and construct an outdoor classroom, but when they looked at a large vacant space at the rear of the building, the idea of expanding the school’s gardens became their top choice for a project. “Rather than our foods program having to go out and buy foods, they can go out to the garden and pick it,” she said. Battye also said the school has partnered with the Cowichan Lake and River Stewardship Society and hopes students can begin growing some of the native plant species the society currently purchases from a grower up island. “Hopefully we’ll be able to start generating some income from plant sales,” she said, adding that the program also fits with the school’s overarching goal of providing opportunities to get students out and active in the community. The garden project is already underway, and there will be some volunteers helping with the garden’s watering and maintenance over the summer. Battye said Darnell’s enthusiasm about the project was evident. She was happy he came to the school for a tour. “I don’t think a lot of people in Duncan realize what it’s like out here. So it was neat to get to show that to him out here,” she said. Darnell said the project’s importance was made that much clearer to him because this year he’s planted his very first garden at home. “I was saying to my daughter, ‘Why aren’t we learning these things in school?’ And so when I walked through the school in Lake Cowichan yesterday, they’re doing just that and then some,” he said. james.goldie@lakecowichangazette.com
www.lakecowichangazette.com | THE LAKE COWICHAN GAZETTE | Wednesday, May 11, 2016 9
SPORTS
Plenty of players picking up pickleball JAMES GOLDIE GAZETTE
Pickleball, which is a combination of tennis, badminton and pingpong, is growing in popularity in the Cowichan Lake district. During the winter it’s played in Honeymoon Bay and Youbou, while in the summer it’s played in Lake Cowichan at the curling rink. [JAMES GOLDIE/GAZETTE]
Dennis Peters strikes back at the South Shore Classic Spring Pickleball Tournament on Saturday. He started playing three years ago.
Come Celebrate with the Pickleball is especially popular among people 50 years and older, due in part to the fact it is not as physically demanding as tennis or other racquet sports.
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The Cowichan Valley Regional District (CVRD) wants your input to build a new facility at the Meade Creek Recycling Centre. The Meade Creek Recycling Centre needs to be upgraded to remediate the historic garbage incinerator. A new facility will be built on site to accommodate future demands for recycling and waste management.
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You are invited to complete a questionnaire to tell us what improvements you would like to see made to the Meade Creek Recycling Centre to better serve the community. Questionnaires are available online at cvrd.bc.ca/meadecreek. Or you may pick up and/or drop off completed questionnaires at the Meade Creek Recycling Centre, the Cowichan Lake Recreation Centre, the Town of Lake Cowichan office, or the Honeymoon Bay Canada Post office. You may also submit completed questionnaires by mail to the CVRD office located at 175 Ingram Street, Duncan, BC, V9L 1N8 or by email to es@cvrd.bc.ca. Please submit all questionnaires by June 1, 2016. For more information, please contact Engineering Services at 250.746.2530 or es@cvrd.bc.ca.
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Don’t let the name fool you, pickleball has nothing to do with cooking, condiments or the Heinz corporation — it’s a sport, and one that is exploding in popularity around Cowichan Lake. On Saturday, more than 30 pickleball players participated in the South Shore Classic Spring Pickleball Tournament, which was hosted by Cowichan Lake Recreation at the curling rink, where the ice surface has been removed for the season and four pickleball courts established in its place. The sport combines elements of tennis, badminton and ping pong, on courts similar in size to those used in badminton. Players hit a wiffle ball back and forth over a tennis net using paddles. The game is played to 11 points and lasts on average about 15 minutes. The smaller court size and duration of games is part of the reason the sport is particularly popular among people over 50. It also isn’t as physically demanding as racquet sports like tennis or squash. Brent Harrison has been playing for about five years and described it as “addictive.” Although he was not participating in the tournament as a player due to a logging injury, he did come out to watch and to cheer on his uncle, Bob Harrison, who is 80 years old and an avid player. “Many players have limited mobility but still enjoy it,” he said. “I’ve played with a lady in Arizona with a pacemaker, but you get in her wheel house and she’ll make you pay.” Harrison said there are some variations on pickleball’s origin story, but it’s commonly understood the sport was created by a couple who lived in the San Juan Islands. “They had a tennis court there and they invented it. They had a dog named Pickle, a Jack Russell, and they didn’t have fences around the court so when they had to retrieve the ball, they’d say, ‘Pickle, ball’ and Pickle would go get the ball.” Harrison said despite the sport’s growing popularity, many people are still unfamiliar with it. But he said those who are aware and who play tend to be fanatics, always welcoming of new players. “One thing I notice about pickleball is you can just show up at a game and you’re invited to join. With baseball and golf, you can’t just join in,” he said. Dennis Peters has been playing since he moved to Lake Cowichan three years ago and said the social aspects of pickleball were a great way to meet people in the community. “I can’t understate the social component. I mean, this group, we have birthday parties, we go for coffee after a game, that sort of thing,” he said. Over the past three years, Peters has watched the group grow from around 10 players to approximately 50. During the winter pickleball is played at the community halls in Honeymoon Bay and Youbou, while gameplay migrates to Lake Cowichan and the curling rink during the summer. The sport can be played indoors and outdoors, and Peters said local players are hopeful the town and other partners will help make an outdoor court a reality by next summer. “But who knows. There are a few hurdles we have to get over first,” he added. A woman named Jean Cousins is considered the first person to bring pickleball to the Cowichan Lake district. Cousins died in 2013, and every fall the Jean Cousins Memorial Pickleball tournament is held in Youbou. “She was so good. She loved a really good, hard game and she would laugh. She was lovely,” said Fearon. In addition to locals, Saturday’s tournament featured players from Victoria, Shawnigan Lake, Mill Bay, Ladysmith and Salt Spring Island. Bob Fish of Youbou placed first in the men’s finals while Glenda Sharpe of Ladysmith captured first in the women’s.
Saturday May 21, 2 p.m. St. Christopher’s, Lake Cowichan Sunday May 22, 2 p.m. Duncan United Church, Duncan
Tickets in advance $17, at the door $20. Available at Volume One book store, Duncan or Choir members. Children 12 & under free.
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10 Wednesday, May 11, 2016 | THE LAKE COWICHAN GAZETTE | www.lakecowichangazette.com
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www.lakecowichangazette.com | THE LAKE COWICHAN GAZETTE | Wednesday, May 11, 2016 11
COWICHAN LAKE
Remay gives plants successful start
— With Malcolm Chalmers
SMILE FILE
Mary Lowther
Name: Dianne Jay Occupation: retired Hometown: 46 years in Lake Cowichan I’ve always wanted to: go to Las Vegas Favourite food: is chocolate Best thing about living here: the people Favourite activity: lounging My proudest moment: birth of my children I define down time as: sitting on my deck with a cold drink I wish I was better at: dieting If I was stuck on a desert island I would definitely need: water Favourite moment of day is: mid afternoon, I’m finished everything by then, time to relax on the deck I’m currently reading: a novel by Karen Kingsbury My guiltiest pleasure is: chocolate My go-to wardrobe staple: casual clothes In my car I listen to: old-time rock & roll In my fridge you’ll find: fruit and vegetables
Dig In
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ord has it that healthy plants are less likely to succumb to predation, but after watching my apparently healthy looking plants fall prey to greedy little insects, that’s not what I’ve found. Let me tell you about what worked and what didn’t. This spring I covered my seedling trays with pieces of remay to keep out white butterflies dying to unload their eggs on my brassica seedlings as soon as I turned my back. Pouring water into the bottom half-inch of the flats allowed water to flow up to the seeds by capillary action, didn’t disturb the seeds as they would have been if watered from above and reduced damping-off. Serendipitously, slugs and wood bugs drowned in the bottom of the trays and left my seedlings alone! So for the first time in the 10 years we’ve lived here, most of my susceptible seedlings survived. Out in the garden come transplanting time I got hoops in place and readied a length of remay before I even transplanted brassicas under the
watchful eyes of laden white butterflies. I kept the trays of seedlings covered with remay right up until I transplanted them into the garden, then when they were all dug in I quickly covered the hoops with the large remay and battened down the perimeter. That was three weeks ago and the plants are doing fine. I intend to keep the remay over the plants until they’re finished, removing it only to side-dress with fertilizer and spraying with compost tea. To avoid bringing in bugs that’ll kill your seedlings along with your compost, you can do a few things: wait until the compost is nearly finished and the bugs will have gone elsewhere for a meal, sterilize the compost with boiling water or in a 350 F oven for about 30 minutes, or you can buy compost. Using your own unsterilized compost has the advantage of including microbes that will help growing seedlings absorb nutrients and prevent damping-off. I experimented with straw bales this spring and planted strawberries on them in my greenhouse, hoping that pillbugs that in previous years destroyed the crop would be reluctant to scale the bales. Oh, it started off innocuously at first with just a few tiny ones crawling around and I sprinkled
used coffee grounds to hopefully throw them off the strawberry scent. But every day there were more bugs and fewer leaves on the strawberries until finally, beaten, I gave up, threw out all the plants and dismantled the straw bales. Hordes of the biggest pillbugs I’ve ever seen clung to the straw as I spread the stuff out to dry to use in the compost heap where pillbugs belong. A foot-wide perimeter around the whole bed kept clean of grass deterred slugs fairly well last year so I’m going to put in low edging around that too and dig a small trench on the garden side. Speedy slug-eating ground beetles should run over the edging, fall into the garden and be reluctant to climb back out, I’m told. Since slugs like moist areas, soaker hoses that leave most of the soil dry are ideal. I’ll wait until the soil is quite dry and warm before I use any mulch and hope that enough slugs will have left by then that plagues of them won’t enjoy the cool dampness under the mulch. Here are a couple more ideas: mow the lawn in the evening when slugs come out of hiding; don’t bother using nematodes to control slugs since the infected slugs become unattractive to ground beetles. Maybe this year more than two cabbages will survive — maybe even a cauliflower.
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12 Wednesday, May 11, 2016 | THE LAKE COWICHAN GAZETTE | www.lakecowichangazette.com
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