The Chilliwack
Progress Thursday
23
3
39
EyeSite
News
Sports
Festival
Crash
Hockey
Photos from the Harrison Festival
RCMP involved in serious crash
Chiefs release season schedule
120 YEARS YOUR COMMUNITY
NEWSPAPER
1891-2011
Y O U R C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R • F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 1 • W W W. T H E P R O G R E S S . C O M • T H U R S D AY, J U LY 1 4 , 2 0 1 1
Rained out farmers see some relief Christine Lyon Black Press Lower Mainland farmers who watched last season’s fall crops rot in soggy fields after record-setting rains are getting some long-awaited financial relief. The federal and provincial agricultural ministers were in Ladner Tuesday morning (July 12) to announce funding meant to help B.C. farmers recover from the damage caused by extreme weather in 2010 and into the spring of 2011. Dozens of local growers and politicians gathered at Burr Farms in east Ladner for a press conference in which federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and B.C. Minister of Agriculture Don McRae announced up to $5 million for two new AgriRecovery initiatives to help vegetable, cattle and bison producers struck by disaster. The Feed Assistance and Pasture Restoration Initiative will help livestock producers affected by drought, flooding and wildfires in Bella Coola, Cariboo-Chilcotin and the Central Interior regions, including $14 per acre to reseed pasture land and $1 per cow for each day the animal was required to be off those pastures. The Excess Moisture Initiative includes $175 per acre for potato and vegetable producers in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island to assist with the costs of restoring waterdamaged crop land. “This includes a payment for the disposal of products spoiled in storage and the cleaning and disinfecting of equipment and storage bins,” Ritz said. He said the two levels of government are working together “to ensure these producers get the help they need to keep their land productive and help bolster their bottom line. “We want to ensure that our B.C. producers can get their businesses back on track for 2011 and beyond.” Continued: FARMERS/ p9
John van den Brink pats his dog as he looks out on his 40-acre hazelnut tree farm on Ballam Road which has been under water for six weeks. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Waiting and watching the river rise Jennifer Feinberg The Progress Farmers with flooded fields in Chilliwack are keeping a close eye on the water as the mighty Fraser River rises — again. It’s uncharacteristically late in the season but a “high streamflow advisory” was issued by the BC River Forecast Centre for the Lower Fraser on July 11 as a result of heavy rains up north. Most of the hazelnut farm owned by John and Hanne van den Brink is under water. “It’s a horrible feeling,” said John van den Brink. “We’re just watching and waiting.” Theirs is one of 17 properties
in Chilliwack outside the city’s diking infrastructure. “It’s like a big lake out there. It’s hard to believe those trees are likely going to die. They still look not too bad,” van den Brink said. They’d been harbouring faint hope that if the “feet of the trees” in the hazelnut orchard were able to dry out, as it looked like they might last weekend, maybe they could save some of their crops. “But now the river level is back up and we’re right back where we started,” he said. The big question is how fast the waters will recede. “Nobody knows,” van den Brink said.
He figures they’ll be flooded for a couple of extra weeks even if the water levels drop in the next week. Facing a similar situation of flooded crops are blueberry farmers Buhd and Amarjit Gill. On Monday they noticed with trepidation that the water levels were rising again. “It’s probably going to hit us today,” said Amarjit Gill on Tuesday, about the river flow scoming from up north. Things looked a little worse on the farm than they did a month ago because the blueberry plants are slowly dying under water. They’d been cultivating them for six years.
Now all they can do is monitor the four sump pumps and make sure they’re operating efficiently to protect their home. “All this can wear on a person,” she said. “It’s hard watching the pumps. But it’s always on our minds to save the house. It’s the only thing we can save.” They’re hopeful some agency will step forward to offset the water damage to 20 acres of blueberry plants. “We haven’t heard anything from the city or the province,” Gill said. “But a guy from the Ministry of Agriculture was out here this week looking around. Continued: FLOOD/ p9
$1.25
45140 Yale Rd. West, Chilliwack (Just East of the Evans roundabout)
6-11H CS30
604.792.8055 + FREE ALARM WHEN MONITORED. + 24/7 MONITORING - 8 RAPID RESPONSE OFFICERS. www.contactsecurity.com