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Your source for weekly news and views in the Robson Valley
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Volume 1 Issue 7
Village takes on invasive plants Spotted Knapweed can hold on 30 years, experts Laura Keil lkeil@therockymountaingoat.com Spotted knapweed, Oxeye over 30,000 hectares of range daisy, and Sweet White Clover. each year, she says – roughly At first glance, they are pretty two and a half times the size of flowers growing hay-wire in the the City of Vancouver. ditches. But Andrea Eastham of The invaded rangeland is usethe Northwest Invasive Plants less to livestock and wildlife, Council knows these plants as the plant chokes out other could pose a serious threat to species where it grows. Native biodiversity in the Valley. plant species are choked out, Valemount has which impacts “We don’t want it to take the most Spotranchers. ted Knapweed in over like it did in the Spotted knapweed the north-west of southern interior.” is not yet estabthe province, she lished in the ValAndrea Eastham, says. It’s spreadley, but transporprogram manager, ing along the tation corridors Northwest Invasive highway, tiny are a fast track Plants Council plant by tiny for the plants to plant. spread. “We’re starting to see more “When the mower is mowing show up in Mount Robson highway 5, and it comes from Park,” she says. “We don’t want down south, he’s spreading the it to take over like it did in the Knapweed farther north all southern interior.” the time,” she says. “It’s just a In the southern part of the fact of life, the way we move it province, the plant is taking around.” Cont’ A2
Photo: Laura Keil The beautiful tendrils of Spotted Knapweed are visible in the lot behind the Valemount Visitor Centres next to Highway 16. Invasive Species often migrate along road ditches.
Mud to fly at Valemount’s first mud races Laura Keil lkeil@therockymountaingoat.com
Get ready for mud to fly, Valemount. The village’s first mud bog races are here July 31st to Aug. 1st with up to $8,000 in prizes if your vehicle can clamber through the muddy pit.
“It’s very deafeaning and very eye-opening for the people who come out,” says Dave Biddlecombe, president of the North West Mud Racing Association. It’s a sport his association’s members take very seriously,
“You put your foot down. I wouldn’t say you close your eyes, but you hold on.” Dave Biddlecombe, North West Mud Racing Association
though, and it’s not easy to win, he says. He’s been blasting his 1800 horsepower, 1957 chevy through many bogs. He says with the more powerful vehicles like his, it’s all just about the power.
More Inside: Kinbasket on the brain
Donairs for Valemount
“You put your foot down. I wouldn’t say you close your eyes, but you hold on.” The only control you have is lifting the gas pedal, he says.
Cont’ A3