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The Rocky Mountain Goat News PM42164515
Thursday, December 22nd, 2016
Serving Valemount, McBride & the Robson Valley since 2010. Locally owned & operated.
Volume 7, Issue 51
Date for McBride by-election confirmed by EVAN MATTHEWS
Dunster farmer fined A05
Water main break
Public notice has been given to the electors of the Village of McBride, confirming a by-election will be held on Saturday, Mar. 4, 2017 to elect three new councillors. Those elected will see their term in office end in October 2018 in line with the next regular municipal election. Nomination documents will be available on the RDFFG website come Jan. 10, 2017, and submissions will be accepted by hand, mail, fax or email from Tuesday, Jan. 17 to Jan. 27, 2017. Qualifications for office are listed as being a Canadian citizen, 18-years-old or older,
resident of B.C. for at least six months, and not being disqualified by the Local Government Act or any other enactment. The Regional District’s (RDFFG) Karla Jensen has been named Chief Election Officer. In addition, a provincially appointed advisor will now begin helping McBride’s Council begin down the path toward functioning normally once again. Isabell Hadford, a former municipal chief administrative officer in B.C. with 25 years of rural community experience, has been named municipal advisor to McBride and is slated to begin working with the Village immediately, according to the province. Though working with the Village, the
Provincial Government is paying for the municipal advisor. Hadford is also listed as the Deputy Chief Election Officer. “It is unfortunate the community finds itself in the situation of being without quorum on their village council,” says Peter Fassbender, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development. “The ministry is taking all necessary action to help McBride move forward, and we recognize a number of serious concerns have been raised within the community,” he says. On Nov 18th Councillors Ralph Bezanson, Sharon Reichert and Edee Tracy submitted Cont’d on A02
A06
New school district chair A05
Fire clean-up continues A03
Conservation to increase backcountry presence
Listings on A15! P15!
by EVAN MATTHEWS
Prince George
Francais s’il vous plait
Photo: Supplied by Jenny Shawara B.C. Hockey announced that McBride native, 15-year-old Braxtyn Shawara of the Northern Capitals, has been named the Female Midget AAA (FMAAA) Player of the Month for November 2016, as she leads the league in both goals and points. Oh yeah, she’s also a rookie. See A07
A10
Though the notion is nothing new, it’s the time of year when the B.C. Conservation Officer Service, along with local snowmobile clubs, spend time and resources educating snowmobilers in the Robson Valley on the importance of caribou closures. Conservation has been doing caribou closures in the Valemount-Blue River area for about 15 years, according to Sergeant Kevin Van Damme, B.C. Conservation Officer Service. “We chat with snowmobilers to make sure they understand where the boundaries are, and we help to educate them to understand the closures,” says Van Damme. “In many cases the closures are there to protect live animals in those areas… as the animals are extremely sensitive to being disturbed,” he says.
Mountain Caribou populations have drastically declined over the last 100 years, according to the Ministry of Environment, with a sharp decline from about 2,500 animals in 1995 to about 1,700 in 15 herds today. Roughly 98 per cent of the world’s Mountain Caribou live in B.C., where they are on the provincially protected Blue List. Being on the Blue List means they are considered to be vulnerable or sensitive, and require special management to ensure their survival, according to B.C.’s Ministry of Environment. “We want to make sure everybody knows when they go out that first of all there are closures, and second of all that it is their responsibility to know where and when those closures exist,” says Van Damme. The current range of the Mountain Caribou includes the Rocky Mountains for a short distance north and south of the Yellowhead Highway, and parts of the Cariboo,
Monashee, Purcell, and Selkirk mountains, including extreme northeastern Washington and the northern tip of Idaho, according to the Ministry of Environment. All the information regarding closures is available on the Ministry website, according to Van Damme, saying there are even interactive maps and software riders can put on their phones or GPS to give them a sense of where they are. The software, Van Damme says, allows riders to make sure they are within a legal area as opposed to caribou sensitive areas. Van Damme credits local organizations such as VARDA and the Big Country Snowmobile Association for helping to better educate riders on the subject. Curtis Pawliuk, VARDA’s general manager, says the organization does educational programs on caribou closures, while VARDA
Cont’d on A02