Feb. 25, 2010, The Mission Record

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PICKED FOR B.C. GAMES TOURNEY Alyssa Erickson is enjoying a breakthrough season PAGE 22

THURSDAY, FEB. 25, 2010

ICEBREAKERS HOST FLAMES Mission’s Junior B hockey squad was riding a four-game winning streak into a playoff series against Maple Ridge. PAGE 22

Hatzic Lake is becoming choked with silt, and Larry Wiens, a director with the Dewdney Area Improvement District, is leading a lobby to correct problems that he says are destroying the lake’s fishery and recreational values. NEIL CORBETT PHOTO

‘Hatzic Sandbox’ needs help A $9.5 million plan would provide new pumps and dredging BY

NEIL CORBETT

Mission Record

Hatzic Lake is on its way to becoming a boggy, marshy wetland. Sand and silt are choking Legace Creek and the other streams that flow into the lake, and are being carried down into it.

Already, it is possible to walk from the eastern shore of the lake to Hatzic Island without getting your knees wet. A diving board on a dock perches ironically over a half meter of water. It’s not good for fish, it can be dangerous for boaters, and it’s wreaking havoc on farms upstream from the water system. That’s the position of two men working to restore Hatzic Prairie to its former glory. “This was the nicest swimming place in the whole Valley,” said Larry Wiens, who moved to the area 45 years ago. “Now they call it Hatzic Sandbox.” He and Carl Von Einsiedel are two directors for the Dewdney Area Improvement District

(DAID). That body is charged with maintaining the 11 km of dyke and the pumphouse system that have mostly protected Hatzic Prarie from flooding since the destructive flood of 1948. They go armed with engineering reports, a study on agricultural impacts, historical data and a lot of local knowlege as they enter a campaign to get some work done – work they say is long overdue. Post-war engineers put together a flap gate system of flood prevention. When the Fraser River is high in spring and early summer, the flaps close to keep Fraser water from rushing into Hatzic Lake. But, when the flaps are See HATZIC Page 3

3-DAY NOVEL AMONG THE BEST Mission author McKinley Hellenes was the second place winner in the 3-Day Novel Contest. PAGE 25

$3 MILLION SHORTFALL Mission school trustees warned provincial funding may not cover all expenses in next year’s budget. PAGE 5

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