THE WEDNESDAY
2010 WINNER
www.tricitynews.com
TRI-CITY NEWS Whale of an arts fest
Soccer, football & more
SEE ARTS, PAGE A22
SEE SPORTS, PAGE A26
Don’t stop calling – the life you save could be a bear’s
SEPT. 28, 2011
DIANE STRANDBERG/THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Local conservation officer James Kelly.
If conservation officers catch a problem bear early, it may prevent more problems – and the bear’s death – in the future
Port tax eyed to pay for transit Metro Van looking at a container tax to fund TransLink
By Diane Strandberg THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Tri-City residents getting used to seeing bears in their neighbourhood shouldn’t get complacent — or let up because the weather has changed — because a fed bear is still a dead bear, says a local conservation officer. James Kelly, who was this year posted to the Fraser Valley zone, which includes the Tri-Cities, says it’s important to call in any bear sightings. Fall is the time for high activity for bears and if conservation officers get good information about them early, they can head off problems before they start. “Options do, however, become limited when they become habituated to garbage and humans,” Kelly said in an interview last week with The Tri-City News. Kelly said he’s worried people will stop calling about bears getting into garbage for fear that they will be killed. But he says the opposite is true. If conservation officers hear about problem bears early, they can clamp down on bear attractants and, with their powers of inspection, have many tools at their disposal to obtain compliance. When people call the Provincial Conservation Officer Service’s 24hour toll-free line (1-877-952-8277), information is recorded and the details passed on to the local office.
By Jeff Nagel BLACK PRESS
Metro Vancouver is investigating the idea of slapping a tax on every shipping container that moves through local port terminals. The regional board voted last Friday to pursue the concept as a different mechanism to help fund TransLink — one that wouldn’t hit homeowners and motorists, unlike proposals to raise gas taxes or property taxes, or to impose road pricing or a vehicle levy. “There are a lot of transpor t t r u ck s ro l l i n g , ” Metro board chair Lois Jackson said. “There’s a lot of money on the table here.” Richmond Coun. Harold Steves said port expansion is putting more trucks onto local roads but there’s no mechanism to share in the resulting costs. He also noted hundreds of acres of farmland have been bought up in recent years for construction of the South Fraser Perimeter Road or for future shipping terminals. “Most of those containers we know are going farther east,” said Surrey Coun. Linda Hepner, who added the proposal may be a way of getting Ottawa’s attention. But she questioned whether truckers and shippers should shoulder the fee and persuaded the board to also pursue some sort of direct payment to regional transportation costs from the federal government that would reflect port use. “Maybe they want to count the containers and give us the money back,” Hepner said. “Maybe that’s the funding process. But taking it to the industry and the port and making the port less competitive, I’m not sure that’s the answer.”
BUTT OUT Metro Van has banned smoking in regional parks, including 4 spots in Tri-Cities. Page A3
see IF BEAR CALLS, C S, page g A4
MAKE THE CALL
• Report bear sightings to the Provincial Conservation Officer Service’s 24-hour toll-free line at 1-877-952-8277. MANFRED KRAUS PHOTO
In the seventh part of our monthly series, The Tri-City News offers some information on the region’s increasingly hungry — and sleepy — bruins, which are getting ready for a long winter’s nap. As well, scientists are looking at bears’ hibernation for ways they might improve humans’ health. See pages A15 & A16
INSIDE
Tom Fletcher/A10 Letters/A11 Community Calendar/A18 RenoNation/B1
see 2.5M CONTAINERS CONTAINERS,, page A3