The Lake Cowichan
Gazette E & N Rail: Jack Peake, former Lake mayor skeptical about funds PAGE 15
Lake’s Minor Baseball: Season kicks into action for local teams PAGE 16
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18 18, 2012
VOL. 16 16, NO NO. 16 | 98 ¢ + HST | www.lakecowichangazette.com | VOL
Calgary man falls in Cowichan river over the weekend A neighbour in the area says he saw someone searching with a Àashlight during the night, and stopped to tell the search and rescue teams that they could use his property as a boat launch. Weber was not sure how long the search would last. “We will at least search through until dark today. There is always a chance he scrambled out and is still alive.” The search for the man lasted through the early morning hours and into the late afternoon of April 15. A total of 20 search and rescue individuals worked through the night, and were relieved by 30 more individuals from Nanaimo, Duncan, and Juan de Fuca to help the Lake Cowichan team search for the missing man. Searchers focussed their attention on the stretch of river between Cowichan Lake and Skutz Falls. An RCMP helicopter aided those teams on the ground, Àying below the tree line and following the river west, then circling back down to Skutz Falls. The search was called off for the evening. Throughout the day on Sunday, search and rescue efforts continued and added divers into the river with the assistance of local guides and their boats. At approximately 5p.m. of the same day, the search for the man was called off.
Tamu Miles Gazette editor
Tamu Miles Tamu Mililes es Photos Phot hotos tos
Above: Vicky Weber helps to coordinate the deployment of search and rescue teams. Inset: RCMP helicopter providing air surveillance for ground search crews.
At approximately 12 a.m. on Sat. April 14, a man in his late 50s from Calgary Alta. who was visiting his brother in Lake Cowichan, was reported to police to have fallen into the Cowichan River from a property located on Greendale Road. Lake Cowichan RCMP, Lake Cowichan Fire Dept., and paramedics attended the scene but were not able to locate the man. The Cowichan Valley Search and Rescue were then called in and they conducted a ground search along the river which continued into the morning throughout the day. Search and rescue teams set up their mobile headquarters at the corner of Wentworth and Greendale Roads. According to Vicky Weber, one of the Search and Rescue crew in charge of planning, no-one saw the man fall in, but they did hear a splash.
Local woman chooses eco-friendly option for river bank repair ¿lled with soil pulled from the upper part of the bank and the surrounding embankment. Polster says that in a month or so, the A couple of weeks ago, Lois Atchison cuttings will have buds and sprouts on them, woke up and noticed that her back yard and that by the end of summer they will was a lot brighter than usual. It took her a have shoots reaching about a metre tall. moment to realize that the maple that once Polster says that soil erosion problems stood tall on the small stretch of Cowichan occur for two reasons: ¿ll from a housing River that borders the back of her property, construction site being dumped to create an was gone. That bank had suddenly fallen embankment, and the invasive species that into the Cowichan River, taking the tree with take over, replacing the trees whose roots it. had held the bank in place. Willow root is Instead of reinforcing the bank in with known for having stronger roots than other riprap (rock or other material used to tree species, including spruce and douglas protect shorelines from erosion) manner, David Polster Photo ¿r, but he also uses species like cottonshe contacted Gerald Thom, chair of the Lois Atcheson’s embankment after eco-friendly repair project was completed. wood, balsam, and poplar. Polster says that Cowichan Lake and River Stewardship most projects are fairly straight forward, Society. Thom, besides being actively including Atchison’s, but there is always some problem that arises and must be worked involved in the stewardship of the Lake Cowichan area, had taken a bioengineering around. In Atchison’s case, it’s the end of her deck which used to come right to the edge course taught by Dave Polster, a plant ecologist and owner of Polster Environmental of the top of the embankment and which now sticks several inches over. Services Ltd. After looking at the collapsed embankment, Thom decided that Atchison Atchison doesn’t know what she would have done if she had not been able to afford should talk to Polster. Polster’s services. However, Polster says he teaches the bioengineering course through For the past 35 years, Polster has worked on land reclamation and erosion control projects. He says he uses living plants to keep soil erosion in check. For projects like the the Cowichan Community Land Trust on a regular basis and that property owners, once they know what to do, can repair damage such as this themselves. collapsed bank at Atchison’s, he and his crew, Chris Adams (owner of Adams EnvironPolster says that when doing these kinds of repairs, it is important to remember that mental Services), Mark Mitchell, and Emily Morin, built up tiered retaining walls from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) does not allow debris to be dumped into the top of the slope downwards. For the embankment at Atchison’s, they have taken waterways as it could cause the destruction of ¿sh habitat. Keep all landscaping activity hundreds of willow cuttings from Gordon River Camp, and have driven stakes made out of the water, and if you think you will be affecting the water in any way, you must from these willow cuttings into the embankment. They then wove other, longer cuttings seek permission from the DFO. between the stakes. The result is a kind of tiered fence structure, behind which they Tamu Miles Gazette editor
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