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TUESDAY JUNE 5, 2012
Proudly serving Williams Lake and the Cariboo-Chilcotin since 1930
New laws begin for motorbikes
VOL. 82. No. 45
$1.34 inc. HST
Relay for Life raises more than $36K
The provincial government has recently made amendments to the Motor Vehicle Act in an effort to improve motorcycle safety in B.C. Starting June 1 operators needed to ensure they are compliant with the new safety laws. Motorcycle riders and passengers will be required to wear SnellM2005, Snell 2010, ECE or DOT compliant helmets. For a one-month period starting June 1, police across the province will carry out an educational enforcement strategy. See FULL Page A2
Inside the Tribune NEWS A2 Senior pleased with B.C. govt’s advocate plan. SPORTS Hoyer races at nationals.
A10
COMMUNITY A15 Dancers shine under the spotlight. Weather outlook: Showers today, high of 11 C. Rain Wednesday, high of 8 C. Cloudy/ chance of showers Thursday, high of 18 C.
Greg Sabatino photo
Williams Lake resident Shannon Woods (right) stands alongside fellow cancer survivors Saturday evening in Boitanio Park just prior to departing on the Survivor Lap to kick off the Relay for Life. Woods added she has been cancer free for nine years. So far this year’s relay has raised $36,000; however, donations are still pouring in and being counted.
Group looks at watershed Monica Lamb-Yorski Tribune Staff Writer Cariboo-Chilcotin Liberal MLA Donna Barnett visited the Big Creek Watershed during a tour on May 22 organized by the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Resource Operations. She was with a group of people that included ranchers and experts in the field of watershed management, forestry, and habitat restoration — all part of a water storage assessment project to look at the watershed. The group visited various ranches that are part of the Big Creek drainage and rely on water from Bambrick, Twinflower, Mons, Copper, Tete Angela and Ray Creeks. “We saw what’s been happening on Twinflower Creek since 1988,” Barnett uses as an example. “This
is not something that just happened to the creek with the sloughing and everything. There was a study done in the ‘90s with some suggestions for some kind of restoration and nothing was ever done.” In the last five years, she adds, the focus of the harvest within the Williams Lake Timber Supply Area (TSA) has been lodgepole pine. “Predominantly west of the Fraser River, where the harvesting has been taking place, and over the last couple of years within the Big Creek area. The idea is to capture value from a dead or dying tree and replace it with healthy regenerating forests.” Barnett suggests people have to remember harvesting is being done within the present legislative structure of the forest and range practice act. “Of course, this devastating pine beetle that
came in and caused destruction in our wonderful forests and with climate change, there is naturally a shift in water flows. There’s no doubt about it.” She points to factors of weather, mountain pine beetle, to some degree some harvesting, and prolonged drought conditions in the area that have exacerbated the issues of the water supply. “Now water supply from up above is being redirected because harvesting and the remaining pine beetle trees are dead and those roots that used to take up that water don’t take it anymore so it flows quick and then it’s gone,” Barnett says. Hugh Flinton, the Ministry of Forests Lands and Resource operations manager of ecosystem restoration for the Cariboo region, organized the tour and says the intent was to get people’s feet on the
ground in one place in an informal setting. The project is about getting some options together and figuring out what’s feasible economically, he says, explaining if money’s going to be spent in the Big Creek drainage what’s the best way to spend money. “Beware that there is no money set up for on-the-ground digging in the dirt right now. The money is strictly marked for feasibility and operational investigations. I’m hoping there will be money in the future; however, in order to apply, studies have to be completed that cover feasibility and operations.” Flinton wants the project to go forward and says one of the exciting aspects is the involvement of Ducks Unlimited. See AIM Page A3