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Vol. 90 Issue 19 • Wednesday, May 8, 2013 • www.arrowlakesnews.com • 250-265-3823 • $1.25 •
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Training Hawks cause a stir in Upper Arrow Lake Two training jets from Cold Lake, Alberta, got people talking around town when they flew the length of the valley from south to north. Claire paradis Arrow Lakes News
What’s that up in the sky? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Well, it’s a plane with a bird’s name, a jet plane in fact. Just after noon on Sunday, April 28, two fighter jets were seen flying north over the valley, an uncommon sight in the skies above Upper Arrow Lake. Captain David Lavallee, Public Affairs Officer for the 2 Canadian Air Division out of Winnipeg said the jets were a pair of CT155 Hawks from the 419 Squadron. The Hawks were training craft on a crosscountry training flight giving their pilots the experience of different terrain. The planes that caused a brief stir on Sun-
day returned back to 4 Wing Cold Lake, Alberta, the busiest fighter base in Canada. “It’s part of normal training,” Lavallee told the Arrow Lakes News, explaining that pilots often fly over different parts of the country as part of their education. What were they looking for? “You can’t see much,” said Lavallee, commenting that the high speeds of the craft make it difficult to see much other than a blur during flight. What about chem trails. Were the planes dropping chemicals? After a quick description of chem trails to Major Steve Neta, he said the planes were “absolutely not” dumping anything into the skies from the jets.
Two Hawk aircraft from 419 Squadron Cold Lake, like this one pictured here, flew over the Upper Arrow Lake March 28, 2013 as part of a training exercise. Photo courtesy Corporal Jean-François Lauzé, RCAF
Treeplanters bring silviculture to the mountains
David Jackson looks over a cut block near Cape Horn as graupel falls from the sky. Claire Paradis/Arrow Lakes News Claire paradis Arrow Lakes News
It was a cool clear morning at the Interfor office in Nakusp. Interfor’s David Jackson and Sylvia Warrantz from Summit Lake Service were getting ready to head out to a cut block near Cape Horn off Highway 23, the “North road.” Tree planting season started mid-April, and although the sun had finally arrived, temperatures have been bob-
bing between freezing and early 20s over the course of a day. In the office, Jackson goes over safety guidelines and hands out gear: high-vis vests and hardhats just in case winds whip up and blow trees over or a truck in reverse doesn’t see the reporter for the trees. Just in case. “So they can see you coming,” Jackson says, “and so you don’t get backed over.” Greenpeaks Resource Management are the contractors responsible for planting the trees
out at Cape Horn, and the 23 planters working at various sites in the area. With six or seven locals living in town and others who live just down the valley, the crew is a mix of tent dwellers and residents. Most keep coming back to work with Greenpeaks. “People like to work here, they like the camp,” Jackson told the Arrow Lakes News. The crew is a mix of young “newbie” planters and diehards, with an average day’s earnings around $250, although there is so much variation due to weather, landscape conditions, tree prices as well as planter experience that an average is hard to pin down. Planters get paid 18 cents for each tree they plant on this particular block, and the price will vary depending on the nature of the planting. Fill planting – filling up small areas with a few trees – or tough terrain prices are higher because fewer trees are planted. The tree species planted varies according to elevation and site. At the Cape Horn block, there are six types of seedlings being put in the ground on an area covered with debris, aka slash. In the old days, the majority of slash was often burned but now more debris is left on site. Retained slash helps seedlings not only by returning nutrients to the ground but also by reducing competition, moderating temperature and conserving moisture in the ground, said Jackson. As we drove down the road winding through the block, the slash looked like a silver layer of bleached tree
limbs that covered most of the ground. Scott Lemkay, one of the foremen, approached across what looked like a landscape devoid of people. Under growing clouds, Lemkay and Jackson discussed how many planters were working invisibly in the block (around eight), and how long they were likely going to be there. The politics of having dogs along came up too (they’re great if they know how to handle themselves around bears, elk and the like, not so much if they eat unattended lunches). Between 1.2 and 1.3 million trees will be planted by the local division this year, and over a variety of terrain. The Cape Horn block is situated on a rolling 32.8-hectare piece of land, but other spots are steeper with more slash and other challenges. Some sites, particularly those at higher elevations, are prepped with machinery to create mounds of raised dirt that give the seedlings an edge for survival. Each site has different growth potential, said Jackson, and the Annual Allowable Cut – and therefore the reforestation figure – is based on that growth potential. Forestry companies have an obligation to replant, Jackson said, one that they take seriously because they recognize it is their future they are tending. Most forest tenure licensees are conscientious and are prompt with
See Silviculture page 9
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