Wednesday May 22, 2013 www.saobserver.net $1.25 GST INCLUDED
Woman Osprey home vacated rescued from lake By Jessica Klymchuk OBSERVER STAFF
Thursday was moving day for a pair of ospreys in Salmon Arm. Because an osprey nest at 10th Avenue and Fifth Street SW at the entrance to the fairgrounds was at risk of catching fire, BC Hydro moved it onto a specialized platform. Arne Langston, BC Hydro’s natural resource specialist, said ospreys tend to build nests on power poles because of their height and structure, which usually includes two parallel beams at the very top that the birds can wedge their sticks between. However, the nests are at serious risk of catching fire. “We have to look out for the safety of those birds and that’s why we have to move them sometimes; we don’t really have a choice,” Langston said. “It would be a lot harder to fix if there was a problem.” The nest on 10th Avenue SW and 5th Street SW was sitting on conductors that would spark the nest if it were to rain, possibly killing the birds and putting people out of power for several hours, she said. BC Hydro monitors several ospreys to make sure they do not build their nests on power poles. Once the nest is established, BC Hydro cannot destroy it because the birds are provincially protected. At that point the Crown corporation has to install specialized platforms next to the original location. If the nest is not established and is at the earli-
Heroes: Victim insists two men saved her life.
By Barb Brouwer OBSERVER STAFF
JESSICA KLYMCHUK/OBSERVER
Location, location: BC Hydro power line technician Rob Lacheur places
an empty osprey nest on a new platform at 10th Avenue and Fifth Street SW, in hopes that the birds will move from their old perch atop a hydro pole. est stages they are able to remove it, hoping the fish hawks will start building in a tree instead. BC Hydro tries to monitor the birds closely enough to
catch them before they establish their nests, says Langston, but the birds can build a nest in a couple of days. BC Hydro sometimes puts triangular fibre glass protec-
tors over power poles that ospreys are trying to nest on. Langston says it’s important for residents to understand that BC Hydro is not destroying established nests.
A grey morning on the lake got a lot darker for one Calgary woman Saturday. Millie Barron was on Shuswap Lake between Wild Rose Bay and Anglemont when the engine died and, taking on water, the boat started sinking. “I was way out and I began whistling and screaming,” Barron says. “I was standing on top of the inboard motor, I was totally panicking.” Fortunately for Barron, a young boy on the beach heard her screams and told nearby adults. The adults were Triton Docks owner Don Lauzon and one of his customers, Anglemont property owner Jevon Bennato. The men took Lauzon’s 24-foot pontoon boat with an onboard winch out to Barron. And while Lauzon towed the boat to shore, Bennato jumped on-board to figure out what was going on. “The boat had died and there was about six inches of water in it,” says Lauzon, pointing out the line off the water pump intake was sucking water straight out of the lake into the boat. “The bilge wasn’t working and that was making the problem that much worse.” Lauzon beached the boat at the Anglemont Marina – Barron’s original destination – and he and Bennato got a portable bilge pump going, got the engine running again and called her husband to come and get her. “She was extremely grateful,” said Lauzon, laughing off hero status. “It’s one of those things, someone’s in trouble, you just deal with it. I guess it was lucky, because there were no other boats in the area.” But Barron believes the people who took part in her rescue are heroes. “I’m lucky to be alive, the way I look at it,” she said Tuesday from her Calgary home. “They totally downplayed it, but they saved me and they need to be recognized for their efforts.” See Air horn on page A2
This week Shuswap Theatre steals the show at Ozones. See more on page A19. Students get a first-hand glimpse of the realities of drinking and driving. See A2.
Index Opinion ....................... A6 View Point .................. A7 Life & Times ............... A9 Sports............... A12-A15 Arts & Events ... A16-A19 Time Out................... A20 Vol. 106, No. 21, 40 pages