NANAIMO
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REAL ESTATE
ing Areas
th and the Surround
, Nanoose, Ladysmi
RE VI EW
in Nanaimo y Guide to Real Estate
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013 LIVINGSTONE-GRAY AT 250-734-4614
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Walk on Event helps raise money for people suffering from kidney disease. PagE 18 Pops concert Vancouver Island Symphony performs by the seaside. PagE B1 Turf war Petition aims to push for improvements at Caledonia Park. PagE 3
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Nanaimo 5 Locations in
Years
THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013
www.nanaimobulletin.com
VOL. 25, NO. 40
P: 250.585.1648 3392 Norwell Drive
Volunteers track watershed health I water testers chart readings in streams, rivers.
By TamaRa CuNNINgham THe NewS BULLeTiN
Katelyn Kearn, Kiddie Land foreman with shooting star amusements, sets up the Barrel of Monkeys ride in the VIeX midway. CHRIS BUSH/THe NewS BUlleTIN
Country fun on tap at exhibition By ChRIS BuSh
THe NewS BULLeTiN
V
isitors to the 2013 Vancouver Island Exhibition can expect to fare well with a weekend packed with down-home country fair activities, food and entertainment. VIEX 2013 happens this weekend at the Beban Park fair grounds. With a 119-year history of focusing on family entertainment while showcasing Island farming practices and products, the fair theme for 2013 is, “Proud of the Past, Poised for the Future.” Highlights for this year’s VIEX include a huge lineup of musical entertainment ranging from local to national country, folk and rock talent culminating with a performance by Saturday night’s headliner The Trews. Spectators can lean up on a fence rail to get up
close to Island Barrel Racing Club action when members showcase their horseback riding skills while promoting this form of equestrian competition. For the first time this year, international logger sport competition is coming to Nanaimo, drawing competitors from across Canada, the U.S. and Europe who will pit their skills against each other and the clock. “This is going to be fantastic, high energy,” said Don Boyd, VIEX president. “With guys competing – there’s a big difference when you have somebody just in it for giggles – this is actually for the standings. They’re competing hard. It’s not just a show.” For high speed hobbyists, Notorious RC will be back on track with hobby-grade race cars that can hit top speeds of 100 km/h and break the speed limit on any road in town. u See ‘LIVESTOCK’ /4
The region’s murky picture of river health will begin to clear for the first time this year thanks to a network of volunteer water testers. Volunteer stewards with the Nanaimo Regional District’s watershed monitoring program are out in full force this month, tracking the turbidity and temperature of area waterways in an attempt to discover the state of watersheds. The results will offer regional officials their first in-depth look into the health of rivers and what could be affecting them. Until 2011, the province had only been monitoring the health of three Nanaimoarea rivers because of limited resources, leaving countless others with little or no monitoring. Experts said the lack of widespread oversight left the RDN with a murky picture of just how well managed and protected its watersheds were and the effect its growing population could be having on fish habitat and water quality. Three years ago the district put the responsibility of monitoring into the hands of local stewardship groups
with the help of the province – creating the first initiative of its kind on Vancouver Island. Upwards of 30 water courses have been monitored so far and enough information has been gathered for the B.C. government to spot emerging trends this year. “This is an important year because we are going to start seeing the picture [of stream health] develop,” said Mike Donnelly, the regional district’s manager of water services. “In fact, this is the first time such a comprehensive approach has been taken. This hasn’t been seen anywhere else.” Regional district officials say the goal is to collect as much data as possible on the state of waterways to make it easier to create policies needed to protect watersheds and spot problems early on. The regional population has been growing by an average three per cent each year, but until now there has been little information on the effect the trend has had on waterways and what – if anything – the district can do to preserve its water quality, Donnelly said. “We have all been hoping to ... see a smoking gun right away, but we need the data first,” he said. The district’s volunteers have been tracking the cloudiness, temperature and oxygen levels in a number of area waterways, including 14 this year. u See ‘MONITORING’ /4
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