LOCAL NEWS: HISTORIC LAND CLAIM DECISION ▼ A3 & A8
Times
Thursday, July 3, 2014 ▼ Volume 50 No. 27 ▼ www.clearwatertimes.com ▼ $1.35 Includes GST
THE
NORTH THOMPSON
WATER FIX:
2014
CCNA BLUE RIBBON
TNRD solves Vavenby leak. See A15 inside.
Riding for Canada Day Rhythm Riders drill team members Shannon Cameron of McLure (l) and Mitch Miller of Birch Island rehearse their performance in preparation for Canada Day activities at Dutch Lake beach. For more about what happened on July 1 in Clearwater and Blue River, see next week's issue. Photo by Keith McNeill
First Place Best All Round Newspaper & Best Editorial Page Second Place Best Front Page All of Canada <1,250 circulation 2014 First Place General Excellence B.C. and Yukon <2,000 circulation 2014
Tourism business operator and former Weyerhaeuser forester Tay Briggs speaks about the need to preserve wilderness values during a tour of the Upper Clearwater held on Saturday. Photo by Keith McNeill
Upper Clearwater tour looks at logging debate Keith McNeill More than 60 people took part in a tour of Upper Clearwater on Saturday morning to learn more about concerns that logging might have on the region’s economy and other values. The tour was organized by the Wells Gray Action Committee, a group of Upper Clearwater, Clearwater, Barriere, Kamloops and Vancouver residents who are concerned about plans by Canfor to log in the First, Second and Third canyons area. They also have become concerned by road-building and/or logging underway now on the west side of the Clearwater River. Those who took part included MLA Terry Lake. “It’s all about listening,” he said. “The message is that this is part of a process. There has been lots of good input and I appreciate that.” The tour began at the Spahats lookout, then Third Canyon, and finished up at Upper Clearwater Hall.
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First to speak was Tay Briggs, a registered professional forester (RPF) who formerly worked for Weyerhaeuser and who now operates a hut-to-hut tour guiding business with her husband, Ian Eakins. Briggs recalled that, when she was working for Weyerhaeuser, her supervisor advised her not to buy a house in Clearwater because the forest company was only planning to stay in the area for a limited time. She and her husband did stay, however. When they started their business, there were only two bed-and-breakfasts in Clearwater. Now there are 27 plus more hotels, motels and other tourist-based businesses. Only four per cent of the visitors coming to Canada are from Europe but 48 per cent of those coming to Clearwater and Wells Gray Park are European. “Why? Because it’s wilderness. There’s a feeling that it is as it was,” Briggs said. Continued on page A10
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