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Fall Seniors Directory
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ion Informat ce & Resour for Directory s Senior o in Nanaim
CE SENIORS RESOUR
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DIRECTORY FALL 2015
nt to the Nanaimo A Special Suppleme
News Bulletin
www.nanaimobulletin.com
TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2015
VOL. 27, NO. 31
Water revenue falls as citizens cut back use
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STAFF REPORT shows more than $900,000 deficit in water user fees this year. BY TAMARA CUNNINGHAM THE NEWS BULLETIN
KARL YU/THE NEWS BULLETIN
Aja Bueckert, team member with Pacific Northwest Raptors, a group dedicated to the conservation of birds of prey, shows off a Harris’s hawk at the Vancouver Island Exhibition Saturday. Harris’s hawks are one of the species of birds used to keep seagulls and crows away from the landfill in Cedar.
VIEX visitors get up-close look at birds of prey BY KARL YU THE NEWS BULLETIN
While birds of prey wowed people at the Vancouver Island Exhibition this past weekend, they also serve as security at Nanaimo’s landfill. The garbage at the Cedar site attracts sea gulls, crows and ravens, and according to Aja Bueckert, a member of bird conservation group Pacific Northwest Raptors, which had a display at the annual agricultural fair at Beban Park, Harris’s hawks and red-tailed hawks are
used to keep the nuisance birds away. “[It’s] mostly gulls primarily, corvines, crows and ravens sometimes, but primarily gulls because they swarm. It’s a smorgasbord for them if [the hawks] were not there keeping on it,” said Bueckert. “All we do is fly them. We patrol a radius around the active face and just the presence of a predator in the area alone keeps a lot of the pest species from going a little too crazy,” she said. A key to keeping the hawks at their best is
weight monitoring. Birds are weighed at the beginning of the work day to ensure that they are at optimal weight, which varies from bird to bird. “Weight management is a very important step. It lets us know if they’re at their ideal flying weight range,” said Bueckert. “It’ll also let us know if they’re feeling ill or anything. Birds in the wild will not show any sign of sickness or anything.” Hawks have been known to fly away, but that is a rare occurrence. Bueckert
said food is what keeps hawks in the fold – raw whole meat, such as venison, quail and chicken are part of their diet. “It’s all positive reinforcement with food,” said Bueckert. “When we fly them, we do put a radio telemetry transmitter on their leg, just in case the wind blows them or an eagle or something startles them.” Regional District of Nanaimo contracts Pacific Northwest Raptors to patrol the landfill.
The City of Nanaimo is running low on revenue for future water projects as residents ramp up conservation efforts. Nanaimo residents have responded to this summer’s drought with a 15- to 20-per cent drop in normal summertime water use, according to Bill Sims, the city’s manager of water resources. It’s exactly what people have been asked to do under Level 2 water restrictions, but it also means lower-than-anticipated utility bills and a potential deficit. A city staff report shows that a $929,300 deficit is expected in water user fees this year, with an estimated $670,000 directly linked to water restrictions. It means less money is being channelled into reserves for future expansion and infrastructure renewal, and it’s a concern that needs to be addressed, said Sims. “It’ll require some adjustment on the revenue side and some thinking ... but really we are doing the right thing by conserving water and we’re doing the right thing by extending the life of our infrastructure,” he said. Nanaimo residents are no stranger to water rate increases, which have gone to pay for new infrastructure like the water treatment plant. There was a 7.5-per cent increase Jan.1. Lower user rates aren’t anticipated to affect operation and maintenance, and less dollars going into reserves is not an alarm in the short term, but if it continues, the city will have to think about user rates, says Deborah Duncan, the city’s manager of financial planning. See ‘OPTIONS’ /4
reporter@nanaimobulletin.com
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