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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2016
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Woodstove rebate program By Xuyun Zeng Houston Today
COUNCILS Meet
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Smithers council came to meet with Houston Council in Houston last Thursday evening. The (private) meeting agenda topics included Huckleberry Mine layoffs impact and follow up on Highway 16 transportation issues.
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Bulkley Valley residents looking to get a cleaner wood stove can qualify for a $250 rebate. This year’s firstcome-first-serve Provincial Wood Stove Exchange Program has 22 rebates to offer, and is open to residents living in this airshed that spans from Endako to Kitwanaga. “Anyone that exchanges an old stove, or decommissions an old stove — a wood-burning appliance that is not EPA certified and buys a new one that is, and installs that can qualify for the rebate,” said coordinator Sue Brookes. “It’s a mail-in rebate: they have to contact me and I can get the particulars off them and send them the cheque.” The program ends in September 2016, and Brookes believes that this year’s program will see full subscription. “There are already a couple in the works,” she said. “We had a lot of
people from the Burns Lake area apply last year.” “You do have to have the old stove decommissioned. That means taking it to either to the Town of Smithers works yard or municipal works yard, or a dealer and getting them to sort of deconstruct the flue collar and the door because we want these stoves inoperable.” Brookes sees benefits in terms of personal health and cost savings to get an EPA-certified stove. “People need to understand that a lot of these old stoves are putting out emissions that are clouding the air and causing all sorts of health problems with pets and people,” she said. “And it’s also more efficient to burn in an EPA-certified stove, so theoretically you’re going to use less wood and get hotter-burning fires.” Interested parties can contact Brookes at notonsea@hotmail.com or call her at 250-877-8739.
Increasing elk population requires regional plan By Alicia Bridges Black Press
A group of farmers and ranchers is holding an elk count this month in an effort to prove funding is needed to stop the animals ruining crops and eating stored feed. The Skeena Regional Elk
Committee (SREC) is asking the public to report any elk sightings on Jan. 23 for a survey of the number of animals in the Skeena region. The results of the count, which covers the region between Burns Lake and the Hazeltons, will be used to seek funding from
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“The Skeena Regional Elk Committee is asking the public to report any elk sightings on January 23.”
the B.C. government for fencing to stop the elk entering farms. Pleasant Valley
www.glaciertoyota.ca JAN 19 - 30
C a t t l e m e n ’s Association president Linda Dykens, who is also a member of the
SREC, said elk were a pest that damaged crops and ate feed that was being stored for
their livestock. “They will paw the ground for feed so when you get a newly seeded field, the little seedlings, they’re not really rooted all that good yet so it gets destroyed,” she said. Dykens said farms in the areas near Round Lake and Francois Lake were
among the worst affected by the animals. She hopes the B.C. government will contribute to building fences to keep the elk out. The SREC plans to use the survey results to help the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource See ELK on Page 2
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See dealer for details. Finance and lease rate OAC.
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JAN 19 - 30
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