WEDNESDAY MAY 4, 2016
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A CHAT WITH FRED PENNER
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PROUDLY SERVING KIMBERLEY AND AREA SINCE 1932 | Vol. 84, Issue 81 | www.kimberleybulletin.com
Spray Park is a reality
Mom’s pay the junior price of $12 on the Rec 9 this Mother’s Day!
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$ 10
Which leaves the burning question, where does bocce go? C AROLYN GR ANT BULLE TIN EDITOR
The Kimberley Rotary Club Spray Park project got a solid boost this past weekend, when it was announced that the Columbia Basin Trust was coming through with a $143,000 grant. Mayor Don McCormick, also a Rotary member, says this means shovels in the ground this year, although there is still some $25,000 to be fund-raised. McCormick is confident that amount can be raised given the community buy-in to the project so far. This announcement will cause some ripples right down the line as the location chosen for the new spray park is where JulyFest bocce is traditionally held. If construction be-
gins before JulyFest, then the Kimberley Chamber and JulyFest Committee have some decisions to make. Alternate locations are under consideration, according to Chamber Manager Mike Guarnery, but there are lots of logistics to figure out. “The Chamber will have a decision on the bocce location very shortly,” he said. As for the spray park, McCormick says Rotary is very pleased with how supportive the community has been. “This has become a community project. We have received money from all kinds of organizations. It’s been an amazing community effort. We’ve raised $140,000 over two years. That’s not a small amount. And the grant from CBT put it over the top.”
AKBLG convention a great success C AROLYN GR ANT Bulletin Editor
Last week the City of Kimberley hosted the Association of Kootenay Boundary Municipalities annual convention at the Kimberley Conference and Athlete Training Centre. Over 200 people attended. “It went really well,” said Mayor Don McCormick. “The organizing committee and the AKBLG executive were really happy with the conference.”
Both the SunMine tour and the tour of the Mark Creek rehab tour were very well received. “It’s interesting,” McCormick said. “The SunMine is always well received but Mark Creek got a whole lot of attention because of the radical change in the downtown. I think we don’t see it because it’s evolved over four years, but if you haven’t been in Kimberley for a while, it’s a radical transformation.”
PHOTO SUBMITTED
International student Nora Selnæs (center) and Mika Weissenberger (right), president of Selkirk Secondary’s Student Council present a $400 check to Kimberley Refugee Resettlement Group (KRRG) co-chair Becky Pelkonen (left). Student Council unanimously chose KRRG to share in the proceeds from Selkirk’s Spring Dance.
Kootenay Lake kokanee numbers cause for concern
High number of predators likely cause of kokanee decline, government says C AROLYN GR ANT Bulletin Editor
Last week the provincial government announced that, due to low numbers, the kokanee fishery on the upper west arm of Kootenay Lake would be catch and release only this year. This spring, anglers landed fewer kokanee than usual in this part of the lake, which could be an indication that the overall numbers are down, says
The kokanee is B.C.‘s second most popular sport fish. Greg Beithel, Public Affairs Officer, Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. “The closure is a precaution aimed to support longterm kokanee conservation efforts.” The kokanee fishery in the main part of the lake already was closed and will remain so. The Ministry reports that
last fall, biologists counted 18,000 spawning kokanee in the main body of the lake and its tributaries, the lowest number since the annual count started in 1979. Scientists estimate that the fish laid 4.26 million eggs, down from a high of 265 million eggs in 1981. “The ministry has worked with experts to review the Koo-
tenay Lake kokanee collapse, and the consensus is that the primary cause was a very high abundance of Gerrard and bull trout, both predators of kokanee,” Beithel said. Although no other kokanee populations in the Kootenay region have declined as they have in Kootenay Lake, Beithel says the Arrow Lakes Reservoir kokanee are at lower abundance for a number of different reasons, but largely due to several recent high-discharge water years in a row that have temporarily prevented the productivity of the kokanee food web. See KOKANEE, page 4