FRIDAY MAY 19, 2017 VOL. 43, NO. 18
$1
including GST
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A connection to the cottages
Part one on Hans Behm’s story about the Orchard Cottages
Reconciliation and art
Minnijean Brown Trickey
Pauline Le Bel outlines the next steps in her series of reconciliation events
Civil rights activist at the Gallery, reflects on hate, trauma, healing
Heavy rainfall causes waterways to flood local trails MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR
Participants in Bowen Rec’s Leaders in Training program helped out with younger kids who came out for Tuesday’s Family Play Night. Meribeth Deen, photo
BC Ferries restores service on Saturday, Sunday mornings
MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR
The ferry running between Horseshoe Bay and Snug Cove is now, officially, running on the summer schedule. With that though, comes good news from BC Ferries: they’ve decided to re-instate morning sailings at 7 and 7:30 am on Saturdays, and 9 and 9:35pm on Sundays. BC Ferries cut the sailings from the schedule in April, 2014, invoking a protest in Snug Cove. Adam Holbrook, the then-chair of the Bowen Island Municipal Transportation Advisory
Committee (BIMTAC), called the cuts “arbitrary.” In 2016, council made restoring these cuts a strategic priority, and BIMTAC set out to create a business-case for re-instating the sailings. “There were 400 responses to the survey we created to find out how people are affected by the cuts,” says BIMTAC chair David Hocking. “There was data about new families moving to Bowen, and young families in particular being adversely affected by the cuts. BIMTAC member Susanna Braund, councillor Melanie Mason and members of the public all worked hard on this. I think it proves that when we all get on board
with an issue, we can make change.” Darin Guenette, Public Affairs Manager for BC Ferries, says that after a thorough analysis, BC Ferries believes that they will be able to break-even on these two runs. “The government won’t give us any more money to increase the service,” says Guennette. “But we’ve looked at all the numbers and think that bringing those runs back is a safe risk, and we would like to try and help the community.” For now, the reinstatement of these two sailings is considered a pilot project, and if BC Ferries loses money on them they are likely to be cut.
CALLING ALL GRADS! It’s time to start thinking about being part of our 2017 Salute to the Grads. E-mail a short bio and your favourite grad pic by 4 p.m. on June 9th, to ads@bowenislandundercurrent.com
The spring of 2017 has seen flooding in the Okanagan, record rainfalls and, according to Environment Canada the “gloomiest” day on record (March 28). Bowen Island has not been spared the moisture and the gloom, adding extra work for local park maintenance crews. “We can barely keep up on the weed-whacking and mowing,” says Bruce Lyne, the municipality’s operations manager for parks. “Everything is growing like crazy, which is quite different from what I experienced last spring, when we were already concerned about water conservation by the end of May.” He adds that the rain has caused flooding and trail damage in several parks around the island. “Malkin Creek was particularly bad,” says Lyne. “Flooding washed out a nearby trail. We doubled the size of the culvert to handle the increase in water, and also put in large rocks between the stream and the trails in the hopes that we can prevent the damage from happening twice.” Streams in Quarry Park and on the Evergreen development have also flooded and caused damage in recent weeks, says Lyne. The trail between the meadow and the bridge in Crippen Park has also been flooded, and after several days of being closed off, re-opened on Wednesday. Tom McComb, Supervisor of Park Operations for Crippen, says that there’s been no place for the water to flood to. When asked about flooding caused by nearby beaver dams he said, Metro Parks is “working with the beavers.” “We put beaver-deceivers in the dams,” he says, explaining that these devices are essentially pipes that allow the water to continue flowing through. “We’ll go in and dismantle part of the dam and put the pipe in. By the next day they’ll have built over it, completely repairing the dam. They are very industrious.” The need to tamper with beaver dams and mitigate flood damage should be over soon, as weather forecasts are calling for a sustained sunny period and increasing temperatures by the weekend. Sophie Isdinga, Communications Co-ordinator for the Municipality says that while council has endorsed Metro Vancouver’s water restrictions (which came into effect on May 15) here on Bowen, these are just considered guidelines. While the municipality does not measure water levels in Grafton Lake over the winter, they will start to record and keep track of water levels once they dip below the spill-way.