
9 minute read
PERSPECTIVE Juggling chaos on re
Slowly visiting around the community over the last couple of weeks, I’ve introduced myself as the “new editor” of e Pioneer and most folks have been very quick to share their thoughts and opinions on the the paper -- ank you.
Yes, things are traditional and were listening. And, yes, we endeavour to refine some things. It is the nature of change and we recognize there has been a lot of change recently. I am certainly part of that.
I’ve been in the valley for eight years. I actually live my daily life here, and I’ve seen how many of you live yours. ere is a way about this place that is often lost on new people.
ose in the valley who’ve known me previously would best recognize me with the helmet and goggles covering my face. e Summit Chair and Tayton Bowl have been previously comprised of my public conversations with the varied levels of society — local leaders, teachers, doctors, builders and several generations deep.
A chair lift is somewhere between a confessional and a bar stool in that people talk about life, love and the goings on in their community — even when you just want to listen to the Beastie Boys and enjoy the wind while mind-mapping the next run through Tayton Bowl.
Society is bound together by listening to each other, so I listened then as well.
Now, I am the editor of your community paper and I hope to reassure you that the publisher didn’t just give the paper over to a ski bum. Well, not totally. How bad could that go anyway?
I had a former life as a newspaper editor in the United States and e Pioneer is now my tenth newspaper. I’ve covered everything from Boston crime to Alaskan education. It was a great run, but I eventually and willingly left behind the newsroom as the industry collapsed under debt loads, a crippling deficit of imagination and an unfounded need to delight rather than inform. I have no intention of reliving those issues. Let’s see what works. Let’s see how this thing goes.
What is unique for me personally, this time around, is that e Pioneer is my first newspaper job covering my own community; one that I’ve been part of for years rather than being a newbie living in a place because of work. For the first time, I have a loaded bias in favour of the community — Invermere and e Columbia Valley. I choose to be here and I am grateful to have this place as my home.
Otherwise, newspapering is still newspapering --juggling chaos on fire.
--- Greg Skinner
Old Brisco
An old Ford passes down the old Highway 95 near Briso
Letters
Dear Editor,
With retrospect to the approach taken by the Columbia Valley Recreation Planning Initiative, I was very disappointed to learn from the article in last weeks Pioneer that the Initiative’s beginning declaration was that “Everyone agreed that there should be room for all recreationists”. is is surely an outdated way to begin a planning process to enable long term ecosystem health.
Following this declaration, the co-chair of the CVRPI then stated that “the status quo is not sustainable.” is statement is a direct contradiction to the “Room for all recreation” proposal. e problem to solve is not how to fit “all recreationists” into a limited landscape unit but rather that there is not room for “all recreationists” in the Steamboat Mountain Landscape Unit.
Crown lands have been intensively managed by various provincial agencies for overlapping tenures, seasonal use and one time permits: ranching, logging, Christmas tree production, camping, hunting, fishing, firewood gathering, fence rail cutting, recreation sites, etc. Trained individuals and specialists look at an area in a wholistic manner before allocating permits and locations for these purposes. When carefully considered, there is generally a beneficial path agreed upon.
However, today’s much increased unregulated demand and pressure from the mechanized recreation sector (ATV, side by side, bicycles, dirt bikes, motorized vehicles and random camping, etc.) is challenging all the systems and protocols whereby public lands are managed. Mechanized recreationists believe it is their right to go wherever they want on Public lands, and so they do. While some recreationist respect natural values in principle, there are many that don’t and vividly display their lack of respect.
For instance, at the north end of the Dry Gulch portion of the Columbia Wetlands Wildlife Management Area (CWWMA), designated in 1996 under the Wildlife Act with conservation as its priority. Mountain bikers bullied their way in hacking trails into the fragile dry hillsides and now we are being asked to contribute to a “Dry Gulch Recreation Plan” rather than a Conservation Plan? What gives? Is the Wildlife act to be ignored? at said, passionate recreational users need places for their activities. For instance, shooting enthusiasts make use of a designated area at the south end of Steamboat Mountain. Some dirt bike/mountain bike areas have been allocated and other least damage locations need to be identified, in particular away from already designated CWMMA’s like Dry Gulch which have been set aside primarily for conservation. e current unregulated ap-
Recreationists seldom think that what they do causes wildlife to leave an area however long-term residents have witnessed a steady decline in wildlife and diversity of plant communities in “room for all” areas. Wildland habitat cannot sustain use by all users without cumulative negative effect. We are far past an era where everyone can claim rights for their type of recreation in all places at all times.
Letters
Dear Editor, e Native Women’s Association of Canada is disheartened that the federal government’s Budget 2023 has once again failed to address critical issues facing Indigenous women, girls, and gender-diverse people: particularly addressing MMIWG and
Dear Editor, e Columbia Valley Recreation Planning Initiative has been engaged in for years e CVRPI is a community-led initiative that attempts to bring together the various interests that have an interest in and use of the public land in our valley to provide recommendations to the Provincial and First Nations governments on how a cross section of the local community feels that recreation should be managed. e Planning Committee takes advice and input from relevant people, in the form of an advisory committee, for each area that it studies. For the Steamboat Landscape Unit the advisory committee was made up significantly of landowners, tenure holders and as much input from environmental sources that we were able to take, given that there is no funding for any scientific studies. e CVRPI planning committee conducted numerous tours of the area with members of the advisory committee over the last 2 years and these tours highlighted the devastating impact that the current economic opportunity. e federal government released its budget earlier today, outlining the fiscal, social, and economic priorities for the upcoming year.


...letters from 6.
A budget is about priorities – and Budget 2023 has failed to make it a top priority to protect and empower Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse unregulated use of the area immediately to the west of Radium has had and the threat that poses to wildlife and tenure holders. e Recreation Planning Committee in reaching its recommendations took into account all of the factors mentioned in the article but balanced them against the current land uses, such as the Horsethief FSR and tenure by the Rod and Gun Club, which are under jurisdiction of the Provincial Government. e planning committee furthermore took the view that the best way to reduce the impact of current use patterns is to work with the Valley-based recreation societies which meant that any solutions had to allow for some recreation to garner their support. We recognized that completely shutting down the area west of Radium was not only beyond our ability but also goes against the needs of local community to be able to conduct some recreation close to home.
We agree that it is better to reduce the burden of recreation and thus, in agreement with the local recreation societies, have recommended that all proach where new users bully their way into protected and critical areas is not working. To continue random activities in active wildlife corridors such as in the Steamboat Mountain Landscape Unit or Dry Gulch Wildlife Management areas because self-identified Recreationists people. We wanted to see investments rooted in the principles of reconciliation and empowerment – and a commitment to Indigenous people taking our full place in Canadian society through significant investments in Indigenous reconciliation efforts that directly impact the well-being of Indigenous women. What we saw instead is a trails in use must be properly established through the Section 57 process and application to local government, where further evaluation of environmental factors and agricultural requirements (via the ALC) is quite rightly addressed. We believe that by working with the recreational societies in a responsible manner, and properly establishing trails where it is appropriate will provide better protections to the local environment than the current free-for-all that exists. We have to remember that under current provincial law all members of the public have a right to use crown land and that the only hope to improve the situation is to work with all members of our society and promote best practices. e wider recommendations in the document will, we believe, eventually have the effect of pushing much of the visiting recreation and camping into the areas that the current tenure holders and environmentalists would prefer. By significantly reducing the current pressures, coupled with the self regulation by valley-based societies and restrictions put in place declare that there should be room for everyone is folly. e first layer of a recreation plan should identify and respect wildland values and current management designations. Additional uses, if compatible, can then be identified.
Let’s not spoil what we have, lack of investment to end economic marginalization of Indigenous women in order to end the violence against them to ensure full participation in the Canadian economy. by the Section 57 process, it shoul2d go a long way towards resolution of the identified issues. We note that the area is used by both locals and visitors and further confirm that the whole Columbia Valley is a valuable wildlife corridor. e recommendations made are the best we could achieve given the multitude of conflicting factors, given we cannot shut down the entire landscape unit to recreation without a change to the law, and this would not be supported across the community. We would also like to highlight the contentious area is a matter of several hundred acres of land that is already heavily used and that the CVRPI has recommended stronger measure across tens of thousands of acres in other parts of the Steamboat landscape unit. We accept this is not the perfect solution, but it is the best compromise a wide selection of the community could make given the wide variety of competing factors for land use, many of which are mutually exclusive.
It’s time for the Federal government to walk the reconciliation talk ere can’t be reconciliation without reducing the rates of violence, Continued on page 23...
Adrian Pery and Clara Reinhardt, Co-chairs CVRPI
the challenge now more than ever is to find ways to adapt and/or place mechanized recreation in planned areas that respect functioning and protected ecosystems so that healthy habitat is available and preserved in sensitive areas.
—Peter Christensen, Imvermere
Request For Proposal
Edgewater Recreation Society is requesting quotes for an automated sprinkler/irrigation system for Wittman Field’s Outfield, which has 3294 sq. meters of coverage.
Contractors should have experience in designing and installing sports field irrigation systems. Proposals should include technical and pricing details, project schedule, warranty, and references. Edgewater Recreation Society is currently in the grant application process to fund this project, therefore contractors should understand that rewarding of any contract is dependent on successful grant application.
To view the site, please call 1(204) 740-0875
Please submit your proposal by Friday, April 14 to:
Edgewater Recreation Society PO Box 114, Edgewater, BC V0A1E0
240671.pdf



Hospice Society of the Columbia Valley Presents the Hospice Society of the Columbia Valley.


Theme: “For the Love of Chocolate”
We want to hear from you
Email your letters to info@columbiavalleypioneer.com or visit our website at www.columbiavalleypioneer.com. Mail your letters to Box 868, Invermere, V0A 1K0, or drop them in at #8 1008-8th Avenue. Letters to the editor should be sent only to e Pioneer, and not to other publications. We do not publish open letters or third-party letters. Letters for publication should be no longer than 400 words, and must include the writer’s address and phone numbers. No attachments, please. Letters may be shortened for space requirements. We reserve the right to edit for space, clarity, civility and accuracy. Opinions expressed are those of the writer, not e Pioneer.
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