2006
KNPS AGM
Report
from the Executive
Two
thousand and six was another busy and eventful year for the Kimberley Nature
Park Society. We began the year with
preparations for logging on Sunflower Hill and we are ending the year with
preparations for logging a significant chunk of the rest of the Park.
There is a danger for some of us that we might become so absorbed with
the logging issue that we may we forget all the other great things that are
going on in the Nature Park. I will
have to talk a bit about the logging this evening but first lets remember some
of the other things we have accomplished this year.
2006
was the year that we signed a management agreement with the Ministry of Tourism,
Sport and the Arts for the
2006
was the year that we learned from a
2006
was the year that the Trans Canada Trail was formally designated from
This year we continued with our well attended
series of monthly guided walks, organized another soggy Nature Park Week, and
continued to monitor and maintain the Park trail network. Thanks
to all the volunteers who led walks, organized hikes and helped clear trails.
Special thanks to Pam Chenery and John Gerlitz for putting in so many
hours with the saws, as well as on the phone keeping people involved. We
formally joined the City of
Our
Natural History Committee has begun an inventory of
Thanks to the assistance of Blake Rawson and the Selkirk Outdoor Careers
class we have a new footbridge across the creek at the top of
We
have also applied for and received a $1900 grant from the Public Conservation
Assistance Fund to buy tools and safety equipment for work parties in the south
end of the Park which we will start on in the spring.
Near
the end of 2005 members of the KNPS and other community groups met with senior
managers of Teck Cominco from their
The
KNPS continues to participate in the City sponsored Interface Fire and Forest
Management Committee and has reviewed plans for interface logging in a variety
of areas around
In
2006 we also met with the organizer of the Little Rippers Bike Camp and reviewed
and supported his proposal to hold some of the camp’s activities in the
Last
spring saw us out again in force on Sunflower Hill, working with the Regional
District Weed Warriors program to pull knapweed, houndstongue and toadflax. The
amount of these noxious weeds on that hillside has been significantly reduced
and we look forward to more work parties there in the future.
We
have continued to maintain and update our webpage and stay in touch with our
members with our newsletter three times a year. Many thanks to Susan Bond who
does a wonderful job of putting our newsletter together. We had 40 new members
join the KNPS is 2006 though a number of our existing members have not yet
renewed their memberships so our overall numbers have fallen slightly to 328
members. We continue to be
pleasantly surprised by the generosity of members who make additional donations
above and beyond their membership fees.
Our
trail guides continue to sell in various outlets around town, thanks to Val
Carey who looks after the distribution and money collection. The numbers of maps
sold this year, 377 remains down from our long term average of around 600 as a
result of the distribution of the City’s free trail map. One of the challenges
we face in the future is revamping our trail guide and making it even more
useful to hikers, bikers and other recreationalists.
We have had some discussion about building some new trails in the Park
and including them in the next edition. Unfortunately,
all such work is better left till after the impacts of the thinning of the Park
can be assessed and the best routes for trails determined.
And
that brings us back to the logging issue.
The
day before yesterday I received an email from Brian Dureski of Tembec, informing
us that they have decided to postpone the logging of the Park till next year.
They had been waiting for a re-assessment of the Williamson Sapsucker
habitat and other wildlife tree patches by the Ministry of the Environment and
the early arrival of all this snow means it is now too late to upgrade roads and
begin logging this winter.
Yesterday,
a delegation from the Nature Park Society met with City Council to discuss our
joint concerns about the proposed logging of the Park and we will now together
be pressing for improvements to the plan. We
hope to begin scheduling meetings with the City and Tembec in the next few weeks
with a goal of revising the plan and having all three parties sign a written
Memorandum of Understanding that will detail exactly how logging will take place
before any road upgrading begins. A number of outstanding issues, including the
creation of landings, trail buffers, and the number of trees left standing after
the logging will need to be resolved before that Memorandum can be signed.
If
all goes well, the plan will be complete by May, road upgrading will happen in
the summer and the thinning of the Park will be completed next winter.
Our hope is not that the Park will be unchanged by
the logging, for we know it will. Indeed, we are convinced that without some
thinning the Park will become an ecological mess and significant fire threat to
the community. What we do hope
is that after the thinning large parts of the Park will be in a condition that
will allow us to steer them towards long lasting, fire resistant old growth
stands. If you have every marveled
at the huge ponderosa pine on Duck Pond Trail, the giant larch beside Stump
Trail or the stand of old growth at the entrance to Moe’s Canyon, you can
appreciate what the Park might look like for future generations.
The trick will be to do this in a way that leaves enough intact forest
for the current generation to enjoy and a trail network that allows them access
to it.
We
are going to work very hard over the next year to make sure that happens.
Thank
you for all for being a part of the Society and coming out tonight to show your
support for the Park.
Kent
Goodwin
For the Nature Park Executive
November 29, 2006