A Missed Opportunity?

Or is it a case of the media not doing its job?

Today's Morning Star story on the two "mud slingers ripping up a local watershed" who pled guilty and were ordered to pay fines for mud bogging in the Duteau Creek watershed last spring is, frankly, infuriating.

"Don't do anything foolish that gets your name

 into the newspaper!" 

Anonymous parent, 50+ years ago

Why?

Consider for a moment (even if you do not believe it) that getting one's name into the newspaper for a selfish and dangerous act that can--and does--impact the quality of a community's drinking water might...just MIGHT...be a deterrent to others who disrespect both authority and the environment.

Those of us (mostly over the age of 50) can remember our parents' warnings:  "Don't do anything foolish that gets your name into the newspaper!"

That, in itself, years ago was indeed a deterrent to some teenagers who otherwise had no qualms about disrespecting authority.  They didn't want to let down their parents, who were hardworking "good citizens".

Kids may not be that caring today.
Same with some parents.
There must be some, though, who do care what their civic reputation is!

But what if their names were printed in the newspaper--after pleading guilty in court--was all that it took to prevent one person from doing the same thing?

"Or many others," Kia would've said.

What a missed opportunity, Morning Star!

By the way, isn't "reporting" the job of a community newspaper?

Backwards Bureaucracies

They create holes in projects.
And then do nothing.

As reported in this blog story, mud bogging on the Aberdeen Plateau concerns everyone.
That is, everyone but the mud-boggers, campers at the water's edge and bureaucrats...at all levels, despite RDNO's water quality manager Renee Clark worried about a potential loss of a dam's integrity from public misbehaviour.

Apparently, 500 people were on Grizzly Lake during the past May long weekend.
No idea how many campers and mud boggers were on the entire plateau.

Campers on the water's edge?
Campers without bio-toilets and sanitary disposal facilities?
Party-goers with their usual assortment of bottles and cans and unsavory garbage?

Remember, folks....Greater Vernon Water has a strategy to continue work on the Duteau water treatment reservoirs, despite the Master Water Plan borrowing referendum failing last November.  And this is part of their strategy.

To that end, bureaucrats want to get the public riled up about what goes on up there, saying that "water utilities are unable to fence off watersheds because they are on provincial Crown land."

That is...and isn't true.

Read this from Metro Vancouver's water site:  "The watersheds are closed to the public for protection from pollution, erosion, fire and other hazards, with the exception of registered tours."

And another document shows that the primary use must be paramount...clean safe drinking water.  To that end, a No Trespassing policy was implemented (way back in 1927).  Officials also, for a time,  stopped logging from occurring.

 1. The primary purpose of watersheds is to provide clean, safe water.

  2. The watersheds will be managed to reflect and advance the commitment to the environmental stewardship and protection of those lands and their biological diversity.

 3.The management plan will be based upon the minimum intervention absolutely necessary to achieve objectives.

  4. The management plan will contain policies to return areas disturbed by human activities as close as possible to the pre-disturbance state consistent with the primary goal of protecting water quality.

5. The decision-making process will be transparent and open to the public

And read this from Coquitlam:  "These mountain reservoirs are in protected watersheds where no recreational or industrial activities are permitted."

Capilano Lake and Cleveland Dam:  "Dr Cleveland had the foresight to maintain a pristine water supply and restricted access to the watershed. The area surrounding Capilano Lake remains closed to the public."
 

Bureaucrats at RDNO have simply not created a Primary Use study document for the Duteau Creek water system.  Simple as that.

"What a bunch of hooey that we can't restrict access to watersheds," says Kia.

It's simply more bullshit from the Regional District of North Okanagan.
Smoke 'n mirrors for not doing their jobs effectively.

Weak-Kneed RDNO Solution

Officials at the Regional District of North Okanagan actually believe that "the display of (licence) plates ...mandatory from June 1st" will solve the threat to Duteau Creek water system dams/reservoirs by mud-boggers. 

And today's Morning Star heading "Off-road activity hampers water supply" is laughable.

Hampers?
For heaven's sake, folks, they don't hamper our water system.

They threaten it.

You know...a threat, as in the destruction caused by terrorists.
Because that's what it could be.
The result anyway.

"Greater Vernon Water is continually having a problem with off-road vehicles roaring up and down the Grizzly, Aberdeen, Haddo and King Edward dams on the Aberdeen Plateau," states the newspaper today.
Water Quality Manager Renee Clark says "our biggest concern is dam failure if there's a lot of activity on the dams."  Apparently some dams are being used for hill climbs while mud-bogging has taken place in the reservoirs.

In the reservoirs?

Jeez, folks, you really think a law that off-road vehicles be licenced is going to eliminate that?
Off the cuff, I'm reminded of Canada's failed Gun Registry.
Seems the criminals--the bad guys--didn't get the memo.

And for RDNO officials to believe that "working with Natural Resource officers, Recreation and Trails BC and the RCMP" is going to fix that on a mountain mesa hidden from the valley bottom is sheer idiocy.

Where are the former rangers?
Where are forest patrols?
Likely provincial government cutbacks.
No commissionaires patrol the dams, the failure of which could impact downstream areas like Lumby as well as destroying the area's water supply.

Folks, this threat to the dams and downstream communities is no less than a terrorist threat, despite the only difference between mud-boggers and terrorists would be that the boggers didn't intend to drown a community or ruin a water system.  

Okanagan Basin Water Board photo

How is an "inadvertent" threat event to a downstream community and a water system any different than thwarting a terrorist attack?

"The Regional District has to grow some courage," suggests Kia, adding "they used airplanes to check whether people were filling pools during severe water restrictions one year."


Oh yeah, we're supposed to call the Natural Resource violation hotline at 1-844-676-8477 if we witness destruction up there.

Memorize the phone number, folks.