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[GoldHammeredCroc]

Received a message from a student through one of my former teachers at BCIT for Fish and Wildlife. It certainly is a worthy cause and we should all take the time to write a simple note:

Please everyone, we need to get a letter writing campaign going. We only have 1 week. The public hearing is April 21st. Apparently all the letters have to be read at the meeting. After April 21st there is a law in place that nobody can contact in any directors etc on the CSRD.

Can you all write a letter? I know that this is last minute notice but it may be the last chance to actually voice an opinion or make an argument to save this river. The address for the CSRD is as follows:

Scott Beeching, Senior Planner,
Columbia Shuswap Regional District
781 Marine Park Drive - Box 978
Salmon Arm, B.C., V1E 4P1
Email: sbeeching@csrd.bc.ca

If you email the letter, please cc it to northshuswap@yahoo.ca

Please consider this request and though I know how busy you all are, I ask for your time as this is a very important river to me personally having grown up in the area and a very important river for BC and for the world as it is famous for the Sockeye runs. It is beautiful river that deserves far better care than what is offered by this proposal and by the stewardship of the CSRD.

If you want more information visit http://www.seas.ca for news items and impacts of development. This link outlines impacts and gives you all the contact information for the letter.

http://www.seas.ca/news.cfm?UUID=341DAB66-...B3DCE37F1E2458D

Laurie


From Thursday's Globe and Mail

April 10, 2008 at 4:46 AM EDT

VICTORIA - An expansive condominium and marina development proposed near the mouth of the Adams River will cause irreparable damage to one of B.C.'s most renowned salmon runs if approved, environmental groups warned this week.

"For them to even think of putting a development like this at the mouth of the Adams River is a tragedy and a travesty," said long-time B.C. environmentalist Vicky Husband, speaking on behalf of the Watershed Watch Salmon Society.

"That's one of the most famous salmon rivers in the world."

A company called New Recreation Ltd. has applied to build 218 condominiums, a 160-slip marina and 10,000 square feet of commercial space on a former campground at the mouth of the Adams River, about 40 kilometres south of Kamloops.

Dubbed West Beach Marina, the development is slated for 12-hectare patch of land between the river's mouth and the border of Roderick Haig-Brown Park, named after one of the province's most noted conservationists.

Ms. Husband said there's no way to develop the West Beach Marina without causing serious habitat damage.

"Any time you get boats and oil and gas and a lot of noise and construction in an sensitive area like that, you're going to have an impact on habitat," she said.

With up to three million salmon returning to spawn each fall, the Adams River run attracts thousands of visitors from around the world and is considered a mainstay of central B.C.'s tourism industry.

Directors with the Columbia Shuswap Regional District voted last month to send the West Beach proposal to a public hearing April 21 - a sign that elected officials are close to approving the project, said Shuswap Environmental Action Society spokesman Jim Cooperman.

"Once they get past the public hearing, there's no way we can influence the regional district," he said.

To try to spread the word, Mr. Cooperman has organized a rally that will be held at the mouth of the Adams River Saturday and is expected to draw hundreds of protesters.

The government body responsible for salmon habitat, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, has yet to conduct a full environmental assessment of the project.

In a letter June 1, 2007, federal habitat biologist Darryl Hussey informed regional district staff that DFO would not be reviewing the proposal in detail because of "resource constraints" and recent departmental policy changes.

However, department staff said yesterday that's not accurate and
promised a detailed review of the project once the developer's plans have
been finalized.

Retired fisheries biologist Otto Langer, who spent 32 years with the DFO, said staff are working under a new hands-off policy implemented by the Harper government.

"[DFO staff] are being told they're not supposed to oppose any developments," Mr. Langer said.

"They've quit doing field assessments and left it to industry to protect the fish."

Adams Lake Indian band member Dave Nordquist, a specialist in title and rights issues, said his chief and council have told federal officials the band opposes the development.

"We've met with DFO and we said we don't want it there. It's too close to the salmon and a lot of cultural heritage sites, but the CSRD seems to be pushing ahead," he said.

While there's no decision yet on what further action the band council might take, Mr. Nordquist said he and other band members will likely attend Saturday's protest.

Salmon Arm Mayor Marty Bootsma admitted that the development proposal is "highly sensitive" and has generated "a fair bit of controversy."

However, he rejected suggestions that the regional district board is preparing to rubber-stamp the application.

"There have been accusations that the CSRD is fast-tracking this thing, pushing this thing, and that's all a crock," Mr. Bootsma said. "The jury's out on this one until the final vote.

"Maybe it will be good to hear from both sides."

[Nicole]

Did anyone attend the rally?

Here is the name of the Developer, and their address:

http://www.newfuturebuilding.com
239 Lansdowne Street
Kamloops BC
V2C 1X8

Phone: 250-372-3572
Fax: 250-372-3533

Mike Rink, President / Project Manager 250-819-0537
Mike@newfuturebuilding.com

Ken Ellerbeck, Project Manager (worked for Gulf Oil and Texaco Oil W T F !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
ken@newfuturebuilding.com

Marnie McEachern - Principal

Kimron David Rink - BA Architecture, B.Sc., Project Architect

Michelle R. O’Morrow - C.M.A. Controller

Ruby MacLeod - Office Manager

Gary Klassen - Construction Manager

Ebeth Patenio - Senior Architectual Technologist (Also worked for Big Oil In Saudi Arabia)

Simeon Patenio - Senior Architectual Technologist (Also worked for Big Oil In Saudi Arabia)

Dennis Fontaine - Construction Supervisor

Christopher Sundquist - Building Designer


I'm going to keep digging, I'm going to try and find home addresses...

Are there any fast typers out there who can go on their website and lift out the text from the team profiles area of their site? They have made all their bios as images, so I can't copy and paste text.

Who is with me?
Nicole

[chris gadsden]

Development comes to A legendary river
A planned condo and marina site besideNorth America's greatest salmon spawning habitat is stirring controversy in the Shuswap
Larry Pynn and Randy Shore, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, April 19, 2008
A development would run through it. It is difficult to stand at the mouth of North America's greatest salmon spawning habitat -- the Adams River, where it empties into the west end of Shuswap Lake -- and envision a 160-slip marina right next door along with 218 condos, townhouses, and residential houses.

On this sunny day, a warm breeze flows off the mountains, soothing waves massage the gravel shoreline, and fish-eating merganser ducks patrol the waters. A northern flicker weaves its way between the old cottonwoods and swallows fill the air like ticker tape.

The gravel-and-grass border separating the proposed 12-hectare development site and 1,076-hectare Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park is seamless except for a No Trespassing sign on one side and a provincial park boundary sign on the other.



Map provided by the developer of the proposed west Beach Village and Marina, shows the planned transformation of the campground. Local residents have claimed the marina sits in an area critical to salmon fry descending from the river.
Vancouver Sun Graphic



It's beautiful," confirms Rhona Martin, a director of the Columbia Shuswap Regional District, casting an eye across the landscape. "The ideal is if all this could have been a provincial park."

The regional district is considering a rezoning application for the site by Kamloops-based New Future Building Group. The proposal has raised the ire of countless local residents as well as anglers and conservationists from around the province who fear the impact of the marina and development on the returning adult salmon as well as the juvenile offspring that later rear in Shuswap Lake.

"I'm not surprised," Martin said of the political storm. "There's been a lot of reaction to most development proposals on the lake in the past couple of years.

"The big concern [here] is the Adams River is so close."

The weathered-out jaw and skeleton of a salmon on the shoreline are all that remain of the millions of sockeye that can spawn in the Adams River during the peak four-year cycle, which next occurs in 2010. Lesser numbers spawn in the river annually.

The park attracts thousands of human visitors, too, to watch the natural spectacle along 11 kilometres of riverfront between Adams Lake and Shuswap Lake.

"When it was sold, I thought something was in the works, something big was coming," Little Shuswap Indian Band Chief Felix Arnouse says of the old Cottonwood Campsite acquired by developers in early 2007. "You don't sell property like that for nothing."

The 300-member band is not "totally against" the development, he insists, but is especially concerned about the impact of pollution from a busy marina on the juvenile salmon.

"A lot of people aren't looking at the big picture," he said from his office, just seven km to the west of the development. "Even a drop of oil can do damage to the environment."

Project manager Ken Ellerbeck stands at the entrance to the site and argues that opponents have blown environmental concerns way out of proportion.

He figures the $65-75-million development won't pollute the environment because it will include a modern land-based sewage-treatment system featuring zero discharge to the lake.

(New Recreations Ltd. bought the flood-prone Cottonwood Campsite property. New Future is the development entity.)

The developer argues the surrounding Lee Creek community, whose residents rely on old septic systems, would be in a position to link up with the modern water and sewer infrastructure that would accompany the development.

"What this area needs is stewardship and leadership and it has neither," Ellerbeck said.

As for the marina, he countered it will be situated 100 metres offshore beyond the key shoreline habitat frequented by juvenile salmon. And boats will be pulled from the marina for the season in mid-September, prior to the rush of returning adult sockeye in October.



The developer has asked for up to 160 slips, but expects the actual figure to be closer to 144.)

The developer further argues that boaters already heavily frequent the area, and the waters would benefit from "controlled, offshore, environmentally responsible moorage."

Others are not willing to take that chance. Frances Vyse is a Kamloops-based board member with the Nature Trust of B.C. who has worked with BC Parks over the years to preserve the Adams River. She argues the risk posed by boat traffic is simply too great. "The amount of traffic would create an impossible situation for the fry," she said, noting young salmon are moving right now from their spawning beds to the river mouth.

Mark Angelo, an Order of Canada recipient and rivers chair of the 100,000-member Outdoor Recreation Council of B.C., agrees that the marina and development "less that 400 metres from the mouth of the world-famous Adams River" pose an unacceptable risk to both the adult sockeye that gather in the area before swimming upstream and, later, the young offspring. "From an environmental perspective, there are few places as important, or more critical, than the entrance to the Adams River," Angelo said. "The river's mouth should be protected. It's not the right location for this kind of development."

A sign at the front of the property, about 70 kilometres east of Kamloops, gives the illusion the development is already a done deal. "West Beach Village," it reads. "Lakeside homes from the $300's. Lakefront, private lagoon, lakeview homes, townhouses, condominiums, just steps away from the beach and a private marina." The development's website also describes the project as a "masterplanned" waterfront community that is "coming soon."

More than 500 people turned out at a rally last weekend to oppose the development. And hundreds more are expected to pack a Monday public hearing for the proposal. The regional district has given second reading to the rezoning application.

Jim Cooperman of the Shuswap Environmental Action Society has been leading the opposition movement and argues that dozens of motorized boats using that part of the lake would literally chop up salmon fry by the thousands.

About two million sockeye salmon return to the area to spawn in peak years, the largest such run in North America. The fry rear in the lake before returning to the ocean.

The gravelly spawning grounds of the Adams and the Shuswap Lake waters have been called the world's most perfect salmon incubator.

 

[chris gadsden]

There are bigger developments proposed for the area, but this could have a huge impact on a world-renowned salmon run," said Cooperman, who spoke to several hundred students on the topic at Salmon Arm high school Thursday. "A fuel spill in that area would be devastating, but it's not just that, it's the boat traffic. The disturbance to these fish would be enormous. I spoke to a fisherman last night who said he's seen boats churn through salmon fry and just chop them up."

The public hearing is the last step before regional district directors vote on the rezoning. Directors will also consider comments from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The developer has submitted a study of the riparian (shoreline) area in support of the rezoning application.

Officials from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans met with the project's proponents as early as February 2007 to point out the area's ecological sensitivities, according to DFO habitat management biologist Bruce Runciman. The DFO has consulted with the regional district, local first nations and the property owners.


Boat traffic from the marina could affect spawning salmon in the autumn and spring out-migration of salmon fry. "Some activities on the lake are curtailed during sensitive periods, especially after Sept. 15," he said. But without a detailed plan it is difficult to tell if seasonal marina closures would be a way to accommodate both the builder and the fish.

Growth on Shuswap Lake has been explosive over the past three years. The regional district has 15 applications to develop about 1,000 housing units in the Scotch Creek/Lee Creek area, according to senior planner Scott Beeching, but none as contentious as this one. "We have had at least 300 e-mails and letters," he said. "The volume has been huge."

Environment Minister Barry Penner said he is aware of the environmental concerns about the West Beach development and has discussed with his staff the possibility of acquiring the land as a conservancy. The provincial government buys a handful of environmentally sensitive properties each year to protect unique ecosystems and threatened species.

Last year Penner's ministry bought 300 hectares of California bighorn sheep habitat on Skaha Bluffs with the federal government and corporate partners to establish a provincial park. Penner said the West Beach area passes the test of uniqueness and public interest. The area may be vital to accommodating peak spawning years as thousands of sockeye spawn on the beach at Shuswap Lake when competition for space in the river bed is intense, he said. "But we only have so much money to spend, so we have to choose carefully how to spend it," Penner said.

The decision on whether or not to allow the marina lies with the provincial ministry of agriculture and lands, which also takes advice from federal fisheries. But Cooperman is not content to let the province decide. "Once the developer gets a rezoning, he can start building and then argue that he needs the marina," he said. "We've got to stop this at the regional district."

 Whether a groundswell of public opposition can stop the West Beach development remains to be seen, but the regional district will have more powerful tools to deal with contentious developments in the near future.

Beeching says the completion of an Official Community Plan (OCP) will give the regional district the power to issue development permits and that will allow district staff to consider environmental impacts of developments and have greater control over the form of development on the foreshore.

The province suspended all decisions on private and commercial moorage applications for Shuswap and Mara Lakes last year while it completes the Shuswap Lake Integrated Planning Process (SLIPP) in partnership with the Fraser Basin Council and the regional district. The plan would divide the lake into zones from low to high sensitivity based on the potential for impacts on fish habitat.





The Adams River estuary is one of the most productive in Canada and the world and we want to make sure that is protected," said Ian McGregor, fish and wildlife section head for the B.C. environment ministry. Fourteen regulatory agencies have some authority over the Shuswap Lake area, but in the past few years development of the lakefront is largely unregulated, he said.

The district's liquid waste management plan is not complete and neither is the OCP. SLIPP was started in response to widespread degradation of salmonid habitat on Shuswap Lake resulting from accelerating development on the waterfront. All applications for moorage that were in play before Aug. 9, 2007, will continue to be processed, but no final approvals will be given until the SLIPP process is completed this summer.

Cooperman can hardly wait. "If an area is zoned as sensitive, then it will be really hard to do any foreshore development there and so builders won't even buy property in those zones," he said.

The public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the Scotch Creek firehall.

lpynn@png.canwest.com

rshore@png.canwest.com

[troutbreath]

"You're out of control with your newly acquired copy and paste skill."


But beyond that, if they got the housing development in there they would want the gravel removed for flood protection. Then a decent dyke to contain the river in a new channel. Then a waterslide a fountain with water diverted to a brew pub and steam bath. 

[chris gadsden]

"You're out of control with your newly acquired copy and paste skill."

Making up for the past, now you donot have to do it.

[Riverman]

As someone who only recently bought within sight of the outflow from Adam's lake I am very concerned!I will be adding my two cents worth around there.

[Nicole]

all emails and letters have to be in by the end of today, and all letters have to be read at the meeting tomorrow.

Email: sbeeching@csrd.bc.ca

and please cc it to:

northshuswap@yahoo.ca
Keith.Weir@gov.bc.ca (Senior Land Officer, Integrated Land Management Bureau)

***Make sure you mention that your letter is in reference to Lee Creek/Scotch Creek Zoning Amendment No. 825-10

This is important! Look at where the marina and development will sit:



Please write a letter today, it's your last chance to have input.

This developer is staffed by past employees of big Oil...

People who have made their money raping the environment should not be allowed to destroy our heritage...

Cheers,
Nicole

[troutbreath]

E-mail sent and cc,d. I even sent it twice cause I forgot to add the referance to  Lee Creek/Scotch Creek Zoning Amendment No. 825-10


Chris I 've got faith you can do the picture post thing too.

[chris gadsden]

E-mail sent and cc,d. I even sent it twice cause I forgot to add the referance to  Lee Creek/Scotch Creek Zoning Amendment No. 825-10


Chris I 've got faith you can do the picture post thing too.

Good job on sending in your letter too.

[Nicole]

Well the news recently came in, the developer has withdrawn the application!!!

We won! Thanks to all who wrote letters, apparently 500 people showed up for the meeting...

Way to go everyone!
Nicole

[troutbreath]

Developer backs off on marina
Shuswap Lake marina proposal cut from resort plan after fears Adams River sockeye could be endangered
 
Randy Shore
Vancouver Sun


Wednesday, April 23, 2008


The developer of a controversial resort community on Shuswap Lake withdrew the marina component of the plan just as a packed public hearing into the project was about to begin on Monday.

After weeks of rallies, a letter-writing campaign and media coverage about the possible negative impact that motorized boat traffic could have on the Adams River sockeye spawning grounds adjacent to the 21-acre site, New Future Building Group downsized the West Beach project, dropping a plan to build a 160-slip marina from the rezoning application and lowering the height of the proposed condominium building.

The hearing, which drew hundreds of people, continued on the remaining 218 condominiums and 10,000 square feet of commercial space. The 100-seat hall at Scotch Creek was full and an overflow crowd milled around outside under a tent, warmed by two propane heaters.

"It was huge," said Jim Cooperman, who has been fighting the development for months. "It couldn't have gone any better."

Cooperman questioned the legitimacy of continuing the hearing after the form of the development was so dramatically altered.

"All of us had come there prepared to debate the merits of the marina," he said. "Suddenly we learn that the marina is gone.

"We weren't prepared and I think it raises the question of whether the hearing is legal and legitimate."

The Columbia Shuswap regional district will likely consider approving the rezoning at its May 15 meeting, manager of development services Jay Simons said.

The board has three options: approve the original bylaw with the condominium tower and marina, reject the rezoning outright, or alter the bylaw to reflect the developer's amendments.

Even if the rezoning is allowed as originally proposed, the provincial government would still have to approve the marina component before it can be built.

Opponents of West Beach had hoped to slow progress of the project until two major planning documents are completed. The regional district is nearing completion of an official community plan, which would guide the form and scale of development in the region. The district is also collaborating with the provincial government to complete the Shuswap Lake Integrated Planning Process, which would guide development on Shuswap and Mara Lakes with more stringent environmental guidelines.

With the marina all but dead, but the condo community very much alive, Cooperman is changing his focus to pressuring the provincial government to purchase the former campground to be held as a protected ecological conservancy.
The property is next to Roderick Haig-Brown Park, which is home to North America's biggest sockeye salmon spawning grounds, drawing millions of fish in peak years.

Environment Minister Barry Penner has asked his staff to consider buying the property through a program that identifies and acquires ecologically sensitive areas and converts some of them to provincial parks.

The developer, New Future Building Group, could not be reached for comment.

rshore@png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

[chris gadsden]

A letter to the Editor of the Vancouver Sun

Destroying salmon rivers will lead to disaster
Letter
Published: Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Re: Development comes to a legendary river, Weekend Review, April 19

Is it sheer madness? Saving the Adams River is on the agenda for a few souls who have the courage to speak out. Where are the voices along the mighty Fraser River, though? It should not just be a fight for a few, but for the many.

Why are we as a society so lame- brained that we allow one of most precious rivers in all of Canada to lose its ability to produce wild salmon? We have countless examples of rivers and farmland raped by developers who, when they've finished, will no doubt be living in someplace warm and cozy far away from the disasters they have created. It makes me cry for real leaders, ones with a conscience, ones with a common-sense vision of 20 or more years from now.

The answer to the question I asked at the beginning of my letter is Yes.

Arcadia Robinson

Coquitlam