Shuswap Passion

Environmental and Economic Ideas to transform British Columbia

A speech to the NDP Regional Conference, May 12, 2012

I appreciate this opportunity to provide these thoughts about the future of our province in respect to environmental and economic sustainability, It is refreshing that you have thrown caution to the wind by inviting me to speak as we are now living in a McCarthy-like era where environmentalists like myself have been branded radicals and enemies of the Canada by the Harper regime.

Read the entire speech by downloading the pdf here:

May 12th speech on environment and the economy

Wild salmon crusader visits the Shuswap

Wild salmon are clearly the Shuswap’s most iconic species, as not only did these fish help sustain the Secwepemc peoples for countless generations but also salmon connect our region to the coast as well as to a sizeable portion of the rest of the province. Although habitat destruction has contributed to significant declines in some of parts of our watershed, both the Adams and Shuswap Rivers along with other streams continue to often have bountiful returns of both sockeye and Coho salmon.

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Looking after our Shuswap watershed

Shuswap residents can take pride in knowing that the protection of their watershed is continuing to improve thanks to the work of the Shuswap Lakes Integrated Planning Process (SLIPP). At the April 12th all-committee meeting, government and public representatives were provided with updates on all the projects underway.

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A Blind Bay pioneer story

It is always a joy to discover articles or books about Shuswap history. Thus, when the copy of “In those Days – The Reedman Family Story” arrived in the mail, the thin book was read quickly with interest. John Reedman, who was often called the “mayor” of Blind Bay, was one of the first to homestead there.

One of the most fascinating portions of this book, written by Isabelle Reedman who was married to Ken, one of the family patriarch’s many grandsons, is the description of why the Reedman’s decided to emigrate and how they ended up in the Shuswap. Her research included interviews with family elders and was aided by the diaries and journals of John’s son Archie who passed away in 1958.  Stories like these, of how the pioneers arrived in the Shuswap, provide us with insight about the motives of the original settlers and help us understand how our communities formed.

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My letter to the editors:

The 2012 federal budget is a travesty, as it will boost the profits for the one percent and the big resource industries, while it is a disaster for the rest of us. It is an attack on the environment despite the fact that in the long term a healthy economy depends on a healthy environment.

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What makes the Shuswap unique?

One of the enjoyable parts of spending time at a backcountry lodge is chatting with the other skiers from around the country and the world. Last week, a businessman from Vancouver asked me about Salmon Arm, because some of his friends are thinking of retiring here soon. I asked him what are the reasons his friends have for planning to move here. There was of course the obvious; our huge clean, warm lake and the other two are the great music scene and the bike trails. Contrary to what some locals believe, shopping opportunities are clearly not part of their decision-making!

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I found a fun way to fill the time during the hours it takes to climb the backcountry mountain uptracks prior to skiing back down in the thick, soft powder snow. It is a challenging mental exercise to choose the words and then remember them until back at the lodge where I keyboard them into the laptop. Enjoy!

Nonsensical Procreations

It was the image of someone contemplating tomorrow’s dreams filled with yesterday’s desires that caught the imagination of no one in particular, but everyone who matters. Continue reading →

Neglect -  The latest crisis in B.C.’s forests
Forthcoming in the March-April 2012 Watershed Sentinel (http://www.watershedsentinel.ca/ )

In 1985, the rapidly growing amount of not-satisfactorily-restocked (NSR) land in B.C. forests became a crisis. This resulted in a joint provincial and federal $300-million funding plan, the Forest Resource Development Agreement (FRDA) that restocked many thousands of hectares.
A similar crisis is again occurring in B.C.’s forests, but this time the cause is not logging by irresponsible forest companies. Instead, the massive amount of NSR land is a result of climate-change fueled fires, diseases and beetle kill. Government policies that have stripped the ministry of employees, ended adequate inventory efforts, and handed forest management over to the corporations have exacerbated the problems.
To read the rest – go to The Latest Crisis in B.C.’s Forests

What is behind the census numbers?

February 24, 2012

Even though we all live on a finite planet with finite resources, our economy is fuelled by growth that is ultimately based on population. The latest Canadian census numbers have been released and while British Columbia grew from 2006 to 2011 by 7 percent, the Shuswap region experienced a substantial decline. Except for Salmon Arm, which grew by 9 percent, most of the smaller and rural communities lost people. Just what are the factors behind these numbers and what are the consequences? Continue reading →

February 10, 2012

It was curiosity about the original settler on our property and the person our community, Lee Creek, was named after that sparked my interest in local history.  After interviewing most of the remaining sons and daughters of the original pioneers, my research expanded with a visit to the provincial archives in Victoria. One of the best sources of information there are the original pre-emption records for nearly every original settler in the province.

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