Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: April 24, 2010 12:00 PM
A public agency is being accused of interfering in a heated logging dispute. Wayne Lippert, a North Okanagan Regional District director, questions why the Okanagan Basin Water Board wrote a letter to the provincial government on logging in the Browns Creek watershed. “I don’t think that it’s the mandate of OBWB to get involved in a matter like that,” said Lippert referring to the conflict between the Okanagan Indian Band and Tolko Industries over logging. “The dispute between the band and Tolko is a legal dispute and a provincial matter.” Rick Fairbairn, OBWB vice-chairman, says the board decided to write a letter to John Slater, parliamentary secretary for water supply, after receiving a request from the Okanagan Indian Band to do so. “The board’s mandate is to promote water quality and access to water and that was the intent of the letter,” said Fairbairn. “I felt that with a very generic letter, a response could go out. We had to keep in mind the neutrality of OBWB.”
Buffy Baumbrough, an OBWB director, denies the agency is taking sides in the dispute on the west side of Okanagan Lake. “Our mandate is protection of water quality and quantity and we wanted to speak to that,” she said. “We didn’t respond to political issues and we made that very clear. We are simply reminding the government that activities in watersheds should not impact water quality.” The motion adopted by OBWB members March 2 states, “That the Okanagan Basin Water Board send a letter requesting the province to carefully evaluate the concerns of the OKIB in the Browns Creek with respect to logging and other activity in their community watershed, and ensure that the band’s community water supply is protected.” Lippert believes Tolko has followed best practices when it comes to harvesting, and has followed provincial regulations. “It’s an important business and it provides jobs for all of our communities,” he said, adding that the Okanagan Basin Water Board shouldn’t have got involved. “It wasn’t the right place to be stepping into. It was unwise.”
4 comments:
Could someone please enlighten the masses as to one constructive idea or thing the OKWB has ever accomplished besides enriching the pocket books of the Directors?
I'm getting real tired of Wayne's wonky attitude on just about every local issue that comes up, this is yet just another example. Water is a very serious issue in this valley, and I see no reason why Wayne should question the fact that OKIB sent a letter in this regard. It is, after all, their mandate.
If it is their mandate, why have they never come up with a viable solution for the water problems in the Okanagan?
If you look into it a bit, they have identified several solutions, one of which is raising up the reservoir dams to store more water during average years when it spills over for the drought years like this one. Check this link out, I have posted a bit of info on the Aberdeen dam that our polititions still seem to be dragging their feet on. It has been identified as the #1 way to store more water......what is holding it up? http://forums.castanet.net/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=24764
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