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PRWUA Newsletter December 1999
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE:
A Year In Review
It has been a difficult, extremely busy year, yet a very productive year. We have had a successful membership drive and have the backing of the majority of Perry Ridge Water Users. Thank you to those of you who have renewed your memberships and to new members who joined recently. Thank you also to the members who worked on the membership drive. I would like to personally thank the Board of Directors for their time spent in meetings and the hours of discussion related to decisions made by the board. If you have any questions or comments, or if you have any information that the directors should be aware of please call me.Membership Grows
The response of Perry Ridge neighbourhood support to our membership drive and the renewal of our memberships have been overwhelmingly positive. Directors canvassing door to door offered to answer any questions, and encouraged members to read the coming newsletter and attend the A.G.M.
Many persons asked for an update on the court proceedings. Quite a few residents gave voice to their fears regarding the possible loss of their homes and properties from the proposed watershed logging, or expressed concern for their creeks and water quality. Many residents expressed appreciation for the efforts of P.R.W.U.A. and verbalized their good will; several individuals specifically named Marilyn in expressing thanks for her dedicated service in the midst of difficult situations.
Approximately twenty five percent of renewing members needed assurance of the confidential nature of our membership list and any extra donations they gave, expressing concerns for potential loss of their jobs or fear of negative social or political consequences.
The directors appreciate this confirmation from our members that we do indeed represent the majority of residents and water users that live beneath Perry Ridge.
Pamela Stevenson
PRESIDENT'S REPORT:
Inherent Instability of Perry Ridge Highlighted
In early November I attended a conference of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists in Victoria. Along with representatives from the Perry Ridge defendants and the Valhalla Wilderness Society, we presented our concerns about the methodology of the Perry Ridge Risk Assessment. Numerous members of the professional association told us that our criticisms raised valid and serious issues for the professional community.Perry Ridge Water Users Association and the Valhalla Wilderness Society are both working together to bring further province-wide attention to the flaws in the government's risk assessment. The Association continues, as funds allow, to hire independent experts to assess terrain stability and hydrology for Perry Ridge. The Perry Ridge Water Users Association has commissioned Allen Isaacson to put together a report on the misuse of the ECA model (Equivalent Clearcut Area) being used at the LRUP table as a method of reducing risk. Mr. Isaacson developed this model and states that his method does not work to reduce risk and should not be used for Perry Ridge. It is no longer used in the United States.
The more scientific work the Association has commissioned for Perry Ridge, the more the science points out the complex hydrological drainage patterns, the unstable slopes, the underground water flows and the easily saturated soils. These reports recommend subsurface ground water studies. It has been estimated that up to 70% of the total water on Perry Ridge is underground. It is not only the surface drainage but also the underground water drainage that could cause landslides and damage water, travel routes and homes. Road building that cuts into underground water and brings it to the surface is another potential for landslides.
Meanwhile the Ministry of Forests Planning table (LRUP) continues to plan access and logging based on preliminary reports. When these reports are sent to the LRUP table they simply ignore our key concern that the conclusions of the Perry Ridge Risk Assessment Report does not adequately take the welfare and the safety of the public into account. If anyone would like copies of the independent scientific reports done to date, they are available upon request.
Marilyn Burgoon
DECISION PENDING:
Court Update
The defense for the Perry Ridge defendants was put before Justice McEwan in a three day hearing beginning September 17. Kenyon McGee, representing the defendants in the government's trespass action and motion for a Permanent Injunction, put three volumes of evidence before the judge in support of the proposition that the government did not own the road way at the time it so asserted. Further, that the government's case should be dismissed because its original writ was so lacking in necessary language as to become a nullity. The government rigorously defended itself as to these aspects.
Justice McEwan is now mulling over the evidence and is expected to render his judgement soon. Depending on his decision, the next step will either go on to the trespass action hearing or the further dimensionalization of the road-ownership question.
The Perry Ridge Water Users Association support the defendants' stand that there needs to be an independent, broad based, scientific panel put together to assess Perry Ridge based on the most comprehensive studies.
Although it is necessary to have the best scientific work done on Perry Ridge, the Association realizes that our membership has a personal relationship to the water and the land surrounding our homes. If you have observed any water related problems in and around your homes, please notify us as Perry Ridge Water Users Association is compiling a list of water related problems. Once again the Association appreciates the support we have received as your representative group for water.
Perry Ridge Legal Committee
Koch Face Slide
On 17th June 1999 a debris torrent scoured down the mountain slopes of Koch Face depositing tons of sediment into Koch Creek. It scoured out a small creek channel, destroyed hundreds of trees, damaged SFP's logging road in two places and washed out the Koch Creek Forest Service Road in the valley bottom. Koch Creek is a popular fishing stream and a major tributary of the Little Slocan River. Koch Face is an area in Slocan Forest Products' Tree Farm License #3 that has been heavily clearcut during the 1990s.
This debris torrent started below a small clear-cut located at the top of a 1,700 m high ridge between Koch Creek and the Little Slocan Lakes. This clear-cut, logged in 1994, is on a moderate to flat slope above steep valley walls. The terrain is very similar to what the Ministry of Forests is proposing for logging on Perry Ridge. The mismanagement of water on these gentle slopes on the ridge top resulted in the destructive debris torrent into Koch Creek.
The logging road intercepted water from the clear-cut along a 300 m length without any culverts, water bars or cross ditches. Not only was this water concentrated in a single culvert but also a stream was diverted from its natural channel because of improper culverting and directed to the same culvert. As a result the water delivered to the slide slope was far beyond what would naturally have been there.
Forest Watch Regional Coordinator, Craig Pettitt says
"These facts suggest that failure of this road design to dissipate the surface runoff and a lack of a culvert to maintain the natural drainage of the ephemeral stream were the major contributors to this debris torrent."
Ministry of Forests geomorphologist and Perry Ridge Risk Assesment author Peter Jordan said
"The primary cause of the slide is clearly the poorly placed culvert, and failure to install cross-ditches after logging"