Squamish Streamkeepers Update-The herring are in.
An interesting article from Jack Cooley (Squamish Streamkeepers)

 

This organization has done so much over the last few years to aid in the return of herring to our area....Well done guys and gals!

            

On Friday, February 2nd,  the Streamkeepers went to the Squamish Terminals East Dock to put in two float lines for herring to spawn upon. Their timing couldn’t have been better as the myriad of seagulls wheeling off the south end of the Terminals showed that the herring had already spawned on the intertidal bladderwrack there. With the lowering of the afternoon tide, the seagulls were getting to feast on the exposed herring caviar. No doubt a welcome treat in mid winter.

            The 200 pilings that had been wrapped with safe spawning materials since 2006 had also received a light early spawn which should increase dramatically through February and March and even into early April.

The last few years the Streamkeepers had put out one 350 foot floatline, but this year the float lines were more than doubled that to 850 feet. There are several advantages to float lines over wrapped pilings. First, since the herring can spawn on both sides of a floatline, the spawning surface area is doubled. Second, Since the float line goes up and down with the tide, the eggs lain on the float lines are never exposed to surface elements such as frost, sun, wind and floating surface contaminants. Last year many of the wrapped intertidal piling eggs died while the subtidal float line eggs and the nearby intertidal bladderwrack eggs survived, indicating there had been an unidentified surface contaminate under the dock last year. Therefore the decision was made that this year the expansion of herring spawning aids would be limited to sub surface materials, that is expansion of the float lines until it is certain that there is no surface contaminants under the dock that could kill intertidal eggs.

As always, a big crew makes for lighter work, and this year we had the biggest crew so far. Cal Hartnell, Jen Smalley, Brad Ray, Ana Santos, Patrick MacNamara, Lyle Wood, John Rodgers (Alaskan visitor), Mike Pawluk, Eric Andersen, Jonn Matsen, and Jack Cooley. The next step will involve routine monitoring of the herring spawn and it’s hatch out quantity and quality, followed by pulling and hosing down the float lines in mid April.       

            Many thanks to Squamish Terminals for their ongoing support in bringing back the herring to Howe Sound.

 

 

 

 

   Cleveland/Hwy.99....Entrance to Squamish Downtown......Roundabout?  (Jan 2013)

Recently, I sent this to the District of Squamish:

 "This is an unusual enquiry regarding your possible input to the Dept. of Highways about the future design of this intersection. Traffic flow is always an issue with regard to Highway design. Here we have an intersection which is potentially very dangerous and which deals with a lot of traffic most of the time. There, recently, has been much discussion about the ease of access to Downtown.

In Europe and other parts of the world Roundabouts have been employed to solve many of these traffic flow problems albeit not so much here. I believe that this concept should be explored more.

We now have three roundabouts in our District which, I realise, are not under the control of the Highways Dept. These, I think, are succesful (even though the GH ones are a bit too tight). A roundabout at the entrance to town would facilitate both general traffic flow and make an easier 1st exit priority entrance to toward Downtown.

 In short, I believe that Council should discuss the possibility of contacting the Dept. of Highways regarding this after some discussion of the feasibility of this concept. And don't be squeamish Guys...They really do work!!...I am really tired of waiting and waiting to make a turn. Such can lead to impatience and dangerous subsequent eratic reponse. This same thing applies at the Park Royal intersection...Really really bad. Eccentric?...Well we have to start somewhere."

I have had further discussions with the District Engineering Dept. and they are investigating this suggestion. The BC Dept. of Highways has, in the past, been reluctant to pursue this idea but there are actually a few in use on our main highways so the possibilty is still alive for further discussion.
For a model there is one near Whiterock and there is a good one on 16th. Ave UBC...though this is not actually on a main highway (abeit very busy). Do a "Google Earth" and you will find them. Please comment on this and do your own action/enquiries if you see fit.

Dec 2018: What I would like to know is who makes these decisions. I have repeatedly contacted Council regarding The Cleveland/ Highway 99 intersection and the need for consideration of a ‘roundabout’ solution there.

All they keep saying is they agree, and that they have tried, but the Ministry says a definite NO!

Frankly, I don’t think they are trying hard enough. They should nail down the reasoning and continue to lobby. Maybe this NEW Council can try again. We need something done there but I am tired of banging my head against a brick wall! Roundabouts save lives!...All over the world. Traffic is slowed but the flow is not restricted. The worst that can happen are the occasional fender-benders not fatalities…look at the world stats on this. Look at Europe and even in the States. Sometimes this Country is  frustratingly conservative in matters like this!

      Squamish....A perception   (Dave Colwell  Jan.2013)

 

If there is a problem with the layout of our District, it lies with its History and the related Geography;  not primarily with its modern-day planners and developers.

We all live in a valley which was carved out by glacial action more than 8000 years ago. For a long time it has been  home to Salish First Nation People who continue to live along the river from Cheekye to  Howe Sound . They were never concentrated in one single place in the valley but rather in settlements separated according to their needs and available resources along the river.

 

Then We came. The mouth of the estuary was a little further up the valley in the late 19th. century. The land was beginning to be farmed and the logging industry was evolving as the early settlers cut trees  to build their essential structures and later sell the wood to the outside. Brackendale became a bit of an agricultural  hub and the estuary naturally  became a port to enable travel to Vancouver and for shipping wood. There was no really good road south in the very early years. Soon the railway came as the settlements grew and this began to segment the valley, fanning  out close to the estuary.

 

The rough social demography of what we have now slowly emerged. Brackendale remained and expanded slowly as did the community around the port and arable lands just back from the ever advancing estuary. 

 

These two communities, separated by the transversely  flowing  Mamquam river form the nuclei of what we have today and unfortunately what some now call a "sprawl". When you have two communities close together there will always be growth between as there will be a road (or in our case also a railway). And it's always easier to build in already cleared areas... namely alongside these communication corridors. This process has inevitably happened here and speeded up recently. Some say this is a bad thing but can we turn it back and change it?

 

The legacy that this history and geography has left us is a "Downtown" cut and sliced by river, sloughs and railway  lines. The railway owns the land through which it passes, posing restrictions on would-be developers also the river and sloughs inexorably try to change their courses. Road builders like easy,  purposeful routes to connect A to B to C etc. so the end result might not always mesh perfectly with existing communities along the way. Meanwhile the population grows with all the needs for service. The more the population grows, the more arguments  ensue regarding the right direction to take.

 

In short, "(Squamish) ,we have a problem"....at least in the perception held by many. Some want heavy industry, some light. Some don't like amenities near the highway; some don't care. Some want a cultural centre in one place...in our case , the old "Downtown". But we all need services for our family needs; and for our expanding population these must have space. The question is: Is there now enough space downtown?...I think not.  Whatever stores are placed there will never provide for all the needs of our present valley population. Always remember that this older town site is vulnerable to flooding and this is one of the reasons for so many later sub-divisions  being built on higher ground such as Hospital Hill and Garibaldi Highlands. I will have my boat launch ready when the sea levels rise!

 

Anyway, I am happy with situation as it is and often look sideways to the snow capped mountains to realise how lucky I am. I rarely HAVE TO drive to Vancouver to shop and Squamish is a great compromise between Rural and Big City life. ...Good discussions too!

Strip-Malls, Bed-Room Communities ...such  evils!      Squamish BC  Jan.24th.2013

So much is written about the evils of "Strip-Malls" and "Bed-Room Communities". Actually I find the continued objection to both rather tiresome.

By definition, I understand a strip-mall to be a linear group of businesses running parallel and immediately close to a highway. Well people need to shop and may have to drive to get to their shops. The land adjacent to many highways  is often not really suitable to other uses. In Squamish we have a strip mall which is under a string of power lines. I would not like to live there but I don't mind shopping there. Most Strip-malls are well landscaped, as the above one is. They are very convenient to the people who live near-by...so what's the problem?

And "Bed-Room Communities"....Places where lots of people live but don't work.   So people have to travel away from their communities to their place of employment... Big deal!  They can still contribute to their community and the community can still foster business and industry. In the past years when Squamish had heavier industry there were still people who drove to Vancouver or Whistler to work.

So let it be and stop complaining. We are only an hour from Vancouver so what do you expect? Maybe some of these "Bedroom  C."  guys will come up with an idea for a business which will start to employ people in our town...it has happened.

All this being said, I am sure the "Green" view on this will arise. Greenhouse gases from all those commuting cars...yea, yea.... but the world is not stopping oil, coal and gas exploration, or it's exploitation. Likely  this will not happen until the supplies are used up. So in the meantime,  car-pool and support electric car research. There are buses too but they need to be filled. Also, the more strip malls we have, the less I will need to go to Vancouver to shop...I am retired!

 

 

Fishy Politics about Fish

Recently there has been considerable debate about the role of open net fish farms being possibly responsible for the propagation of disease in our wild salmon stocks. There has been a lengthily legal wrangle under the umbrella of the "Cohen Commission" which has pitted reputable scientists against The Fish farming industry and Government organisations including the Department of fisheries and Oceans.
It seems that discovery of Infectious Salmon Anemia virus (ISAv) in BC wild or farmed salmon is feared to be a potential economic disaster that could even end trade in fish products. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) didn't want to find ISAv, and the evidence suggests it took active measures to confiscate fish samples that may have indicated ISAv was here.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) - which supported the salmon farming industry - didn't want to find ISAv either, and took active measures to hide findings and suppress research that may have exposed it. And the salmon farming industry certainly didn't want to discover ISAv in its brood stock or net-pens - such a discovery would have had devastating environmental, market and public relations ramifications.
Don't blindly expect honesty in Politics. And more specifically don't always expect integrity from Politicians. Many are in it for the short term and often follow a short-term vision. Oh, and yes, part of this vision includes an expectation of a fat pension at the end of those few years. I see our Federal Government now wants to tinker with OUR pensions anyway.
Is this cynical?...Maybe!..Or just a little reflection of reality.

And now a 2013 Update:

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has decided that ISA virus contaminated feedlot salmon can be grown-out in the ocean and sold to Canadians.  The U.S. has reportedly rejected the product.  This has become an national incident, Canada is stepping away from international protocol for this reportable influenza virus.  One of the producers of these fish is apparently in a serious financial situation and perhaps the CFIA is simply unable to continue paying up to $30/fish in compensation for culling ISA infected fish.  Instead the fish are going to be disposed of down the throats of Canadians, who will support this practice by paying for the product.

What's in a Word

What's in (a word)?
Some scientists now claim to have created mini-universes or something very similar to them.To do this they have been working with super-cooled helium, 0.0003 degrees above absolute zero (-273 degrees celsius). This state of helium is, apparently, close to what it was at the beginning of our Universe...Very strange things happen at this point regarding space and time. They have not yet reached the all important threshhold of the creation of a new "Big-Bang". But.....!

Naturally some are concerned about this direction of scientific research. This has recently been highlighted regarding the super particle accelerator in Europe. There is a fear of the possibility of the creation of all-consuming black holes and the like.

Stephen Hawking has made a recent statement implying that God need not figure in the creation of universes if Man can do it alone.This poses a bit of a dilemma: Did God create and now control the Universe or is the latter God anyway?

The irony here is that "God" as a word or concept was created by Man. Does it really matter whether we use "God" or "Universe" separately or as synonyms? One wonders why Hawking has got involved with such semantics.

Most of the organized religions in the world will condemn the present direction quantum physics is taking because they do seem to separate the concept of "God" from "Universe".

Man is often accused of "Playing God". Hmmmm...If The "Universe" is "God" then Man is, in part, God; so surely Man has every right to play his part!
Until all this is resolved, which is unlikely, we are in real danger of destroying ourselves as a species by judging, arguing and fighting over this issue.

Recycle, Bury or Burn

These three words are very much part of our present social consciousness.
It's not quite as easy to decide what route to take with what material.
Much has been written about "Carbon Sinks", i.e. what lock up our carbon waste so that it does not become part of the dreaded "Greenhouse Gases" threatening to cause premature harmful climate change. Charring and burying organics has been suggested. Piping waste CO2 from industrial combustion to the depths of our ocean floors is another, or growing as much photosynthetic greenery as possible. There are so many suggestions. One of the most efficient of natural processes is exhibited by marine micro-organisms which grow calcium carbonate skeletons. When they die their skeletons rain down to the ocean floor and eventually get compressed into chalk or limestone rock...a pretty good lock-up! Coral reef formation also does this. Alas most "Carbon Sinks" are temporary and the CO2 finally escapes.
This being said, humans carry on digging up fossil fuels then burn or denature them in various ways to add to the GG inventory in our atmosphere. We chop down vast forests, burn them or make things with the wood which, too, eventually rots or is burnt later...all adding more GG's.
We sometimes forget about the copious amounts of chemicals which are derived from fossil fuels that we use everyday and have to get rid of eventually. Some is burnt very soon but much ends up in landfills. We pat ourselves on the back for recycling a lot of it but it still invariably ends up with the same fate.
Most environmentalists are very squeamish about landfills. They point to the unnecessary waste of useful materials and the negative aesthetics of "dumps". But there is an irony here. Burying material containing potential greenhouse gases is probably one of the most effective methods of locking up the stuff for a long time. This is especially true of non, or near non-biodegradable matter. Some of this, like various plastics, should be buried after they have been through a few recycling journeys as long as they will not leach toxins They may be dug up in the future by zealous archeologists but they may stay underground for a very, very long time. This even begs the question as to whether we should be considering the use of biodegradable plastics since they will contribute to GG's as they break down later.
As far as I am concerned, we ought to recycle what we can and strive to get away from the reliance on fossil fuels, Fossil fuels should remain the fossils they have been for millions of years and remain carbon sinks for more millions of years.
We should bury as much as we cannot recycle of non- biodegradable, non toxic-leaching materials, and only ever burn what is absolutely necessary. All cosmetic fires should even be banned in houses, camps and in gardens wherever possible. Don't like this?.... then never consider yourself as a true environmentalist.
But, please, let this not give you sleepless nights!