[LookOutSugarLake] NEWS and Conference

[handr at telus.net]

Greetings all,

I hope you've enjoyed summer and that this finds you well. We've had  
successes we can all be proud of but as they say: "the price of  
freedom is eternal vigilance".

As you know, last June, SLAMSS joined other groups concerned with  
water, to form an alliance to protect all the waterways in the  
Shuswap drainage. The big issue at the time was "foreshore  
development" because cement platforms were being built on Shuswap  
lake, right on the water, to support developments!!!  The Shuswap  
Watershed Alliance includes Shuswap, Sugar, Mara and Mabel lakes and  
all the rivers in the watershed.

The alliance includes Shuswap Water Action Team, SEAS, Shuswap Lake  
Coalition, South Shuswap Property Owners Association, Bind Bay Area  
Association, Shuswap Naturalists, Council of Canadians, Friends of  
Mara Lake, Shuswap River Keepers and Sugar Lake and Middle Shuswap  
Stewards (SLAMSS)
This adds up to about 1,000 people - allowing us to carry political  
clout when we ask for action.

Talking of ACTION, Our own regional district has received a sizable  
grant to do "integrated growth planning". It seems to me to be  
putting the cart before the horse to plan for growth when we haven't  
yet assessed what needs to be protected and what are the physical  
limits to this growth. I think we must start by assessing the  
carrying capacity of our region, determining the physical limits to  
growth, before we plan to grow.

On Sept 22 and 23, there will be a conference at the Kingfisher  
Interpretive Centre (25 km east of Enderby on the banks of the  
Shuswap River) - The objective of the conference is to "Foster  
Healthy Watersheds".  The Shuswap River Keepers are co-ordinating/ 
organizing it in conjunction with all the groups from the Alliance. I  
have agreed to speak shortly on SLAMSS (who we are, what we've done,  
what are the problems we still face...) and to prepare a half hour  
talk on "stewardship". The talks will happen on the Saturday. Of  
course you are all invited for the whole conference and I'll send you  
the agenda as soon as I get it.

I would like to bring out the issue of assessing carrying capacity  
during the talk on Stewardship. I need your inputs. Do you agree that  
we need to do this? Seems to me we need to look at water as an  
element vital to life throughout the watershed (for plants and  
animals) and not as a resource, we need to look at the health of our  
waterways to assess how much development, boats, etc... they can  
take, we need to look at air quality and how development affects it,  
we need to assess how much land needs to remain available for farming  
so that we really have food safety (epidemics may make food import  
difficult or even impossible at some later time - a source of local  
food is a must) and so on. There are towns that did this, such as  
Okotoks, Alberta, so we wouldn't need to reinvent the wheels.

Please let me know:

1. Do you agree we should ask for assessing the carrying capacity of  
our region before money is spent on growth planning?
2. Are there specific issues you'd like to see addressed in this  
assessment?
3. Would you agree to come to a short meeting at the Blue Ox - Wed  
Sept 12th at 7 pm, so we can discuss the major issues SLAMSS is still  
facing and how we want them addressed?

Please let me know and also let me know if there is anything else you  
feel we need to address,

Huguette.





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