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LETTER: Why is there logging near Ymir’s drinking water?

Instability will create drainage problems, says Salmo resident
11292442_web1_copy_180403-KWS-M-watershed

(Open letter to Ken Scown, B.C. Timber Sales )

I visited the Quartz Creek Reservoir during the summer of 2017 to find the water level dangerously low. A 10-to-20 per cent drop in water flow from the Quartz Creek drainage could halt the flow to the Ymir water treatment plant. Higher spring water flows could cause sediment in the water supply, which could overload the treatment plant. Clear-cut logging will also cause lower summer water flows, which would add further strain to the flows into the treatment plant.

Clear-cut logging in the steep upper slopes (any slope over 37 degrees) will likely cause major landslides. Upper instability in the bowl above the Quartz Creek drainage will create major problems for the reservoir.

Selective logging in the mid-slopes could, if done with care, produce timber without compromising the village water system. Small machinery could be used to move fallen timber to limit damage to the soil mantle. Using these logging practices could leave the water system with minimal adverse effects.

Constructing a road, either from Boulder Creek or Stewart Creek, and bringing in high-lead cable yarding equipment is an unacceptable proposal. This would likely lead to clear-cut logging high in the bowl above the Quartz Creek drainage in very steep terrain which, as mentioned, would likely cause problems at the water treatment plant.

Proposed clear-cut logging will cause sedimentation in the spring, potential drought in the summer and could destroy the Ymir water supply.

Why with all the forest in the Salmo valley would you log near Ymir’s drinking water? The local mills wrote that they have to log watersheds in order to survive. Do they really mean that they have to destroy communities for the sake of a little bit of fiber?

Jim Dorey

Salmo