Open letter to Steve Thomson, Minister of Natural Resource Operations:
As you can see from the enclosed article (Nelson Star, February 9) we had a very successful Keep Jumbo Wild rally with over 200 keeners showing up.
The rest of the Jumbo Wild supporters couldn’t resist hitting the slopes in perfect sunshine and powder. I was happy to see a number of young adults to whom some of us “olders” will gladly hand the torch.
There was never a break in the crowd at our table where we (the West Kootenay Coalition for Jumbo Wild) had maps and background information. Other groups from the West Kootenay that had tables were the Valhalla Wilderness Society and the West Kootenay EcoSociety. And from the East Kootenay came the Jumbo Creek Conservation Society with Wildsight personnel sending regrets. Please make no mistake that any of these groups are NDP supporters — no, each group is adamantly non-partisan. But, of course, we support anyone’s attempt to help keep Jumbo wild!
And now we have Mother Nature helping in the form of devastating avalanches that have buried the site of the proposed resort village and real estate development on both sides of the valley.
Please do not be misled when the proponent says they will take care of the avalanche safety problem by bombing them before they descend. I live less than a kilometer away from six avalanche chutes that highways bombs to keep the traffic safe.
The first thing that happens is the area between the gates are cleared of vehicles and the gates are closed.
Then the bombs are dropped which cause all the snow, ice and forest debris to come crashing down their paths to end in exactly the same places they would end if they had not been bombed.
Lastly the dozers and trucks work for many hours clearing two lanes for traffic through the lower portions of the avalanches.
Thank you for saying yes Jumbo wild, no Jumbo Resort.
Rowena Eloise, Argenta