Cowichan Update

[IronNoggin]

Update from One Cowichan:

A temporary ‘pulse’ of water is currently being released into the Cowichan in an attempt to coax the salmon that have gathered in the estuary up the river and away from the seals. Some salmon have already been caught and trucked up river – there is video showing this on our Facebook page (http://www.onecowichan.ca/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FOneCowichan&utm_campaign=update_oct_9&n=1&e=87729c51d8bd8aadacf69c3bea8883a82c27a1e3&utm_source=onecowichan&utm_medium=email): http://www.facebook.com/OneCowichan

Fishing in the river has also been closed. Patti Delisle from Cowichan Tribes describes what this sacrifice means for her community in a moving video also on our Facebook page (http://www.onecowichan.ca/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FOneCowichan&utm_campaign=update_oct_9&n=2&e=87729c51d8bd8aadacf69c3bea8883a82c27a1e3&utm_source=onecowichan&utm_medium=email). Please watch and share.
Meanwhile, you have been joined by hundreds of others in asking for local control over our water so that this situation can be avoided in the future. There are now over 600 signatures! Supporters like Tina Winterlik are also putting great stuff (http://www.onecowichan.ca/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Ftinawinterlik.blogspot.ca%2F&utm_campaign=update_oct_9&n=3&e=87729c51d8bd8aadacf69c3bea8883a82c27a1e3&utm_source=onecowichan&utm_medium=email) online: http://tinawinterlik.blogspot.ca/

The BC Minister in charge – Hon. Steve Thomson – continues to duck responsibility despite the fact his Ministry was asked by local officials months ago to store more water and refused to do so. He seems open to more local control in the future, though, so we need to keep the pressure on him and others to follow through.
Thanks again for your support, and please keep sharing the petition and Like us on Facebook (we’re really nice!). We’re working on a community event that we will tell you more about soon.
Best wishes,
Matt Price

The Petition again: http://www.onecowichan.ca/?utm_campaign=update_oct_9&recruiter_id=398&utm_medium=email&utm_source=onecowichan

Cheers,
Nog

[835]

I'm borne and bred Cowichan river. I was just up there yesterday... in 37 years of memory i have never seen it that low..
it scares me. That river is really vulnerable right now.

[IronNoggin]

Backgrounder:

B.C.'s Cowichan River in danger of drying up
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/10/07/bc-cowichan-salmon.html

"David Anderson, former federal environment minister and a member of the Cowichan Watershed Advisory Board, is flabbergasted at the provincial response. "They messed up. They were given clear advice what to do and they just gambled that there would be a wet fall."

The ministry apparently gave in to a small group of lakeshore residents who did not want their beaches affected by a high lake water level, Anderson said.


"The result of that extraordinarily illogical decision is the present serious risk to trout and salmon populations," he said."

http://www.timescolonist.com/Drought+threatens+Cowichan+Valley+drinking+water+j obs+salmon+sewage+treatment/7336010/story.html#ixzz28FsoyaaD

Sad situation that could have rather easily been avoided! Let's hope the predicted sky-water helps!! :icon_frow


Cheers,
Nog

[lovemywinchester]

I hope the rain comes this week like its supposed to. I moved to the island in 95 right from Ontario and I was on the Cowichan two days later. Saw bears and eagles and was blown away with the rain forest. I never had much success with the steelhead but that was the year they closed all the east coast rivers. Loved the brown fishing. Come on rain and some hope for better management in the future.

[IronNoggin]

There is a solution to the Cowichan crisis. A weir at Lake Cowichan, managed by the Forest Ministry, controls water flow into the river, under a water licence held by Catalyst Paper. The flow could have been reduced in the spring, when rainfall was more frequent, providing a reserve for the dry season - especially for this critical time when salmon need adequate flows to enter the river to spawn.

For the past decade, according to groups who work on protecting the river, the ministry has done just that, providing a needed reserve.
But this year, the Forests Ministry said that the licence rules prohibit the practice. Local mayors, Cowichan Valley Regional District chairman Ron Hutchins and representatives of First Nations met Forests Minister Steve Thomson to ask that more water be stored. He told them to apply for a change to the licence, a lengthy process.


Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/technology/Cowichan+grim+warning/7380059/story.html#ixzz29CTD326R