Court care
Powell River Community Forest Ltd. recently approved a financial grant to pay for the re-surfacing of the Townsite tennis courts [“Community forest funds eclectic list of projects,” June 12].
With the upcoming renovations and re-surfacing of this facility, including the installation of a pickleball court, Powell River will soon have an extraordinary recreational asset.
Vivian Thickett
Field Street
Crowther Road logging
Since March of this year, residents in the Okeover Inlet area have been trying to get answers from Island Timberlands (IT) about its intentions to clear-cut timber on Crowther Road [“Residents question good neighbour claim,” June 19]. The area in question starts at the Laughing Oyster Restaurant.
IT clear cut a 60-hectare area above this section in 2011. Logs were hauled out onto Malaspina Road. This time it intends to use Crowther Road as a logging main.
The Okeover Ratepayers’ Association held a meeting with IT on June 17 to get some answers to residents’ questions. IT asked where the building exits were because it was a safety-conscious company. Subsequent questions from the floor about a logging truck dumping its load on Malaspina received the response that the company was unaware of the spill, even though about 20 residents had seen it. IT representatives waltzed around that one for quite a while.
There were no detailed answers to anything—no timelines, how much area to be logged (perhaps five to 15 hectares at this time), no answers to safety concerns about using a hilly gravel road with poor sight lines to haul logs, no specific answers to protection of the residents’ water sources. Some things were clear—the five logging spurs proposed were to be only partially deactivated, keeping company options open to return and clear cut the steep slopes above the road.
Residents became increasingly agitated as the two representatives refused to answer or address concerns, disagreed between themselves on answers, snapped at one of the questioners, and refused to give a copy of their presentation to the ratepayers. They justified this because they “had refused Powell River Regional District staff a copy of it at an earlier meeting that morning.” Perhaps they didn’t want the attendees to have the very specific map included in the presentation. The meeting suddenly ended when the IT staff had to catch a ferry.
People in the Okeover area do not oppose responsible logging—it is British Columbia’s lifeblood. They strenuously object to being stonewalled and treated with disdain.
Jim McCaul
Mariners Way
