Duhamel Creek residents propose negotiations with Kalesnikoff over logging plan
By Nelson Daily Staff
The Duhamel Watershed Alliance (DWA) has taken another step in their efforts to protect their watershed against potential impacts from logging in the area with a plan to bring in private experts and a call for open negotiations with the logging company.
A group representing many concerned residents in the Duhamel Creek area at Six Mile on the North Shore of Kootenay Lake called the Duhamel Watershed Alliance recently sent out a press release (release link at a bottom of story) stating that it has contracted the services of a group of professional advisors to undertake a private study of the watershed and logging plans drafted by Kalesnikoff Lumber Company, which plans to log on the slopes above Duhamel Creek.
The group plans to develop its own draft long-term logging plan and has asked Thrums-based Kalesnikoff to meet with them and their advisers so they can “jointly plan both the next cut block and the long-term logging and related risk mitigation activities.”
“We’re trying to do everything we can here to change the paradigm in how we behave as a community; to get more involved in everything from monitoring to creating a long-term logging plan so our watershed is protected future generations,” said Nadine Podmoroff of the DWA.
“We’re trying to create a situation where we can reduce the impact and restore a more balanced relationship with water and the entire watershed.”
Podmoroff says the response to their request for discussions with Kalesnikoff was positive.
“They were very responsive and they agreed to meet with us to discuss planning,” she says. “They offered to submit more detailed reports that we don’t have . . . So our advisers can review these plans and we can discuss as a community how we can increase standards for risk management.”
Difference of opinion
Tyler Hodgkinson, woodlands manager for Kalesnikoff confirmed that the company is willing to have discussions with the DWA, and is always open to meeting with the public.
But he disagrees with much of what is said in the release and says that the DWA’s plan to hire its own experts and draft their own plan for managing the forest won’t fly, and the company hasn’t agreed to jointly negotiate a management plan with the group.
“They haven’t even consulted us; they just blitzed us with this (press release),” Hodgkinson notes.
“They don’t have any authority to make this plan. It’s a contravention of the (BC) Foresters Act. They don’t have the right to make plans unless they’re made by a registered professional who is governed by a professional body.
“We’re legally obliged to work with the public at large. But we won’t sit there and let somebody who’s not qualified write plans and tell us the way it’s going to be . . .. We have not agreed, nor can we legally allow citizens at large to write plans for us. They don’t have the authority to do so.”
Hodgkinson says the proper course of action for the community would be to present Kalesnikoff with their concerns and allow the company to present how they plan to alleviate or mitigate them.
“We will sit down with the group to understand their concerns,” he notes. “But they have to be science-based.”
See Release Link:
http://thenelsondaily.com/news/dwa-calls-negotiations-longterm-logging-plan-26679#.UlMAMCS8JE4
