Controlled burns help restore Cariboo-Chilcotin grasslands

Chilcotin grasslands, near Farwell Canyon

BC grasslands have been shrinking for various reasons, encroaching "civilization" being one of them. Less obvious, because it happens more slowly, is the encroaching of trees. In the era of maximum fire-prevention, fires were extinguished and the trees steadily move into the grasslands. In recent years, realizing this, fire-fighting authorities have allowed selected controlled wildfires to burn themselves out; and deliberately started others, to help the restoration of more natural grassland. This is happening today in the Cariboo-Chilcotin grasslands.

Burns planned to restore Cariboo-Chilcotin grasslands

by BC Forest Fire Info on Thursday, October 18, 2012 at 9:05am ·

WILLIAMS LAKE – Prescribed burns are planned in the Ward Creek, Becher’s Prairie, and Farwell Canyon area west of Williams Lake between now and Nov. 16, 2012, weather conditions permitting.

The burns are planned for ecosystem restoration purposes. Individual burns will be between 10 and 600 hectares in size.

The largest burn, expected to be about 600 hectares, is in the Ward Creek area north of Gang Ranch. This burn will decrease sagebrush and Douglas-fir encroachment on critical California bighorn sheep habitat along the Fraser River.

Historically, the grasslands in the Cariboo-Chilcotin were renewed through frequent, low-intensity ground fires. Such fires prevented tree encroachment, rejuvenated under-story plants and maintained more open grasslands and forests with large trees. The reintroduction of managed, low-intensity ground fires to these grasslands is intended to restore and maintain the traditional grassland plant communities that are natural for these areas. These fires are part of an ongoing ecosystem restoration program administered by the provincial government in consultation with First Nations, local ranchers, the B.C. Wildlife Federation and the Cariboo-Chilcotin Conservation Society.

More Chilcotin photos by Stanton Newman

Stone circle in the Chilcotin makes the news

Client of mine, Chris Czajkowski, is in the news about an unusual feature at Nuk Tessli, her alpine eco-adventure place in the Chilcotin.

What's caught the media attention is the stone circle in Mammary Meadows:

"The circle is 40 paces across.  The most curious thing about it is that the rock of which it is composed is finer-grained, lighter-coloured, and sharper-edged than the rocks either inside or outside the circle." - Chris Czajkowski, Nuk Tessli web site.

• Two scientists from Canada and Britain were sufficiently intrigued by the "unusual, near circular ring of stones" and its "uncertain origin" that they probed the strange feature and have just published their findings in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. - Victoria Times Colonist
• Debris is known to slide down cones of unmelted ice to form a circle on the ground, according to EarthSky, although the circle in British Columbia is unusually large. - Our Amazing Planet
• The mystery was enough to inspire a British and a Canadian geologist to investigate. The pair's findings have just been published in the latest Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. - Yahoo News

Chris tells me she has an interview with the CBC this afternoon.

Stay in touch via Chris' blog: Wilderness Dweller

Flooding in the Chilcotin along Highway 20

Reports are starting to come in from friends and clients of mine:

From Chris Czajkowski, heading home after her season at Nuk Tessli:

Sunday, September 26

I was expecting to drive to Williams Lake at 4.00am Monday morning to arrive at the garage at 8.00 for a brake job on my van . . .   That was when someone said something about the road being closed near the McClinchy Bridge.  My turnoff is maybe 100 metres on the Nimpo side of the McLinchy Bridge.  So I drove along in warm, quite sunny weather - the surface of the road was dry and everything looked  peaceful.  Then, round a bend, just a mile or so from the bridge, was a police wagon parked across the road.  The cop pointed to two orange cones on the highway - "half an hour ago, there were 5", she said.  

 

Dave Neads.

Monday morning September 27 

As of this morning HWY 20 west of the McClinchy bridge has a washout 1km long,  and just east of Wolverine Ranch, another patch several metres long has disappeared. Louie Creek has washed out, Young Creek bridge on the hill is compromised, and "several" bridges in the valley are gone.

 http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_cariboo/williamslaketribune/breaking_news/103861119.html

Talking to Interior Roads, they feel it could be several weeks until the Bella Coola valley  and probably a week until the McClinchy section is temporally repaired.  We are OK. It is raining hard again - expect another 30 to 40 mm overnight.

Rosemary Neads. 

Monday afternoon September 27

Anahim and Nimpo are now completely cut off from the rest of the world.  About 1 km of highway west of the McClinchy bridge (25 min east of Nimpo) and a large chunk east of the bridge are missing.  Estimates are at least 1 week, if it stops raining and the river drops.  That snow on the upper slopes last week has all been washed away - nto our rivers.  Just on our deck, yesterday we had 2.5 inches fall in about 8 hours - and this was after the worst of the storm .  Anahim and Nimpo get their power from a diesel generator, and that is in danger of running out of fuel.  And no way to get any here. The highways trucks also are very low. There's a run on the grocery stores!

Bella Coola is in a far worse situation, so far as regular supplies.  Luckily, their fuel gets there  by barge.  But their highway is washed out in many places and a number of bridge are gone - the Bella Coola River has overflowed its banks in many places.  The community around Hagensborg has been out of water since Friday, but of course there is lots of rain water.  A major bridge on the Hill has lost its approaches, although the Hill itself is holding.  Estimates from Interior Roads suggest it could be as much as two months before everything is restored, and probably several weeks before even limited travel is possible.

Chris again.

Monday afternoon September 27

It was lovely and sunny this morning and the air was filled with planes and helicopters.  But now, at 11.30 am it is pouring rain again.  I don't think it will bring the river up any more because all the snow at higher elevations has melted.  But it will hamper rebuilding efforts as the soil is so saturated it will be unworkable.  It is a couple of days before we can expect the weather to clear.  I will be out of food in 3 days - so will the stores at Nimpo and Anahim so goodness knows what will happen.

Chris' journal on the flood.

 

Teztan Biny / Fish Lake still in jeopardy

According to resource planner Tony Pearse in The Tyee, the recently-announced Federal environmental assessment leaves loopholes for the federal government to justify approving the Taseko plan, which includes using the lake as a tailings pond.

The panel had expert evidence before it that Taseko had substantially overestimated the economic benefits of its project and yet, in providing information to the ministers concerning justifiability, it did not pass on the only independent analysis available. This is bad news, because it is virtually certain that the ministers will examine the issue of economic benefits if they contemplate approving the project despite the serious environmental and cultural consequences identified by the panel.

This evidence, from resource economist Marvin Schaffer, "told the panel that the BC EAO's conclusion that 'there is no expected cost to future generations except for the loss of Fish Lake and Little Fish lake' was factually incorrect. There would be a very large, on-going cost to present and future generations from this arrangement."

Read the full article

The Campaign to protect Fish Lake

Fish Lake / Teztan Biny 

The Tsilhqot'in Fight for Teztan Biny / Fish Lake

There are areas in the Chilcotin region (and elsewhere in BC) where significant elements of the indigenous culture are still viable. This, despite the decimation of smallpox, evidently encouraged by the early settlers in their wish to take over inhabited land. The occupation continues to this day, currently in a plan to start a mine and dump the tailings in a nearby lake. This became possible after the government removed protective laws on such a practice. The video is about the lake and the people whose lives are entwined with its presence. It provides an insight into the lives of the Tsilhqot'in (Chilcotin) people and a culture still significantly integrated with the natural world - and what we all stand to lose if the mine goes ahead.

Blue Gold: The Tsilhqot'in Fight for Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) from Susan Smitten on Vimeo.

March 26: DFO raises concerns with Taseko fish plan.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada raised concerns about Taseko Mines Ltd.’s fish compensation plan for the proposed prosperity mine while at the federal review panel hearings Wednesday.
March 22, 2010: Williams Lake BC; Commencement of Federal Environmental Assessment Review Panel's public hearings on Taseko Mines Ltd's proposed Prosperity Mine, which would destroy Teztan Biny (Fish Lake). This coincides with 2010 World Water Day and events will be held in Williams Lake and other communities to highlight this fact.

• March 22-25: Movie may be shown at Public Hearing in Williams Lake
• Tom Swanky: The Tsilhqot'in War and the Smallpox Plot
• First Nations Women Advocating Responsible Mining

Many well-intentioned and good people have been induced by the usual false hopes for windfall profits fanned by mining speculators, or by a fear of the always unknown and certain future, to campaign in favour of Prosperity. To exhaust the natural resources owned by the Tsilhqot’in without their consent; to destroy a heritage site with a future potential for the useful education of all concerning different approaches to resource utilization; to risk the contamination of a river system; to risk a new error in the hope of compensating for the mismanagement of the forest industry; and so on. All for what gain? All for the benefit of less than $100 a head for twenty years and an artificial lake suited to the tastes of rich sports fishermen from elsewhere.  -  Tom Swanky. From a submission to the upcoming Environmental Assessment Panel.

The New Campaign to protect Fish Lake  2012 - 2013

Nuk Tessli Alpine Experience for Sale

A wilderness ecotourism business in one of the more remote corners of British Columbia is for sale. Chris Czajkowski, author, botanist and wilderness dweller continues to run her Nuk Tessli Alpine Experience but has put the business up for sale.  Here's what she says:

As readers of my books will know, I started Nuk Tessli single-handedly, from scratch, 21 years ago. There was not so much as a chainsaw mark on the place; now there are three cosy, rustic cabins and an extensive network of alpine trails. Of course it will be a wrench to give up my "queendom", but my big love is exploring new territory for alpine plants. While I have a special relationship with the flora in my area, I also long to visit other mountain ranges when the alpine flowers are blooming. Each rock base produces different species and there are many alpine plants that I have never seen. I will not be able to fulfil my dreams if I spend every summer at Nuk Tessli. If you wish to see the listing, go to http://www.fsbo.com/121316 (Be aware that the lease is set up as a commercial venture and the cabins cannot be for private use.)

You can pause the images at any point or back up and, if you prefer, turn the captions off or on.

More from Chris' photojournals

Tom Swanky: The Tsilhqot'in War and the Smallpox Plot

"Researching the B.C. smallpox of 1861 to 1864. And the Tsilhqot'in response, culminating in the 1864/65 hanging of Tsilhqot'in leaders, the largest public execution in Canadian history."

Tom will be presenting his updated information in Williams Lake at 7:00 pm on Wednesday February 3rd. He says: "Now includes targeting 'William' with smallpox and Killing the Northerners at Victoria. Improved the story of smallpox as a biological weapon to steal the site of Quesnel from the Lhatko Dene. Should be about ten minutes shorter than in Oct. Looking forward to meeting everyone.".

Introduction to the Chilcotin War - Tom Swanky

Tom has been researching and collecting historical date long and hard. Here's an opportunity to learn about this remarkable and often disturbing part of our history in this part of Canada. Click on poster to see a larger version. In case the text still isn't easy to read, here's what Tom says:

I am presenting the slide sequence in the Quesnel Museum Heritage Speaker series, Oct. 27 at 7pm in the Atrium at the UNBC campus in Quesnel. [Admission free]

Nature Diary of a Wilderness Dweller by Chris Czajkowski

My current and recommended reading for those interested in the life and world immediately around them:

A MOUNTAIN YEAR
Nature Diary of a Wilderness Dweller

In 1988, Chris Czajkowski walked into British Columbia's Central Coast Mountains to build a homestead, a business, and a life. A Mountain Year is a beautifully-produced art book full of original paintings, sketches and diary entries, offering an awe-inspiring glimpse into the life of this independent spirit and the landscape that she calls home.

In this illustrated journal, Czajkowski intimately describes the splendour of seasonal transformation with her trademark expressiveness; each day brings new obstacles and surprising revelations. At the start of the year, she writes, "The night was bright with a silvery soup of moonlight refracted off snowflakes fine as stardust." Spring arrives with breathtaking beauty and summer brings company from abroad. In the fall, Chris travels back to her first autumn at Nuk Tessli when she views "an extraordinarily beautiful moment. The clouds hung low enough to almost touch the water . . . and a wonderful, bluish, pearly luminescence covered everything." Prepare to witness the magnificence of a year in British Columbia's high-altitude wilderness, a place of astounding natural beauty like no other.

More about Chris Czajkowski

Chris Czajkowski's summer at Nuk Tessli filled with colour and adventure

Chris Czajkowski's photo-journals chronicle the mountain and floral beauty of summer in her corner of BC's Chilcotin wilderness - and a bit of adventure too. Here's a sample from the 2008 journals:

British Columbia Grasslands book

BC photographer and author, Chris Harris, is launching his next book: Spirit in the Grass - The Cariboo Chilcotin's Forgotten Landscape.

The Cariboo Chilcotin grasslands are one of the ecological wonders of the world and British Columbia's most endangered ecosystem. It covers less than 1% of the province yet supports over 30% of its threatened or endangered plant and animal species.

The book will be launched in Chris' home town of 100 Mile House on October 19th and then the promotional tour will move on to locations around BC.

The travelling Grasslands Gala multimedia presentation will include slide-sound sequences in combination with stories behind the images and how they and the book were created. As a photographer, I will speak from the creative visual arts perspective rather than the science perspective. In this way I hope to provide a new and fresh avenue to appreciate our beautiful British Columbia grasslands.

Details

Chris Czajkowski's Chilcotin Photo-journal

Chris Czajkowski, author of Wildfire in the Wilderness, The Cabin at Singing River and other books, is back home at Nuk Tessli, hiking and paddling "her" piece of Chilcotin wilderness. Join Chris, as the early summer sun begins to melt last winter's heavy snows and she records in words and pictures the spectacular scenery and fascinating plant and animal life of this beautiful corner of British Columbia.