LAST of the February 15th letter;

The NCID calls upon the MoFR to intervene in this conflict between the NCID and the
CVFC. What good are the detailed procedures of a forest licenseeʼs FSP if they are
repeatedly and systematically ignored? The MoFR approved the CVFCʼs FSP based on
the assumption that they would adhere to the provisions contained within. This has most
emphatically not been the case. The NCID has provided ample evidence in this document that, in the case of the Camp Run Creek watershed and the NCID-CVFC interaction, this is being very seriously undermined to the detriment of a community which has relied solely on the integrity of the watershed for its source of high-quality drinking water for about one hundred years. There are provisions within the legislation as well as responsibilities within the MoFR to oversee the compliance of logging companies like the CVFC. The NCID implores the Ministryʼs Kootenay Lake Forest
District to become active in this shameful debacle before it is too late to reverse the
ramifications of the irresponsible actions of the CVFC in the Camp Run Creek watershed.
The CVFC should be immediately ordered by the MoFRʼs District Manager to cease and desist in their planning for this logging proposal, based upon their performance to date. There are no ʻdo oversʼ when the hydrology of a drinking watershed is compromised by resource extraction. The disposition of the Camp Run Creek watershed to the CVFC should be immediately revoked by the MoFR. The privileged CVFCʼs forest tenure agreement demands prompt modification, disallowing them from operating in any ultra-sensitive ecological environments like drinking
watersheds. There is plenty of the publicʼs ʻworking forestʼ left for them to log elsewhere,
places where they wonʼt be entrusted with the lifeblood of an entire community, the valuable and irreplaceable drinking water supply. Surely the tiny watershed that is Camp
Run Creek will not make or break the fortunes of the CVFC or detract from the annual
allowable cut in the Kootenay Lake Forest District?
The CVFCʼs purposeful refusal to engage in the public participation process begs
another serious question: what other parts of their FSP are they prepared to overlook in
their desires to log the Camp Run Creek watershed? The NCID is extremely dubious
that the CVFCʼs proposed implementation of governmentʼs industry objectives - through
ʻpractices requirementsʼ and/or the development of ʻresultsʼ and/or ʻstrategies, as
defined in their 2007 FSP will be adhered to either.
Legislation, regulations, and
approved higher level plans that define governmentʼs logging objectives seem hollow
and irrelevant to the NCIDʼs water users, to the people who actually drink the water from
this vital watershed. The Improvement District shudders to think what would happen to the quality of the drinking water coming from the Camp Run Creek watershed if, for
instance, the CVFC omitted their proposed riparian management zone ʻstrategy,ʼ or
neglected to comply with their hydrology assessment ʻresults.ʼ There is no confidence or
trust within the NCID that the CVFC will conform to the ʻpractices requirementsʼ in such critical areas as soil disturbance, landslides, road construction, maximum cutblock size, maintenance of old and mature forests, and pesticide and fertilizer use. The NCID has already had to expend an enormous amount of time and energy to monitor this dreadful situation with the CVFC. The watchdog role we have been forced to employ is onerous.
We appeal now to the MoFR to relieve us of this worrisome burden. In this frightening
game of watershed roulette, the discretionary powers that the FPPR allocates to a
questionable logging company like the CVFC will lead to truly catastrophic
consequences for the NCIDʼs source water supply. By halting this ill-conceived logging
proposal now, the MoFR will be safeguarding the NCIDʼs source of drinking water for
generations to come. Allow the NCID to continue the rightful single-use of the Camp
Run Creek watershed for the production of drinking water, an privilege we have earned
as a licensed water purveyor for a century now. The drinking-water fortunes of the small
community of North Canyon rest upon the shoulders of the MoFR and their interest and
enthusiasm in arresting the CVFCʼs dangerous and risky logging proposal.

The Board of Trustees
North Canyon Improvement District
Canyon, BC