Sicamous council will be talking about a local approach to invasive zebra and quagga mussels when it meets with Ministry of Environment officials later this month.
For the upcoming Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in Vancouver on Sept. 25 to 29, Sicamous’ mayor and council are making preparations to meet with various B.C. government ministers.
One of those meetings will be with newly appointed Environment Minister George Heyman. The purpose of the meeting: to talk about quagga and zebra mussels and how to keep them out of Shuswap and Mara lakes. Mayor Terry Rysz said he and council are interested in taking a proactive approach by having staff at the district’s boat launches who can properly inspect vessels before they enter the water.
“That’s going to be part of the conversation when we talk to the Ministry of Environment… we’re going to be looking for funding and financing for some kind of program,” said Rysz. “We should have every launching site covered, especially over the next couple of years, until we get enough public knowledge out there…”
Rysz says the inspection effort currently being made in the province doesn’t go far enough. This assessment is based, in part, on a recent visit he had with inspectors at a roadside invasive mussels inspection site in Golden.
“During the conversation with the girls there, there are a lot of boats that don’t stop at that particular site,” said Rysz. “Even though it says mandatory, there are boats that just cruise on by. They see them, they’re watching them. And the COs (Conservation officers) have to chase them. So if there’s two or three boats that go by in a row, we know they’re coming to this lake.
“They were saying that 70 to 80 per cent of the boats that come from the east into B.C. are heading to Shuswap Lake. Some to Okanagan Lake and the little lakes out and about, but most are coming to these lakes right here, Shuswap and Mara. That was a big concern.”
Rysz said the inspectors at that one station alone had found 156 boats carrying the invasive mussels, and while they have checked thousands, he emphasized it only takes one to contaminate the lake.
Another ministry on Sicamous council’s UBCM dance card is the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. The intent is to meet with staff and minster Claire Trevena to discuss conversations and work that began with the previous Liberal government involving the four-laning of the Trans-Canada Highway and a related a highway corridor management plan showing what that will look like in Sicamous, as well as the replacement of the Bruhn Bridge.
“We’re basically going to have the same conversations that we had with the ministers from the Liberal government last year,” said Rysz. “So we’re continuing the process and making sure the bureaucrats are kept informed, and the work we’ve done in the past doesn’t get overlooked now that we’ve got new ministers.”
Sicamous council will be joined by representatives from the Splatsin First Nation and the City of Enderby in meetings with the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development to discuss the establishment of a shared community forest, the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation regarding the community forest and other shared interests they are working together towards under a memorandum of understanding. They will meet with the Ministry of Agriculture regarding the establishment of a public campground.
The mayor and Sicamous and Splatsin councillors will also be meeting with the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General regarding flood mitigation and the construction of a wall and walkway along the channel between Mara and Shuswap lakes.
Rysz noted two staff members will also be attending UBCM this year to pursue the district’s interests from a bereaucratic level.
“That way we’re hammering it from all sides,” he said.