2019 January Quarterly Director’s Report

Season’s Greetings, Everyone!

We hope you’ve all had a wonderful holiday and are off to a Happy New Year. As always, it’s been a busy fall period for your OPSRRA Board. Here are some of the things we’ve been working on…

2018 All Candidates Meeting

We had a wonderful opportunity to hear our candidates for the CRD Director and Milne’s Landing School Trustee positions discuss their backgrounds, platforms and answer questions from the audience at OPSRRA’s all candidate meeting on September 30, 2018, at the CRD Regional Services building in Otter Point. The session was well attended by almost 60 people and we were also fortunate to recruit several new OPSRRA members.

The candidates

The audience

Jordan River and diitiida Welcome Signage

We’re very pleased to announce that we were able to secure funding for the new wooden welcome signage for Jordan River (JR) and diitiida through the generous donations of $1500 from BC Hydro, red cedar wood posts from Queesto, and an additional $1500 from CRD’s Grant-in-Aid Fund.

We are in the process of drying the wood posts, creating the wooden sign faces with the help of Murray Tompkins, and finalizing the signature wave design for the community.

We hope to have these signs set in place by this coming spring. This will help demonstrate to the public and travelers in the area that JR and diitiida still comprise a vibrant and culturally rich community.

Community Notice Boards and Existing Community Welcome Signs

OPSRRA also successfully received Grant-in-Aid funding from the CRD in the amount of $700 to repair and maintain notice boards in our three communities, in addition to the four large existing “Welcome” signs in Otter Point and Shirley.

Unfortunately, we did not have a lot of volunteer uptake from our membership to assist the small team working on it this fall and so we’re hoping to recruit volunteers to help out when things dry out this coming spring.

We need you to make it happen! If you would like to help us out with this project in any way, please contact our directors, Brenda at director1@opsrra.ca or Fiona at secretary@opsrra.ca.

Future CRD Regional Park Acquisitions Visioning Workshop

Your OPSRRA president, Bill Dushenko and director, Brenda Mark, participated in a workshop on November 9, 2018, at the Village Food Market Meeting Room in Sooke, to identify areas of high ecological and social value west of the Sooke River with the idea of supporting the development of a Land Acquisition Strategy for potential future CRD Regional Parks expansion.

The session was well attended and included other OPSRRA members attending in different capacities.

Regional Parks staff presented a landscape analysis using the best available ecological information to map and highlight areas with high natural/ecological values and potential for connectivity with existing parks and protected areas in the region. The workshop part of the session involved hearing, from the participants, any information or other knowledge missing in the landscape analysis, in addition to values on conservation and recreation in the Juan de Fuca, to better improve their analysis and development of a Land Acquisition Strategy. The Muir Creek watershed and its protection were particularly on the minds of many of the attendees.

We look forward to hearing more from the CRD on their strategy in the future.

Soil Deposit and Restoration Activities on Clarke Road

OPSRRA and concerned residents have been watching the activities of Granite Resources, which is proposing to deposit soil (up to 20,000 m^3) for the purposes of restoring a tributary to King Creek, as well as road construction to support a proposed subdivision on its 58 ha property along Clark Road (Section 42) in Otter Point.

The parcel was previously logged and cleared by the former owner under the Private Managed Forests Land Act resulting in damage to the creek and its riparian area.

A soil permit application has been submitted to the CRD for this purpose and will have been reviewed by its Land Use Committee (LUC) at its meeting on December 17, 2018.

It is anticipated that the overall condition of the property will be improved by the proposed watercourse and wetland restoration work. The CRD staff, in its report to the JdF LUC Meeting are, therefore, recommending “approval of the soil permit subject to the recommendations and conditions of the Environmental Overview Assessment, the conditions listed in the Approval for Works in and About a Stream from the Ministry of Environment, the conditions listed in the Permit to Construct, Use, and Maintain Access to a Provincial Public Highway from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, and subject to public notification”.

If this permit is approved and restoration activities continue, residents will no doubt be monitoring activities closely to ensure that the proponent is closely following specified conditions.

All the best for the coming New Year, everyone!

Disaster Preparedness Resources

In light of the inconsistent response to the Tsunami warning for the west coast of Vancouver Island on January 22, 2018, OPSRRA has compiled a list of resources for our members in case of a major emergency. OPSRRA is not a disaster-preparedness organization per se, but we do want to provide our members—and others—with basic information on emergencies, as self-education and preparation are essential.

Keep in mind that you would need to play an active role to ensure your own safety, well-being, and security for such possibilities (or eventualities, if you are of the glass-half-full persuasion). You also would be responsible for your family and pets.

Please be aware that governmental resources/responses could be delayed, inaccessible, and/or inadequate during potential crises—especially for residents in more remote areas.

CRD Resources

This CRD link includes a good general overview, with a very thorough PDF worth downloading to help you prepare for future emergencies.

On the CRD site above, there is an opportunity for residents to sign up for alert notifications, which is well worth doing here.

Other Resources

Twitter is an option for those who are comfortable with the platform and technology (of course, your mobile device would have to have power, be turned on, and within earshot to hear the audio notification of a “tweet” for emergency purposes).

EmergencyInfoBC further explains the alert notification system, some of which are in the development phase (for instance, text alerts are slated to begin in April 2018):

Within the Juan de Fuca area, Juan de Fuca Emergency Management has a great deal of information.

It is important to familiarize yourself with resources on potential weather-specific disasters:

• River flooding
• Earthquakes
• Wildfires
• Weather
• Tsunamis

High-speed internet in Jordan River petition

Cold Shoulder Cafe held a community get together in mid-June for Jordan River residents. With so many new folks moving into the area it was a great opportunity to get to know your neighbours.

Given the number of young families and entrepreneurs, high-speed internet access was hotly discussed and a petition to bring fibre optics into the community is already well over 60 names. We’re looking for more to sign, so contact OPSRRA and we can put you in touch with the person who is spearheading the petition. Stay tuned for news on this growing and thriving community.

Teck's Jordan River water cleanup

At a community meeting in Jordan River, Teck representatives provided an update on the preliminary work on the high-risk waste site of mine tailings on the banks of the Jordan River. On-going research is focused on determining the toxicity of the copper discharge.

Teck is working in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment and will provide a final report that will summarize their findings and provide options for cleanup.

The Jordan River Stewardship Round Table was initiated earlier this year and was created to provide a forum to share information, pool resources, attract funders, identify and rank projects at a watershed scale, and enable a proactive and inclusive way of conducting stewardship business. It is a results-focused working group that blends technical knowledge, management expertise, and community interests for the benefit of the fish and wildlife resources and their habitat within the watershed. Its primary interests include:

• Restoration of salmonid habitat such that the river is capable of supporting natural and self-sustaining spawning populations of historic fish stocks.
• Restoration of wildlife habitat in support of healthy and diverse wildlife populations.
• Remediation of chronic copper issues in the lower river.
• Monitoring of completed projects to understand successes and failures and track the recovery of fish and wildlife populations and their habitat.
• Education and outreach.

~ Wayne Jackaman