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Friday, February 23, 2007















One of many cascades down Glacier Creek.

The Drainage of Howser
and Glacier Creeks
The Rest of the Story


by an anonymous Kaslo resident

Both Creeks are very impressive with lots of habitat attributes.

Glacier Creek started to see logging in the early 80’s. That time in the 80’s was some of the worst logging practices ever. Much of the valley bottom was logged flat right to the stream.

The good news about the logging is the new growth since the 80’s. The drainage is coming back.

The valley has always been prone to rock slides in spring the run off is so intense the ground shakes as ice and boulders slide down the mountains and into the creek. Very impressive and completely natural for high flow creeks in the spring. It is the back door to Jumbo Pass and peppered with Glaciers and has some great opportunities to watch Grizzly Bears and Goats.

Regarding the hydro development project.

Glacier Creek and Howser Creek flow from the height of land between the east Kootenay and West Kootenay. At any home in Meadow Creek you look right up the Glacier Creek Drainage.

One of the most puzzling things about this project is this important point!!!

Water flows down hill creating power generation down stream from water held in what they call the pondage or in lay terms (A Dam). Most people understand that concept.

So here is the mystery.

Why generate power half way to Meadow Creek then turn around and build a (power line with road access) from the WEST KOOTENAYS TO THE EAST KOOTENAYS. What gives?

The real money gained is in the power line construction and road building!!!

The dam is one thing but everyone knows you cannot create power without getting the power onto the (grid).

This creates huge issues for wildlife and the eco system.

BC Hydro has built power dams by flooding out the Valley bottoms of British Columbia. BC has only 4 % valley bottoms and the impacts of this to wildlife is extensive and permanent.

BC Hydro's then president said back in the 80’s that considering public opposition to large projects, we will have to look to smaller Hydro projects that don’t require flooding valley bottoms. The Duncan Dam in Meadow Creek flooded out 30 miles of the best wildlife habitat and forest in the province. It creates no power just water storage for the dam on the Kootenay river in Montana. All that for our American neighbors.


2 comments:

Coyote said...

Bear,
In another thread here on Canada as a colony, Larry Gambone makes reference to the Canadian ruling class as a "comprador" class. And while that term has long been applied to the ruling classes of Latin America, I had not even really thought to apply it to our own. But the fact is that Larry is right.

Historically, the word "comprador" in China , in an earlier Western Empire colonizing time than the world is now going through with the US, made reference to " a Chinese business agent of a foreign company", or more broadly, especially in more recent times to,"2) an agent of a foreign power." (The Oxford English Reference Dictionary/ 1995)

And it is this latter usage of the word comprador especially which applies most graphically and accurately to our own ruling class and its elite systems of governance and power, in Larry's and my view. And though there is a long history of this behaviour in our ruling class, first with the British Empire, in more recent times, nothing more significantly reveals this than the ongoing pace of alienation of the country's public economic, land, and natural resource assets to the benefit and control of the US Empire. And right now, along with our forest resources that especially includes clearing the way to give them control of our precious water resources.

It is all this, in my view, that makes the Canadian economic ruling class and their money controlled "political system" , which includes both Federal and Provincial levels of governance, a traitorous "comprador" ruling class system: The agents of a foreign, US Empire power.

It is a reality, now set in motion, that is not going to be easy to undo-, without great determination and commitment by significant, especially lower class elements, of the Canadian populace. Additionally, as Larry again also pointed out, and with which I entirely agree, that is going to take building alternative strategic "alliance relationships" over time between a radicalized and progressive "national movement" here, to re-secure control of our own country and transform it, with like movements directed against "yanqui dominance" in Latin America.

We, a Canadian "national movement", hopefully, taking advantage of the US Empire being bogged down, and ultimately suffering a major weakening and disorienting defeat in the Middle East, especially Iraq and Afghanistan, need to take advantage of this situation now. Which means, mounting an effort both to forge alliances with similar movements in Latin America and to build a national movement sufficiently powerful and engaged to rein in and deal with our own comprador ruling class. Nothing else will do it.

Without which, you can kiss the backside of our public water resource now, as it is alienated and slip, slides away to Yanqui ownership and control, just like the rest of the country and our resources are already as well.

It is a time when we are about to be tested in my view; our commitment to what we have at least viewed as our own country. We will rise to the challenge or we will not. It is that simple.

Anonymous said...

what? this started as a local project and the water will still flow down to the lake