Chase council will be raising concerns about the potential impacts of logging operations on local water quality at this year’s Union of BC Municipalities convention.
This year’s annual convention of local government delegates takes place Sept. 26 to 30 in Victoria. Representing the village this year will be Mayor Rick Berrigan and Coun. Nancy Egley, Ali Maki and Steven Scott. They’ll be packing with them two council resolutions.
One resolution is that UBCM lobby the province to require all agencies responsible for logging activity taking place in a watershed that could potentially affect a community or water provider inform the community through public consultation, provide mitigation measures and obtain the community’s approval before logging begins. Chase chief administrative officer Joni Heinrich says this resolution stems from logging being done along Chase Creek in the Chase/Falkland area. The creek feeds the aquifer that the village and local agricultural operations relies upon.
A second resolution will revolve around the cost of hydro and the financial difficulty such expenses can have on recreation facilities in small communities.
“So one of the things they want to do is bring awareness to that issue and try and see if there’s anyway BC Hydro or any other electricity service provider would consider different types of rates and lower rates for recreation facilities in small communities,” said Heinrich, noting a similar resolution received the report of UBCM last year.