We in Cherryville have learned where the arrogant attitude of B.C. Timber Sales comes from. The logging industry is self-regulated, meaning there are little or no consequence for any mistakes.
BCTS would do well to try and learn where the distrust in Cherryville comes from. They should go to You-Tube and watch “Cherryville mud slide.” (only 13 minutes) There they will see another of our local timber giants conducting a tour of their proposed Cherry Ridge logging to a large cross-section of concerned Cherryville residents who feared landslides. They will see the exact same words used. “If we think there is an issue, we’ll bring in the experts.”
They will see the eventual recipient of the slide being told he was getting “confrontational” for asking why they had done no hydrological studies.
I’m thinking that when he was chased out of his house on the morning of April 24, 2012 by a freight train of boulders, mud and splintered wood he was the one feeling confronted.
After two-and-a-half years, the community of Cherryville has not heard one word from the logging company or the supposed investigators concerning this slide.
Credibility needs to be earned in Cherryville. BCTS looks right past the person who came up through the logging and milling industry, game-guided all over these mountains, helped establish our community forest with a motto, “Forty years from now it will look like 40 years ago,” and eventually represented our area at the Regional District of North Okanagan for 20 years.
They look past the person who has lived for decades at the foot of Cherry Ridge, ranges her cattle on the hill, and actually rode on her father’s knee on the bulldozer as he cut the original road.
There are hundreds of these folks out here, each with their own piece of wisdom, who are being looked past and who would never be considered experts.
BCTS will bring us someone from the suburbs, obviously uncomfortable in a hard hat, and who has never felt the pain of constantly advancing clear-cuts around his home or the fouling of his water source.
If BCTS wants a win for the province, then it should allow the proposed expansion of Cherryville’s community forest and give the ridge to folks who care for the long run. That would quiet us down considerably.
We could give the province a shining example of a local economy, give folks on the creek some peace of mind, and in 40 years, it will look like it did 40 years ago.
Tim Staker,
Cherryville water steward
