I am sitting here at 7 a.m. writing this letter when I should be sleeping in. Saturday is the only day that we have that option in this house. Why am I awake at 7 a.m. on a Saturday you ask?
Well let’s see, our family was awoken by the melodious sounds of the helicopter that has been logging the mountains in our valley daily. Every morning at 7 a.m.!
We don’t particularly enjoy listening to the helicopter every morning at breakfast and on the rare occasion these days when we can barbecue and sit out on our deck for dinner. Trying to talk above the whirring noise and ask the kids how their day was isn’t my favourite thing to do. We put a lot of time and money into our deck and now we can’t enjoy it.
It’s not the fact that I am awake, or that my deck is unused that has me most angered, it is an accumulation of this entire business! The continuous logging has driven the wildlife out of their habitat and into the residential areas where, I don’t know about everyone else, but they are eating everything that we have grown. Anything that is not in a greenhouse is fair game to the deer. In the last 21 years that my family has lived in the Chilliwack River Valley, there has never been a deer problem. An occasional foot print here and there in the garden, but this year? It is a near daily event to be shooing them off of the property, but the damage has been done because they have been eating since 5 a.m. So if the deer are here, when bear season starts I will not be able to allow my children to play in their own back yard. Forget the sunscreen, I’ll strap a blow horn to each of their necks and arm them with some bear spray so they can get some fresh air and enjoy their summer vacation.
The logging trucks, these are my greatest concern! The speed limit here is 60km, I have been passed by logging trucks (loaded) while doing the speed limit! There is no regard for the safety of this community!!
Our road is not especially wide, there are pedestrians on the side of the road and there are children who stand at the road and wait for the bus! When the trucks go flying up and down this road at 7 a.m. on a school day, it is still dark out some months of the year and the kids are standing out in the dark waiting for their bus!!
There is no one to hold these drivers responsible!
Maybe I am cranky because I didn’t get my sleep in day, but really it is time for some accountability!
I understand that we need to keep our economic head above water but at what cost?
S. Brubaker
