Dear editor,
On Jan. 17, the CVRD held an open house in Black Creek so that the RD, on behalf of would-be developers, and local residents, might discuss a planned future settlement node, aka development node, in the area.
The open house provided a forum to encourage residents to express their dream wish list for the community.
What was missing (as seems to be the case at all levels of government), was a consideration of environmental limitations.
Our area is supplied by water drawn from the Oyster River. The Oyster watershed has been heavily logged, exacerbating flash flooding and summer droughts.
The headwaters of the Valley are being logged as I write, further weakening its water-holding capacity.
The Oyster is fed through the summer by the mountain snowpack. We know that this snowpack will become increasingly unreliable as climate change bites.
Why then does the RD not first ask how they will service the water needs of the present residents of the area, (including salmon), into the future, before jumping towards further development?
They say they are worried about contamination due to leaky septic systems. I suggest they should be more worried that we will not have water to flush with.
Charley Vaughan,
Black Creek
