A team of accomplished local and professional whitewater paddlers have begun a unique mission to document sections of our regional creeks that are currently on the slate for hydropower developments. The Endangered Creeks Expedition (ECE) aims at generating public awareness of Hydro Projects and their effect on our environment. After paddling theses specific areas, the team plans to document their exploration through the production of a video documentary, photos and articles in hopes of bringing this serious topic to the general public.
The idea of the ECE was born late this summer while dining at the Wild Rose Restaurant with owner Randy Speers, and fellow paddlers Andrea Miller, Klaas van Lil, Mikkel St. Jean-Duncan, world champion kayaker Ruth Gordon, and myself, Chris Ryman. “The ECE is a way for kayakers to help raise awareness to the imminent danger Bill 30 is placing on our natural waterways.” States Ruth Gordon. Joining our efforts is local kayaking club president Carl Jacks, who has brought his endless energy and passion for the cause. Over the next year the expedition team plans to explore the Slocan, Kootenay and Arrow Lake, regions where numerous independent hydro projects are currently being proposed.
On Saturday October 13, ECE paddlers Carl Jacks, Marco Colella and myself challenged the Howser Creek Canyon, the first leg of the Purcell/Duncan Lake area mission. The crew was joined with an equal number of people responsible for on-land safety. Argenta native and owner/operator of Silver Spray Rafting, Kevin Pollard headed up the safety team insuring proper precautions were being exercised. Andrea Miller-Ryman clung to the mountainside to capture the action on film.
After scouting, setting up safety, and photo/video locations the team put on the water at noon. The ideal put-in location happened to be the now proposed site for the massive Howser Creek Hydro Project main intake tunnel. Our team paddled a total of 6 kilometers through the canyon of the creek, ending our descent just above the Duncan Forest Service road bridge at Duncan Lake. It is important to note that our team successfully paddled the entire canyon without portaging any of the rapids or obstacles. “Once we committed to the canyon it would have been very difficult to climb out, it is a good thing we had proper safety.” Said paddling team member Marco Colella. The stunning beauty of the canyon was almost overwhelming, lush with wildlife and teeming with the vibrant colours of nature, we found ourselves gasping in awe while staring up from the depths of the Howser Canyon. It was and incredible honor to be the second team to ever attempt the canyon and the first to successfully navigate all of it’s rapids. “That [Howser Canyon] was the most beautiful canyon I have ever experienced” said Colella, a seasoned whitewater paddler of 19 years who has paddled over 100 rivers worldwide and starred in the ground breaking creek kayaking video” Twitch”(1999).
Successfully navigating the most difficult section of Howser Creek challenges the classification of the waterway deeming it as a recreational area. Project applicants for the Glacier/Howser Hydro Project will have to reconsider this important fact in lieu of our team’s documented status.
What is the next move of the ECE? As far as the Howser is concerned, there were talks of organizing an extreme creek race through the canyon to further raise awareness of the world class paddling location. The team also plans to further explore the nearby-endangered creeks including adjacent Glacier, East and Hammil.
Why fight for our waterways? The ECE team all agree that what we are trying to accomplish is crucial. Our team considers ourselves environmentalists first and kayakers second. Our aim is not to protect rivers for the sole purpose of paddling them but rather to preserve the natural dynamics of our rivers and speak for the wildlife that inhabits them. Since the passing of Bill 30, a tragic legislative amendment that dismantles the democratic process when proposing an independent hydro project, there has been a sudden “gold rush” on claiming BC’s rivers and streams as private profit ventures. Such private interests can now by-pass any regional governments further allowing these projects to be approved without any adequate environmental evaluation or the holding of proper public forums. In the case of Glacier/Howser concerned citizens been doing anything that they can in hopes of halting this large-scale project. In addition to our recent act of declaring Howser Creek as a “navigable” waterway, there have many been coordinated efforts towards staging protest hikes, erecting “educational workshops” during local forestry road blockades, the recent local production of a short film titled “Howser in Peril” (Dainty Deathy Productions, 2007) and the numerous writing of letters to the media.
There are various environmental concerns surrounding the GHP. The project is expected to produce 125MW of power, in no means a small run of the river project. Gary Diers, Argenta local and advocate for The Purcell Alliance for Wilderness warns of the dangers this project will bring. Species extinction of the Purcell Grizzly, Bull Trout, and an additional six mammal and 20 bird species will be endangered, threatened or severely impacted. Tunnels and Transmission Lines constructed for the project will pose a serious threat to the surrounding ecosystem. In constructing the tunnels an estimated 31, 000 tandem axle dump truck loads of waste rock muck will be extracted and dumped alongside the surrounding creeks thus possibly introducing toxic metals and acid leaching into the waterway. For an estimated 23 km, a 25-30 meter corridor will be cleared to accommodate transmission lines. While the area is currently designated an old seral patch forest, off limits to logging, it is unfortunately not protected when the need arises to clear-cut for proposed transmission lines.
Numerous questions have been raised as to the sustainability of the project. Bill 30 allows the sale of these rights to waterways, subject to a condition, where as long as the developers sell energy to BC Hydro for the first 40 years of operation, after which time, they are then free to sell the energy being produced outside of this province or country. Proponents to these projects worry our waterways will be out of public hands once the 40 years are up. There is even more concern that some projects may not even produce projected levels of energy as glaciers and water levels are rapidly depleting.
As a concerned citizen and founding member of the ECE, I urge you to search out more information regarding this provincial issue. I am not asking that you agree with our plight, our organization is aimed only at creating awareness so that the people of this region become more informed and make their own decisions regarding the issue. After all, the only way any true democracy can work is if the public allowed to be properly informed. Sadly, in this instance the public has been mislead into believing that all hydropower is “clean and green” and overall uniformed with regard to hydro projects and their irreversible consequences. The ECE is not against all hydropower as there are many sustainable ways to derive energy from hydro projects. The problem lies in the fact that there are now well over 500 waterways in British Columbia slated for hydropower development. Many of these developments are ecologically damaging and rarely considered sustainable. So, come to British Columbia, the most beautiful place on earth because of its stunning landscapes and clear, clean free flowing water. However, this will all change if recently spurred interest in hydro development goes unchecked. Please let yourself become more informed.
See you on the water,
Chris Ryman
For more information;
BC CREEK PROTECTION SOCIETY http://www.bc-creeks.org/
BC Citizens for Public Power http://www.citizensforpublicpower.ca/
Common Energy http://www.commonenergy.org/
Canadian Hydro Developers http://www.canhydro.com/
Run of River Power Inc. http://www.runofriverpower.com/
Save Our Rivers Society http://www.ourrivers.ca/
Hydro Facts BC http://www.hydrofactsbc.ca/
American Whitewater http://www.americanwhitewater.org/
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