October 15th is the last the day the public can comment on whether a proposed Independent Power Project should get an ‘Investigative License” for development in the ancient Incomappleux rain forest located in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia.
According to Craig Pettitt from Valhalla Wilderness Society, scientists have “…identified 283 species of lichens in this forest. 3 of them are new to BC and Canada, another 3 are new to North America and 7 are new to science.” Pettitt goes on to explain that the work done through sampling wind fall and stumps in clear cuts have estimated trees in this old growth forest to be as old as 1600 to 2000 years!
The complete video interviews with Pettitt are posted at SmallTownFilms.com via our Youtube.com channel, along with a link to an EcoSociety post with a sample letter against the development that can be copied into the Comments section, and can also be sent to your local government representative. The Valhalla Wilderness Society website houses many of the scientific reports referenced and other research done about the area.
We implore you to take the time to learn more about the Incomappleux and the devastating effects any development will have on its fragile ecosystem.
Comments can be posted on the Integrated Land Management Board website which also has details about the proposal submitted by TransAlta (formerly Calgary Power).
http://www.arfd.gov.bc.ca/ApplicationPosting/viewpost.jsp?PostID=32709
References:
1) http://www.arfd.gov.bc.ca/ApplicationPosting/viewpost.jsp?PostID=32709
Client: Galena Bay Power Corp.
Purpose: WATERPOWER/INVESTIGATIVE PHASE
Region: Kootenay, Cranbrook
Agency: Crown Land Allocation
File: #4404712
Location: vic of Upper Incomappleaux River
Area (Hectares): 17,044 hectares more or less
BCGS Mapsheet: Various
Legal Description: All those parcels or tracts of land in the vicinity of Upper Incomappleaux River, Kootenay District
2) http://ecosociety.ca/incomappleux-IPP
Background
A huge power corporation, TransAlta, has applied for a permit to do feasibility studies in order to install a power plant in the Incomappleux river valley.
The TransAlta proposal claims a capacity to generate 45 megawatts of power. Any project under 50 MW will receive no formal Environmental Assessment, yet the power production can be increased in the future.
What’s at Stake
The Incomappleux valley has been severely logged for a major part of its length. But the logging stopped before the end of the forest, leaving behind a five-kilometre stretch of river with very rare valley-bottom Inland Temperate Rainforest, with trees up to four metres in diameter and 1,800 years old. Scientists say this forest could have been growing undisturbed since the last ice age. It is part of a 17-kilometre stretch of wild river running through intact wilderness adjacent to Glacier National Park.
This now famous valley has drawn scientists from five countries to study the biodiversity of its ancient rainforest and its extensive wetland and have found numerous rare species.
What you can do
Send a letter to BC’s Integrated Land Management Bureau (ILMB) by midnight, September 20. Get your friends and family to do it too. Post in on your face book site. The following sample letter can be pasted into the government’s comment space on its website, and you can change it however you wish to express your own views.
SAMPLE LETTER (Copy and paste into Comments section of the Integrated Land Management Bureau Website)
It is unthinkable that the government would allow an IPP on the Incomappleux River. The interior of BC has only one segment of intact, wild river flowing through an undisturbed tract of ancient Inland Rainforest with trees 1,800 years old. This forest is very, very rare: a world heritage to be preserved for future generations. Development for this IPP would be right in the middle of this small tract of very ancient forest. The stretch of river where water will be diverted is prime grizzly bear habitat used by the bears of Glacier National Park. Scientists from many countries have come to study the biodiversity of the forest and surrounding wetlands. They have found rare species, including species new to science. The Incomappleux River is spawning and rearing habitat for the bull trout of the Arrow Lakes Reservoir, one of only 5 tributaries that contribute bull trout to the lake.
The activities of the investigation, and their potential impacts, have not been adequately disclosed by the proponent or the government, but it’s clear that the damage would begin with this investigation. Signing it would cause irreparable harm to BC and its residents. The Incomappleux River has many friends who want it kept as it is. This area should be protected as it holds precious opportunities for the future as it stands today. I strongly urge you to do the right thing and turn the permit application down NOW!
Send a copy of your letter
• Premier Christy Clark, Fax No: (250) 387-1715, email: premier@gov.bc.ca
• Hon. Steve Thomson, Min. of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources, Fax: (250)387-6249, FLNR.Minister@gov.bc.ca
• Hon. Terry Lake, Min. of Environment, Fax: (250)387-1187, terry.lake.mla@leg.bc.ca
• Norm MacDonald, MLA for Columbia River-Revelstoke, Fax: (250)344-4815, Norm.Macdonald.MLA@leg.bc.ca
• Michelle Mungall, MLA for Nelson-Creston, Fax: (250)356-5937, michelle.mungall.mla@leg.bc.ca
• Katrine Conroy, MLA for Kootenay-West, Fax: (250)304-2655, Katrine.Conroy.MLA@leg.bc.ca
Or click here to send an email to all these officials!
Learn More about the Incomappleux & Spread the word!
Integrated Land Management Bureau Website
Video about the Forest
The Incomappleux website
The Valhalla Wilderness Society of the Kootenays is urging citizens to send a message today to the provincial government in opposition of a proposed private power project on the spectacular Incomappleux river.
The province’s Integrated Land Management Bureau (ILMB) is accepting comments from the public until <OCTOBER 15TH> on private power titan TranAlta’s application to carry out potentially damaging feasibility studies for a proposed private river diversion project on the Incomappleux, considered one of BC’s most intact old growth rainforest valleys.
According to Valhalla:
The upper Incomappleux River and its very ancient rainforest are the gems of the Selkirk Mountain Caribou Park Proposal.
The valley has been severely logged for a major part of its length. But the logging stopped before the end of the forest, leaving behind a five-kilometre stretch of river with very rare valley-bottom Inland Temperate Rainforest, with trees up to four metres in diameter and 1,800 years old. Scientists say this forest could have been growing undisturbed since the last ice age. It is part of a 17-kilometre stretch of wild river running through intact wilderness adjacent to Glacier National Park.
This now famous valley has drawn scientists from five countries to study the biodiversity of its ancient rainforest and its extensive wetland. They have found numerous rare species of lichens, mushrooms, snails and plants including a number of red- and blue-listed species.
The organization is concerned that even “feasibility studies” would have a detrimental impact on the highly sensitive and rare ecosystem. “The studies alone will include drilling, and possibly road building and cutting down trees to bring in heavy equipment. This will be a huge investment on the part of the proponent for a development that would then be leverage to get the IPP approved.”
Video Transcript:
http://youtu.be/xit3-XmzAMc
So when we get up into the more intact forest at the end of the valley, the forest is much damper because it’s contiguous, its been moist air fed by glaciers, the rain fall holds longer, and as a result the species richness and biodiversity is far richer.
In a few short studies with Doctor Toby Spribille he has identified 283 species of lichens in this forest. 3 of them are new to BC and Canada, another 3 are new to North America and 7are new to science. With one one of those species being exclusive to the Incomappleux.
Not only that we’ve had mushroom scientists into this forest, and Doctor Oldriska Ceska (with Doctor Adolf Ceska) found a Phaeocolybia (Piceae) mushroom that previously was only known to Carmana and the Olympic Peninsula, two of the wettest places on our West Coast. And the finding of this Phaeocolybia in the Incomappleux is the first known inland find and also the most further most north.
Work that we have done in these forests in sampling wind fall, stumps in clear cuts have shown that these trees grow at approximately a rate of 450 years per metre of diameter, and we’ve measured trees in this forest upwards of 4 metres. And that would suggest that these trees are 1600-2000 years old. So these trees, once they’re cut down, cannot be replaced.
Once these trees are flattened to the ground, no generation will see trees or a forest of this stature again, and this is one of the reasons why we’re here now, an IPP is proposed for this valley. One of the things they have to do is put in a transmission line, well that means cutting a swath through a forest like this and that means we’re going to loose some of these trees.
Then what happens once you have the swath, is you have created a wind channel. Then how many other trees are going to be affected and blown down? So this is all part of taking apart an irreplaceable treasure.
Video Transcript:
http://youtu.be/AbkXUXCR7aY
