Meeting Highlights from this Quarter
New Cariboo Regional Director for Lac des Roches
Bruce Rattray attended our meeting on November 12. At the time, he was one of two candidates running for the Area L Representative position for the Cariboo Regional District (CRD). Since then and with an overwhelming show of support at the November 15 civic election, Bruce has assumed the position as our area rep. Bruce lives at Bridge Lake and promises to do his best to improve communication between area stakeholders on regional issues. Since our meeting, Bruce has provided a very informative website www.brucerattray.ca and would like to include as many residents as possible on his newsletter emails. We encourage all members and stakeholders of Lac des Roches and Birch Lake to provide Bruce with an email address to keep informed of local business. Send contact information to bruce@brucerattray.ca.
Lakeshore Development Award
In the spring, when boats are returned to the water, we are going to review the present lakeshore development on our lakes with the intent of finding good examples of riparian buffer zone protection.
Optimum Land Use Plan
Our proposed land use maps have been completed – by hand. The presentation material, explaining the maps, needs to be finalized. This will be the focus of the January meeting. Barry will be working on digitalizing the maps into the Powerpoint presentation. Although Maureen Pinkney has retired from the CRD, she has indicated that the CRD is expecting our proposal for consideration and inclusion in the Interlakes Official Community Plan.
Incorporation
Our Treasurer, David Wood, has recommended that we proceed with incorporating our group under the Society Act of B.C. Although there has been no question raised to our legitimacy as an organization, there are certain safeguards and standards for registered societies which have long term benefits should the make-up of the founding executive be significantly changed. The cost is minimal for this process.
No Birch Lake Public Access Yet
Bill Jollymore reports that there is no Government funding set aside in 2009 for developing a public access into Birch Lake. No development is planned for the near future.
Membership is growing
Gordon Marshall reports that our membership renewal count is at 95 and growing. We are pleased that residents are showing their support for the new stewardship and community focus of Friends of Lac des Roches and Birch Lake by becoming members once again. Thank you to our members for your support!
Wildlife and Water Creatures
Wendy Marshall will lead the Christmas bird count on January 3, beginning at 9 am at her house. Please call her by the night before so she knows who to expect – 250-593-2327. The BC Lake Stewardship Society is looking for volunteers to participate in a freshwater mussel study throughout B.C. lake. Sharron has offered to do this for Lac des Roches as the bay in front of her house is full of mollusks.
Muddy Lake Development will impact Lac des Roches
If the 450 acres of agricultural land is rezoned to accommodate the proposed 43 lot subdivision around Muddy Lake, there will definitely be an impact on area lakes, especially little Lac des Roches. Although Muddy Lake cannot be seen from Highway 24, it flows into the west end of Little Lac des Roches. Muddy lake is extremely shallow and has no sports fish so residents and their visitors will be looking to other area lakes for their chosen water recreation. The proposed main access is between the Lac des Roches Resort turnoff and Gerald Crescent, causing safety concerns on the highway and lake congestion activity of new residents and visitors looking for lake access. Unfortunately, our members have not indicated their feelings on development in general (as requested in our May 2008 Community Newsletter), so we cannot responded to this proposal on behalf of our membership. Individuals who wish to learn more about the development and let their concerns be known may do so through the CRD (Bruce Rattray). The public information session was held on November 14 and the public hearing is expected to be scheduled in January or February.
Land swap for Heritage Island
There was a public meeting on November 22 to discuss the proposed swap between the privately owned 62 Heritage (Rainbow) Island on Bridge Lake for approximately 90 acres of Crown Land on the south shores of Bridge Lake, east of the ice caves. This land swap is in response to the public’s opposition to the proposed development of Heritage Island into a 31-lot subdivision. An Integrated Land Management Bureau (ILMB) representative was present at the meeting and stated that the land swap was conceptual only and still needed investigation. Individuals can let their concerns be know through the CRD or ILMB.
Park it right here
Barry has inquired about park status for the crown land at the east end of Lac des Roches. Although he discussed his idea at length with a representative at the 100 Mile House office of the Ministry of Environment the subject land is in the Kamloops jurisdiction so it must be followed up with offices there. Watch for more to come in the future on this topic.
Objectives and New Ideas
With our new focus on stewardship and community, we need to be looking ahead at our focus once the Optimum Land Use Plan is complete. All executive will be thinking about what our priorities should be going forward for an upcoming meeting. Members are invited to submit their suggestions for these priority discussions.
Next meeting THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2009 1:00p.m., @ Marshall’s
**Note changed day of week and special start time. Meeting focus will be on OLUP maps.**
Other Interesting Information for Members:
Other Development Continues
There are several other development proposals in the area, on Bridge Lake, along Highway 24 and Lone Butte. These are difficult to find on the CRD website but can be found easily through Bruce Rattray’s website. Another excellent source for area information is the Friends of Bridge Lake website, www.friendsofbridgelake.org.
Fire Dues Still Required
Although the referendum passed for property taxes to fund Fire and Emergency Services in the Interlakes Area L, tax funding won’t be made available to the local volunteer fire department until August 2009. The Interlakes Volunteer Fire Department is counting on property owners to pay their volunteer fire dues for 2008/2009 which were mailed to property owners in early November, 2008.
Our Website Improved
With the generous assistance of Karl Schmitz, our website has received a much needed makeover. Although we think the appearance of the site is much improved, it is the background programming that has been most significantly improved which is a great relief to those of us still on dial-up. Thank you Karl!
Ice is on – just
Little Lac des Roches iced over completely November 25. Snowmobilers were on the lake on December 17. The big lake finally froze completely on December 14. The first snowmobilers were through the channel and on the west end of the lake on December 20, but although the temperatures have been very low during the cold snap, (-40C at the lake level), there are suspicious patches in the middle of the lake and extreme caution should be exercised!
Season’s Greetings
Merry Christmas to all of our members and residents and we hope you and your families have a safe and prosperous New Year. We’ll see most of you in the spring and summer.