Friday, January 27, 2017

Sledding on the Hurley and more

Winterfest is on the Family Day weekend, February 11.  This is the 8th Annual Winterfest.  Bring your families and have a fun fun day!  And hey, you don't even need to cook, with a fun Mardi Gras Themed Roast Beef Dinner on Saturday night.    

Get all the information here:  http://www.bridgerivervalley.ca/winterfest/

We will see you there!

Sledding on the Hurley FSR

This past week I received calls of concern regarding the Pemberton Valley Snowmobile Club charging people to sled over the Hurley. I have done some fact finding and here is what I have found out.

Rec Sites & Trails, a division of FLNRO is currently in the preliminary vetting stage of legally establishing a section of the Hurley FSR.  The proposal is to legalize it to Donnelly Creek from the Lillooet River FSR junction (this is approx. 42% of the entire Hurley FSR)  They would then provide authority to the Pemberton Valley Snowmobile Club to collect fees on their behalf.  Those fees would be used for maintenance and grooming of that section of the Hurley.  

It should be noted that once past the summit heading east (i.e. towards Gold Bridge) the Electoral Area changes, the provincial constituency changes, the Forest District Changes and the Snowmobile Club's informal area changes to the Bridge River Valley Snowmobile Club. 

Rec. Sites & Trails advises this is being considered in order to assist in managing various conflicts that have been occurring between tenure holders.   This is currently at a preliminary stage with Rec. Sites and Trails and they have not yet decided to proceed further in the process.  If they do decide to proceed, there is a process that includes referral out to First Nations, local government, the general public and a variety of other stakeholders for comment and input. 

Once all of these parties have had an opportunity to comment RSTBC will decide whether or not to proceed with the establishment and what special conditions that must be put in place to mitigate the problems and impacts that have been identified.  

Ray Mason photo, Xmas Eve
The Pemberton Valley Snowmobile Club have a groomer which they plan to use to groom the above mentioned section of the Hurley.  I have confirmed that at this time the Pemberton Valley Snowmobile Club may only request a donation for any travel.  ie. you do not have to pay a trail fee, or a membership fee or actually a donation.  That is entirely up to you.  

The PVSC has had some confusing communication both in private and public on this matter, so please be assured this is the current situation.




I have prepared a survey so that I can understand the views of property owners, residents, family members of, and businesses in the upper Bridge River Valley on this topic.  The results will be shared with the Rec. Sites and Trails staff and on my blog.  I am requiring your name to verify you are one of the above categories however the information shared from the survey will not include names.


This is on my task list now so I will be following up with all involved to stay on top of this and will provide updates as needed.

Road 40 update:
Please see this post:  http://www.debbiedemare.com/2016/12/road-40-story-continues.html

The SLRD Board Chair, Mayor of Lillooet, myself and the Area B director will be meeting with MLA Tegart, and the Minister of Transportation Todd Stone on February 17 to continue raising the profile of the need to invest in road insfrastructure in this area (Lillooet-Pioneer Rd. 40, Hwy 12, Hwy 99 N etc).  For us the key request is the repaving of the 25 km stretch either side of the junction with Tyaughton Lake Rd.  It has to happen....trying to maintain this, fix potholes, address the base is putting good money after bad.

Sal has been working with MOTi on getting the Lillooet & area Regional Transporation committee operating in a planned manner.The LRTAC held its first meeting on November the 29th. It was a meeting for the Committee members to meet and get a general feel of the Committee’s future direction. The next meeting will be held in February and will incorporate a 2 year Strategic Plan. I will be facilitating the Strategic Plan. Since the Committee members will be from across the Region a lot of the work will be done online to get it to the point where when we meet it will be to finalize on the details on the Committee Purpose, Terms of Reference, Goals, and Action Plans for the next two years. Once developed they will be shared via the BRVCA media sources.

I have travelled the road often this winter.  It is actually in not bad shape because it is frozen, pot holes filled by ice and Interior Roads do a great job of maintaining it in the winter.  We have had some bad weather (ice storm) and they really got at it and whipped it back into driveable condition very fast.   Winter Safety Tips can be found at: http://shiftintowinter.ca/


Still Seeking an Alternate

Speaking of my Alternate!   Norm Verner has been my Alternate for a number of years now.  Norm will be "retiring" as my alternate . I am looking for a new Alternate.  An Alternate fills in meetings (in person/phone) when for some reason I cannot attend.  This hasn't happened much in the years, an alternate is required by law in case something happens.  If an Alternate needs to fill in, they are paid the meeting fee, travel time and expenses.  It is a great way to be of service to your community and also learn alot about local government and how it works.

If you are interested in possibly taking over from Norm, please let me know.


And to Norm Verner, Thank You!  Your service is appreciated by us all.