tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-127269442024-03-06T23:46:45.077-08:00Inside British Columbia - The BlogThis blog is a companion to the web site <i><b><a href="http://www.jnweb.com/british-columbia/">INSIDE BRITISH COLUMBIA</a></b></i>Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.comBlogger161125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-11337324797111726982015-07-26T23:50:00.001-07:002015-07-26T23:52:49.924-07:00Chevron officials kicked out of Unist’ot’enI haven't posted much at all but I was prompted to post this as an indication of the balance beginning to return:
Yesterday Chevron, the company behind the Pacific Trails fracking
pipeline, attempted to enter our unceded territories. They have no
consent from our chiefs and our hereditary governance system, who are
standing strong in their stance against all pipelines. Next to the
WedzinJeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-14429107338210723712013-08-29T20:54:00.000-07:002013-08-29T20:54:50.704-07:00BC Hydro and the Site C DamBC Hydro inflates demand to justify Site C Dam.
Written by Damien Gillis, Wednesday, 28 August 2013
If you take BC Hydro's recently released draft Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) at face value, you will conclude the following:
BC faces a serious power shortage in the coming decades
In order to meet this gap, we need a combination of conservation,
plus the $8 Billion Site C Dam (sure to Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-68197933402937136482013-04-02T22:23:00.000-07:002013-04-02T23:06:21.274-07:00Compact video overview of the Fish Lake / Prosperity mine process.
This video outlines the process up to:
18 March 2013
This short film presents an overview of the various Environmental Assessment processes for the New Prosperity Mine, undertaken from the Provincial to Federal level. The
perceived and actual thoroughness of the processes are investigated, with a close examination of the cross-fire of debates that ensue.
In the past coupleJeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-58071054626892683952013-03-14T21:58:00.000-07:002015-07-26T14:19:28.537-07:00Doubts about the economic viability of Taseko Mines’ New Prosperity copper-gold proposal at Fish Lake in British Columbia's Chilcotin region.A GUEST POST BY STEVE MONK.
As a person who has previously worked in the mining industry in the NWT for 15 years, I have serious doubts about the economic viability of Taseko Mines’ New Prosperity copper-gold proposal at Fish Lake.
The major investor in this project, Franco Nevada, is a royalty investment company that makes large returns on investments and options. They have a loan Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-45234602350432222252013-01-01T20:05:00.000-08:002013-01-01T20:10:46.887-08:00The Rise of the Salmon PeopleI tended to picture wild salmon as swimming the oceans - and they do. Just as important is that they swim our rivers too - an iconic and important part of the life, and balance for ecosystems and the creatures, people and cultures that grew up with them.
This movie by Jeremy Williams, released in 2011, documents the time a couple of years ago when thousands were galvanized to respond to "a Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-28912466207283346962012-10-18T14:31:00.001-07:002012-10-18T20:34:23.622-07:00Controlled burns help restore Cariboo-Chilcotin grasslands
Chilcotin grasslands, near Farwell Canyon
BC grasslands have been shrinking for various reasons, encroaching "civilization" being one of them. Less obvious, because it happens more slowly, is the encroaching of trees. In the era of maximum fire-prevention, fires were extinguished and the trees steadily move into the grasslands. In recent years, realizing this, fire-fighting authorities Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-10486140428933855412012-09-29T11:57:00.000-07:002012-09-29T11:57:13.556-07:00Great Bear Rainforest: Art for an Oil-Free Coast"This past summer, fifty of BCs most celebrated artists took a journey up
the coast, into the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest. Five-hundred
kilometres north of Vancouver is a wild coastline: home to the Spirit
Bear and whales, wolf packs and grizzlies, First Nations and coastal
communities. With the looming threat of a proposed oil pipeline and
hundreds of oil tankers a year, it is a Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-33077201450623229572012-09-23T17:42:00.000-07:002012-09-23T17:49:51.748-07:00Help permanently protect B.C.’s spectacular Flathead River ValleyA spectacular and environmentally exceptional area needs protection. This movie records a lot that has already been done - and there's more needed. Watch some of the best wildlife photographers do what they do - and see the Flathead Valley like few have.
Flathead Wild ReEdit from EP Films on Vimeo.
"Help permanently protect B.C.’s spectacular Flathead River Valley. We need a National Park Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-19380161625800606302012-08-02T15:03:00.000-07:002012-08-02T15:03:55.835-07:00David Suzuki on the Site C dam, population, power and asking critical questions.David Suzuki is liberated since he resigned from the board of his non-profit. He is speaking his mind and his heart at every opportunity. With all the political bafflegab, it's a pleasure to hear straight talk, based on some real understanding and experience. In this case, he focuses on the Site C dam in northern British Columbia as an example of excess.
We've disconnected ourselves from the Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-44446576120046300342012-07-31T20:16:00.000-07:002012-07-31T20:16:12.944-07:00More evidence that First Nations leadership is against the Enbridge PipelineIt's becoming increasingly clear that Enbridge optimism about support is on pretty shaky ground. In case there's any doubt, here's what Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs' Stewart Phillip has to say on their opposition to the Enbridge pipeline:
CBC Television, July 30, 2012Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-59068938373106117052012-02-16T15:26:00.001-08:002012-02-16T20:33:37.856-08:00Stone circle in the Chilcotin makes the newsClient of mine, Chris Czajkowski, is in the news about an unusual feature at Nuk Tessli, her alpine eco-adventure place in the Chilcotin.
What's caught the media attention is the stone circle in Mammary Meadows:
"The circle is 40 paces across. The most curious thing about it is that the rock of which it is composed is finer-grained, lighter-coloured, and sharper-edged than the rocks Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-82070957562786892312011-12-18T23:35:00.001-08:002011-12-18T23:36:08.825-08:00More on Big-Beaked birdsJim Sims picked up the story of my backyard big-beaked Hairy Woodpecker, writing about it in the October issue of Muskrat Express, the newsletter of the Williams Lake Field Naturalists.
Read on at http://www.williamslakefieldnaturalists.ca/newsletter/Muskrat%202011-10.pdfJeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-50594375833739905872011-11-17T11:51:00.006-08:002014-03-20T18:30:59.275-07:00Shale gas: Sound the fracking alarm
NEW: A Fractivist's Toolkit
The evidence is being reported across the continent: first-hand reports, scientific studies . . . fracking may get more gas but it is very bad for people and the planet. Here are some reports from British Columbia and beyond:
France looks at America, says non to fracking
France’s energy minister looked at the destruction being wrought on America’s environment Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-16177018831923031022011-10-09T14:50:00.001-07:002011-12-18T23:38:22.095-08:00Big-beaked Hairy WoodpeckerI'm no bird expert but for 12 years I've been watching and photographing the birds in my (Cariboo) back yard. Among our most frequent visitors are the hairy woodpeckers. I'm not sure I could tell one from another, except that the males have a red flash on their crown.
So, when I saw this one, I did a double take, thinking it was probably a variety I'd never encountered. But other than a beak Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-74082906430594726352011-08-29T23:36:00.000-07:002011-08-29T23:36:07.378-07:00More Wild Cariboo Backyard PlantsI've done more work on the Wild Cariboo backyard plants page and improving it, including the addition of nine new photos.
Corrections, comments etc. very helpful and very welcome.
Here's a bit of a perspective on at least part of the land on which these plants grow:
Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-43818543101318447752011-08-22T17:08:00.003-07:002011-08-28T15:41:11.365-07:00Wild Cariboo backyard plantsI live on less than an acre. About half of the available land is second growth interior Douglas Fir. We moved here 12 years ago and, other than building a raised bed garden on the sunny side of the house, I planted little else. I put my energy into a much needed clean-up, including removal (to our wood-stove) of usable wood and excess forest floor fuel. I also removed a pile of thistle and some Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-70890272937557856492011-06-27T16:37:00.003-07:002011-08-29T11:34:51.302-07:00Birds from a Cariboo Deck No.11: Hairy Woodpecker
Looks similar but is much larger (around 9 inches) than it's smaller version, the diminutive (around 6 inches) downy. An early lesson in my birdwatching: "Huge Hairy, diminutive Downy".
Spring brings the Hairy woodpecker pairs out, chasing each other in spirals around the Douglas fir. As the young grow into their adult plumage, you can still see the adults feeding them from time to time.
More Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-57471355785069063232011-01-02T23:30:00.000-08:002012-11-28T22:55:09.568-08:00Harper restrained by environmentalistsMurray Dobbin in The Tyee, points to the ability of sustained and strong resistance by environmental coalitions to keep Conservative economic single-mindedness in check. For example:
The rejection of the B.C. Prosperity copper-gold mine proposal and the saving of Fish Lake was a good example. Approving the mine in the face of very effective publicity on the part of opponents proved just too Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-34010785786101456582010-10-17T23:20:00.000-07:002010-10-17T23:20:26.993-07:00Chris Harris tours to launch his new book: MotherstoneComing soon to a venue near you (if you live in BC, that is).
MOTHERSTONE
British Columbia's Volcanic PlateauIn the high country of British Columbia's Central Plateau lies the Motherstone. It is a land that few people have walked over or seen before. It includes a chain of shield volcanoes formed over a mantle hot spot rising from a depth of 2,900 kilometers, a sea of crystallized Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-37284274483594035172010-10-01T11:30:00.003-07:002010-10-01T11:37:30.426-07:00Beetle-killed trees probably less flammable than green treesNASA Satellites Reveal Surprising Connection Between Beetle Attacks, Wildfire
The results may seem at first counterintuitive, but make sense when considered more carefully. First, while green needles on trees appear to be more lush and harder to burn, they contain high levels very flammable volatile oils. When the needles die, those flammable oils begin to break down. As a result, depending Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-16058411551456863102010-09-27T21:36:00.011-07:002010-09-28T17:50:49.477-07:00Flooding in the Chilcotin along Highway 20Reports are starting to come in from friends and clients of mine:
From Chris Czajkowski, heading home after her season at Nuk Tessli:
Sunday, September 26
I was expecting to drive to Williams Lake at 4.00am Monday morning to arrive at the garage at 8.00 for a brake job on my van . . . That was when someone said something about the road being closed near the McClinchy Bridge.&Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-29376343878039653532010-09-15T15:24:00.000-07:002010-09-15T15:24:04.318-07:00Earthship building going up in the South CaribooThis type of energy-saving and energy-efficient structure was pioneered some years ago. As the design and especially the materials used (including much use of used car tyres and pop cans) gains credibility, "Earthships" are becoming more widespread. As I write, one of these is being built on my doorstep - in the South Cariboo, near 100 Mile House.
Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-76379715476321079492010-08-08T23:10:00.000-07:002010-08-08T23:10:08.880-07:00BC Government has lost its environmental credibilityBob Peart, a member of the B.C. Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy from 1989-1992, reviews the many ways in which the BC government has alienated those concerned about support and protection for BC's natural environment.
A war in the woods appears to be heating up again in British Columbia to the point that a B.C. cabinet minister was caught calling a group of environmentalists Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-89850174292821467442010-07-25T12:06:00.001-07:002010-07-25T12:22:12.983-07:00Old Man's Beard is out thereA very promising new band from BC's Elk Valley.
See them this summer:
Jul 25 Royal on Baker - Nelson, BC
Jul 27 The Central - Fernie, BC
Aug10 Shuswap Lake - Salmon Arm, BC
Aug 14 + 15 Roots and Blues Festival - Salmon Arm, BC
Web siteJeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12726944.post-43121492090615786182010-07-09T11:04:00.030-07:002013-03-02T23:49:19.803-08:00Teztan Biny / Fish Lake still in jeopardyAccording to resource planner Tony Pearse in The Tyee, the recently-announced Federal environmental assessment leaves loopholes for the federal government to justify approving the Taseko plan, which includes using the lake as a tailings pond.
The panel had expert evidence before it that Taseko had substantially overestimated the economic benefits of its project and yet, in providing Jeffrey Newmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15212501042438116595noreply@blogger.com0