[imported_ryland]

My name is Ryland Nelson and I work with Casey Brennan for Wildsight as well.

The work that I do for wildsight is meant to try to find a fair and balanced approach to development. One that finds a space for nature amongst our industrial uses of the region. See my responses to your post below:

world1st wrote :
> Wildsight proves once and for all that they are not interested in what is
> fair or balanced. Of course, we all knew they would continue to demand a
> national park. Here is what we can draw from their predictability:

Wildsight will continue to support moving forward with the feasibility study that is currently proposed by Parks Canada to complete Waterton National Park by adding the southeastern third of BC’s Flathead to the protected complex.
>
> • Wildsight does not believe in any form of economic development, however
> conservatively done. Tembec is a certified forest company that in the
> Flathead uses the most careful logging methods in North America.
> Nonetheless, if they had their way, all these family-supporting jobs would
> disappear.

Wildsight worked with Tembec to help them gain their Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certification that opened up new markets for their paper products. This may be one of the reasons that they survived and other timber companies did not. If a national park were to be established in the Flathead only 1/3rd of the valley would be off limits to logging. The remaining 2/3rds would remain open to logging.

>
> • Wildsight does not believe in hunting as an effective tool to control
> healthy populations. Hunters and guide outfitters should be forever wary of
> trusting this group because they are more than happy to create a federal
> park and end forever the hunting that has occured in the Valley for over a
> century.

Responsible sportsmen recognize that core protected areas are required to sustain healthy populations for better hunting outside its boundaries. Currently there is less than 5 acres of wildlife sanctuaries in all of Southeastern BC. The closest being Waterton-Glacier National Park to the South and Kootenay and Glacier National Parks to the north.

British Columbia should do its part in contributing to the core protected area of Waterton-Glacier and fill in the missing piece. If this is not done the core protected area is incomplete. Just look at a map to see the big chunk missing out of it where BC protrudes into it.

>
> •Wildsight and their allies will continue to oppose any economic
> development in the Elk Valley, including any new pits proposed by Teck
> Coal. I predict a very rough ride for Teck in the next few years. Those who
> understand how the coal mines support our communities will need to step up
> our public support of mining in the Elk Valley.

Wildsight is not against mining. We recognize that mining is the backbone of the regional economy, providing important benefits to Elk Valley communities. Wildsight does, however, have concerns about the impacts that existing operations are having on water quality in the valley, and about the impacts new mines and coalbed methane developments will add to an already-stressed ecosystem.

Current environmental conditions need to be assessed comprehensively, at the landscape level. And cumulative effects of existing projects should be analyzed so that their true impacts can be evaluated—before any new mines or coalbed methane projects proceed.

>
> •Wildsight will bitterly oppose coal bed gas exploration by BP in the Elk
> Valley. Those who see this activity as a clean, safe industry and
> understand that our rules for cbg in BC are the strictest in North America,
> will need to be willing to say so publicly. Get the facts on cbg.

check out this review of BC’s so called world class CBM regulations. http://dogwoodinitiative.org/publicatio … h-columbia

[imported_ryland]

would be really interested in the photos and locations you have. Sounds like a real problem.

Sounds like you don’t really know who I am. Maybe we could go for a sled to the wells your talking about. I will bring some of last years elk from my buddies and case of kootenay (im not red neck enough to drink bud) And I could tell you some stories about my Grandpa "Killer Bill" Kennedy.

And also, if your interested, I could talk to you about some of the many scientists that Wildsight bases the work that it does on. Could even arrange for you to meet with them if you would like.

PM me if your interested.

[imported_ryland]

FernieLocal101 wrote :
> Yup, those wild sight guys are out to lunch on a lot of stuff…. I tried to
> give the GPS co-ordinates of an old abandoned well site that is leaking
> production water up the valley… as well as maybe provide a few pictures I
> have collected over the years of horrible things that happen when
> drilling…. But that wildsight guy gave me the cold shoulder, came across
> like an ignorant prick and showed no interest in what I had to say…. maybe
> if I had a twenty dollar donation to help pay for a helicopter ride for him
> he might have listened more….
>
> He lost my support….
>
> I’m an outdoor enthusiast… and I’m glad the flathead will stay the way it
> is… I catch huge bull trout and shoot monster bucks back there….As far as
> CNRL goes…. Good on the guy for doing so well with business…
>
> Maybe if wildsight asks CNRL really nice they will get special lift passes
> for the ski hill, or have a day just for them, they can call it hippie’s
> ski free day, and they all get to walk up and down the mountain to save
> energy…. For FREE!!!

Hi FernieLocal101, I do not believe that I have heard from you before. I would be very interested to hear about your experience with abandoned well sites leaking production water up the valley and any photos that you may have. If it is the stormcat operations north of Fording that you are talking about. We are very aware of this situation. Stormcat has been discharging toxic water from their exploration wells for many years now. We have raised this concern with the Provincial government and the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans and it is being investigated. Recently the Provincial government changed the laws to disallow this kind of activity. However the Stormcat operations were grandfathered (existing wells and wells they had permits for) We continued to pressure them to try to shut down this loophole, but were only able to tighten up the grandfathering so that it only applied to active wells and not to wells they had permits but have not yet started. I hope that one day we can cease the discharge of this toxic water all together.

I hope that we can regain your support.

Ryland Nelson
Southern Rockies Program Coordinator
Wildsight
250.531.0445

[imported_ryland]

I don’t often check out these forums. But when I did I was very surprised to find that someone has been masquerading as "wildsight" without the organization knowing about it. I have since asked the forum moderator to ban this user.

Any posts by the user ‘wildsight’ are not official Wildsight communications. Sorry for the confusion.

Ryland Nelson
Southern Rockies Program Coordinator
Wildsight
250.531.0445

[Author]

Posts