A longtime Clearwater pioneer is to be recognized for his efforts by District of Clearwater.
During last Tuesday’s council meeting the councilors agreed to a recommendation from the Evergreen Acres board that the new housing complex being built for seniors and others by BC Housing next to Park Drive should be named Ed Buck Manor.
Buck was chair of the Evergreen Acres board for many years. He passed away recently.
Forest fuel contracts given out
District of Clearwater council approved another forest fuel management reduction contract last Tuesday.
Cascade Forest Management Ltd. was awarded a $67,000 contract to reduce the forest fuel loading along Clearwater Valley Road.
About 16 jobs should be created, corporate administrator Leslie Groulx reported.
So far the community assistance program (CAP) funding alone has created 240 person months of full-time employment, she said. A more complete report that includes all the sources of funding for the forest fuel reduction program should be available in March.
About $2 million has been spent on the program to date.
Council also approved awarding a $17,000 contract to BA Blackwell to develop a community wildfire protection plan.
Groulx said the plan would include such details as mapping to show the high probability areas for lightning strikes and for human-caused fires.
Councilor Bert Walker noted that having such a community wildfire protection plan would help the municipality have “shelf-ready” proposals on hand if and when more forest fuel reduction funding becomes available.
The municipality had been lucky that a forest fire risk study done earlier for Thompson-Nicola Regional District had been accepted in drawing up the proposals for the present forest fuel reduction funding, Walker felt. The study covered the whole TNRD and did not include a lot of local detail locally.
Wildfire covenant
Council authorized the mayor and chief administrative officer to sign off on a wildfire interface covenant with Egram Homes for its proposed subdivision on Clearwater Valley Road.
The covenant includes such provisions as a minimum 10-meter fuel-reduced defensible buffer around all buildings and structures, and fire resistant roofing and siding.
Sign up for census
Whether or not it should be mandatory might be up for debate. However, District of Clearwater would like to see all local residents participate in the upcoming census.
“People have to realize those numbers are key to our getting some grant opportunities,” said Bert Walker. “The people who are missed tend to be the marginal people.”