Full disclosure: Tom Roper is a member of the anti-Telkwa Coal mine group “What Matters in Our Valley.”
Finally caught up to this guy yesterday morning at his fishing lodge at the end of Raymond Road. I have been wanting to get his take on the concerns of building a coal mine seven kilometres up the Telkwa River watershed.
We, the residents, will all be affected one way or the other, but the local fishing industry could be directly impacted through any number of complications including low water levels, acid rock drainage, and increased contaminants in addition to higher levels of selenium which has been found to affect fish mortality and birth deformity in the Elk River Valley of the East Kootenays.
Derek Botchford was brought up in Toronto and fortunate enough to be part of a family that loved the outdoors. He was fly fishing at 10 years old and fish guiding for pocket money before finishing high school. He decided to head west and graduated from U.B.C. in the field of anthropology.
Then it was time to travel and why not have a job fish guiding in Chile or the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia or Alaska. Derek saw some amazing waters in some amazing places but somehow when it was time to settle down, Smithers B.C. stood out.
How is that possible I had to ask?
“I’m not sure,” said Derek. Maybe it’s the people or could it be the town or maybe the affinity to the natural surroundings. I do know it is all of those things and definitely a place I want to raise my children.
“This town believes in tourism and my business is just that. We have 12 clients arrive every week during the season. Six fish the upper Bulkley to Suskwa and six fish the Morice from our lodge at 52 kilometres on the river road.
“They then switch locations so everyone gets to see the entire watershed. These are return fishermen. They have developed friendships in town, they buy their equipment and licences in town. They go out for dinner when in town. They love this place and respect the river and fish. We are catch and release, the fish do not leave the water.”
“We all have to decide what kind of a place we want to live in. I like the fact we are not a big box store town. I like the fact this town encourages small business, we are a slow-growth community. People come here because they want to live here.
“We are a mountain and river town and I, for one, want that philosophy to continue. Our drinking water comes from that river and that is a very important resource to protect. Protecting the water is protecting the fish. My livelihood depends on that and I believe in fighting for the fish.
“My concerns for an operating coal mine setting up shop seven kilometres from Telkwa are real. I am not a doom and gloom type of guy but I do hope that all our residents step up and become aware of the consequences.
We have an emerging caribou herd residing in the proposed mine site area that will be at risk. Skeena River risks from mining are already in place with decommissioned mine sites at Granisle and Bell Copper on Babine Lake presently leaking effluent along with the perpetuity maintenance of ARD (acid rock drainage) concerns at Equity Silver above Buck Creek, south of Houston, another watershed of the Bulkley River.
“How much damage to our rivers are we prepared to accept before we reach the tipping point? My clients will tell you, no more.”
Thanks for your opinions on this concerning issue Derek and hopefully you can join the grassroots group “What Matters in our Valley” April 21 at 7 p.m. at the Old Church in Smithers for the reshowing of “The Awakening of the Skeena.”
It’s a film presenting Ali Howard swimming the Skeena River from source to estuary to bring awareness to the former issue of coal bed methane drilling in the headwaters of the Skeena.
