Naturalists are fighting to save a North Vernon wetland from the proposed extension of 20th Street to Stickle Road.

The Stickle pickle continues to be the talk of the town, with sides drawn over the merits of a traffic light versus the province's preferred option of the 20th Street extension, linking businesses on the Swan lake auto mile to the Rona/Walmart commercial area.

The Stickle Road intersection with Highway 97 near Swan lake is a notorious location for collisions and near misses. And unless something is done, someone will eventually be killed there, Mayor Akbal Mund predicts.

The controversial project has pitted environmentalists, politicians and residents against each other in a battle of opinions.

Harold Sellers, with the North Okanagan Naturalists, is dead set against having a road go through the natural habitat.

"We've lost a lot of wetlands over the years, and they are quite rare now in the Okanagan. And although this one is a small one, every wetland is valuable. We don't think it's worth losing for a road," Sellers said.

Mund says the road is nothing new, having been on the books for decades.

"That road has always been planned to go through. We are talking 30 years ago," said Mund.

Resident Vic Porcher questions why the province is "bound and determined to spend $10 million on building a road through an ecologically sensitive area ... and reroute heavy truck traffic through an already very busy road system on 53rd Avenue." 

Porcher ponders: "Who will benefit financially from this mess? 'Follow the money' is a common thread that needs to be applied here.

"Our MLA and mayor seem to be ignoring a majority of citizens who have an opinion about this situation."

Porcher says the extension "makes no sense at all, unless you consider that someone may be in a position to make a lot of money" on the project.