Preparing for worst

Photo: Contributed - Hamish Kassa

Higher growth in that old enemy - the milfoil weed - was detected in Shuswap Lake this year for the second year in a row.

“It has rebounded over the last two years,” said Hamish Kassa, the Columbia Shuswap Regional District's environmental services co-ordinator, after a decline from 2006.

“This year's growth was very evident because the Shuswap's (Lake) level was very low due to a small snowpack,” said Kassa. “The plants were able to get more intense sunlight so they reached the surface sooner.

"The nuisance impact was higher than in previous years.”

The CSRD board will be asked at its Dec. 4 meeting to OK a 20 per cent increase in the 2016 milfoil control budget to $326,419, which would include purchase of a new truck.

“We've had one harvester and one rototiller going. This pickup would be used with another harvester and rototiller,” said Kassa.

He said the extra equipment would be needed if necessary and would not mean a doubling of the budget from 2015.

The board is also being urged to write a letter to the federal environment minister regarding new aquatic invasive species regulations, specifically the threat posed by zebra and quagga mussels.

“If the new regulations are effective, sufficient funding must be in place to ensure this threat does not happen in the waters of British Columbia,” reads motion to the board.

“This is a very important issue, the threat they pose to the area as a whole,” said Kassa, adding that the district has been in touch with provincial officials and applied pressure during September's Union of B.C. Municipalities convention.

Kassa, who is chair of the Columbia Shuswap Invasive Species Society, said the group owns a mobile wash station used to hose down boats to ensure the mussels do not enter local waterways.

He said the decontamination unit is one of six in B.C. operated by an auxiliary conservation officer over the summer months.