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A group of grannies will be protecting the forests in the Yankee Flats area.
Pat Peebles lives in the area north of Vernon and she will be one of the grandmas manning a friendly blockade this weekend in an effort to keep off roaders from the tinder dry woods.
The Ministry of Forests announced earlier today that off road vehicles are banned in the backcountry across most of Southeast B.C.
In response to extreme fire risk, recreational off-roading is banned in the Cariboo Fire Centre, Kamloops Fire Centre and Southeast Fire Centre. In addition, all on-highway vehicles must remain on defined road surfaces.
Peebles said they have been lobbying to have the Kelly Main Forest Service road closed because of the extreme fire hazard.
“It's like the old frontier up there,” said Peebles. “They bring bottles and shoot them and we all know glass can start a fire. We've been going up there for weeks cleaning it up.”
Peebles said discarded cigarettes are also a common sight.
As of noon today, all off roading is banned in the area, but Peebles said the granny blockade will go ahead anyway because some may not have heard the news.
“What we're doing is lawn chairs and grandmas,” said Peebles. “We will have free ice tea. We are not confrontational, we are just going to tell people not to go up there because it is too dangerous.”
Peebles said there are also a lot of people who go up there to party, which is also cause for concern.
Ray Crompton, with the Ministry of Forests in Vernon, said off roading is banned in the area, but it is not MOF practice to close an entire area to the public unless there is a fire.
“People have a right to make a living and people have a right to use the area for recreation,” he said.
Crompton said approximately 50 per cent of wildfires are human caused and most of those start near busy roadways.
“It's less common to have backcountry, human-caused fires,” he said.
