Mild mannered February
February has for the most been a kind month, weather-wise, with many sunny days and temperatures that made being outdoors very pleasant. This winter has been great for fun on the ice and also for fishing. I can’t remember any previous winter when it was so pleasant to sit out on a bench in the sun drinking tea. My black cat is solar heated and becomes almost too hot to touch after a few minutes sitting on the bench beside me. The sunshine is a nice way to get the daily dose of Vitamin D.
Our feathered friends
February has also been a good month for bird watching. In my yard we have the usual winter customers. I count 12 different birds in all; with several exceptions this year. There was a starling hungrily eating away one day and there has been one white-throated sparrow as a regular customer as well. Two beautiful Steller’s Jays visit each day, their feathers gleaming in the sunshine. They are such a wonderful birds and I am glad to learn that they are BC’s provincial bird. If only I could understand what they are telling me when they sit up in the tree and talk at me. The Great Backyard Bird Count from Bird Studies Canada has just been held. This is a good way for the scientists to get on-the-ground information on what birds are where in Canada in the winter. Last year 7,500 Canadians submitted information and this data should contribute to more accurate records of where the birds are. I have one complaint though, and that is that the on-line submission form requires that the reporter input a town or city location for the viewing site. There is no option for rural dwellers to indicate their location; it won’t accept my postal code. Birds only live in towns or what?
Transfer Station hours
Summer hours are in effect for the Loon Lake Road Transfer Station starting March 1. Until next November the transfer station will be open on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 8 am until 6 pm. The TNRD has issued a press release stating dates for free dump days around the region. The good news is that this year Loon Lake has made the list with a free dump day on June 3. Further information will be forthcoming. No such luck with the Household Hazardous Waste Round Ups however.
TNRD asking for input
The TNRD is inviting residents to give input to the TNRD’s Five Year Financial Plan before March 31. You can see the plan on their website at https://tnrd.civicweb.net/Documents/DocumentList.aspx?ID=60833. It is a good idea to ask questions and try to understand where your tax money is going so that your local politicians know you care about what they are doing for you.
The play’s the thing
Much ado and then what? The controversy within the Loon Lake recreation society appears to have inspired at least two persons to plan to write a book on it and how it began with several questions back in September. Should be interesting reading. The e-mails that have been sent around would fill 100 pages at least. Perhaps I could suggest that a light comic opera, inspired by the on-goings, would be entertaining. I would like to see it performed on a big barge in the middle of the lake some warm August evening, with lots of water pumped up around for effect. The rhetoric; it could go on and on! Will, where are you when we need you?
For the history books
And more about books on our Loon Lake. Nancy M. Anderson has just put out The Pathfinder: A.C. Anderson’s Journeys in the West, published by Heritage House. This book tells about the explorations of Alexander Caulfield Anderson in the mid 1800s and his work on mapping trails to the fur trade forts in the interior of BC and down to the main forts on the coast. It includes brief mention of trails passing through the Loon Lake valley. I have just sent away for my signed copy and look forward to reading it. One hundred and sixty years ago and even before that, access to Loon Lake was via trails – by foot or horseback. It is around 100 years now since a wagon road was established along the Bonaparte River as far as Loon Creek. There were as well as other roads over the hills from Clinton to access the Loon Lake valley for homesteaders and for trapping, hunting and fishing. The first vehicle access road via the Bonaparte was established in 1932-33. Since that time there have been several major changes in routing and a great improvement in driving conditions.
Barbara Hendricks