Garden Tour
Don’t forget about the Ashcroft Garden Tour on Saturday, June 22, sponsored by the Ashcroft Communities in Bloom committee with the sponsorship of the Ashcroft-Cache Creek Rotary Club. Pick up a map and visit 10 Ashcroft gardens, where you’ll get inspiration and see some wonderful artwork courtesy of the Ashcroft Art Club.
There is no charge, but a donation to support the Ashcroft CiB committee can be made at any participating garden. Maps can be obtained at the Ashcroft Bakery, Ashcroft Home Hardware, Desert Hills Ranch, the Ashcroft HUB, and OK Stop.
Invasive plant management on Highway 5
Invasive plant management activities are scheduled to take place starting June 19 along Highway 5 (Coquihalla) between Kamloops and Merritt. Crews will be working Monday through Thursday from 5 a.m. to noon over a two-to-three week period.
The Thompson-Nicola Regional District has partnered with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to manage invasive plants along this busy and popular route. Invasive plant management crews will be working to manage priority invasive plants, such as knapweed, along the northbound and southbound right-of-ways and the centre meridian of the highway. Traffic control will be implementing single-lane closures to ensure the safety of crew members.
Invasive plants are plants that do not occur naturally in B.C., and their presence can cause environmental and/or economic harm, while some species can harm human health. They are extremely aggressive, reproduce rapidly, and often out-compete crops and native vegetation. Transportation corridors have been identified as a key pathway of invasive plant spread as plants and plant parts are easily transported on vehicles.
Learn more about invasive plants by visiting http://tnipmc.com/index.php/about-us/.
Rivertown Players back for another season
The Kamloops Arts Council’s Rivertown Players—in partnership with Project X—are back for another summer filled with laughter and fun. Beginning at Art in the Park on July 1, the Rivertown Players will perform at parks and events all over Kamloops, providing free entertainment for children and the community. More information and updates about this year’s season will be available on their Facebook page (Kamloops Arts Council’s Rivertown Players - in partnership with Project X).
Due to significant funding cuts, the Players will only be performing through July, so be sure to get out early to see the show! Under the guidance of producer/director Dusan Magdolen, three Thompson Rivers University theatre students (Des Geddes, Jane Harestad, and Brendan Law) are busy writing and preparing their own original plays, which they’re excited and eager to share with audiences of all ages at venues around Kamloops.
Adult summer reading club
The Thompson-Nicola Regional Library is running a summer reading club for adults aged 18+ between July 2 and August 17, and registration is open now.
Participants just need a valid TNRL library card in order to register. There are two ways to take part: read or listen to materials that have one letter in the title that is included in the word “imagination”, or log your reading between July 2 and August 17 in 15-minute increments. Your reading will give you chances to enter a prize draw, with one grand prize and five runner-up prizes; the more you read, the more chances you have to win.
You can sign up at your local library branch, or online at www.tnrl.ca/adultsrc. Booklets to record your reading are available at all library branches or online. Completed booklets must be returned by August 24 in order for participants to be entered in the prize draw.
Tipping fee changes
Starting June 28, 2019, Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) residents and businesses will see changes to the rates for disposing of major appliances, mattresses, yard waste, and concrete.
Users of the Eco-Depots and Transfer Stations throughout the TNRD can expect to pay less for discarding major appliances, including residential fridges, freezers, water coolers, and removable/portable A/C units.
All of these items are now free to drop off as part of the collaboration with the MARR (Major Appliance Recycling Roundtable). For a complete list of items included, visit www.marrbc.ca.
Fees for mattresses and box springs will be changing to $15 per unit (regardless of size) to reflect the true cost of processing. The majority of materials found in these items can be recycled, which requires a significant amount of labour to accomplish. By properly diverting the recyclable material, important resources can be recovered, which means that space can be saved at the landfill.
Businesses and commercial users can expect to pay a small fee to help cover the processing cost for yard waste. Although easily diverted, this material requires chipping and transportation to be used properly. The new fee for businesses that drop off yard waste will be $40 per tonne.
Renovation and construction projects will see lower fees for disposal, as long as all the material is properly sorted. Clean concrete and asphalt will now have a lower fee of $20 per tonne. This material must be separated from other wood or general refuse to get this reduced fee.
For more information about tipping fee changes, contact Andrew Roebbelen, Waste Reduction Coordinator, by phone at (250) 377-8673 or email aroebbelen@tnrd.ca.
Golf for a good cause
Make the most out of this year’s golfing season with the BC Lung Association’s Golf Savings Book. Featuring more than 90 courses across the province and Washington state, the Golf Savings Book offers great deals for only $35, and is the perfect way for British Columbians to golf more, for less.
Ashcroft resident Carolyn Chorneychuk has been a volunteer director for the BC Lung Association for more than 18 years, representing the South Cariboo region. “Our Golf Savings Book is the perfect gift for your favourite golfer,” says Chorneychuk. “For less than the cost of one round of golf, the book gives you access to hundreds of dollars of savings that you can use throughout the year.
“The fact is, most of us know someone with a breathing problem, and buying the BC Lung Association’s Golf Savings Book gives golfers a way to give back and support the one-in-five Canadians affected by lung disease doing what they love most.”
All book sale proceeds support vital lung disease research, patient advocacy, education, and support programs. Learn more about the courses and offers available by visiting www.golfandsave.ca or calling the BC Lung Association toll-free at 1-800-665-5864.
Carrot Rewards to help with wellness
British Columbians are being encouraged to download the Carrot Rewards smartphone app, which will enable them to learn more about how active transportation can make their life and the environment better.
Carrot Rewards is a free wellness app that allows people to complete questionnaires and make healthier lifestyle choices in exchange for reward points.
Carrot Rewards app users who achieve their daily walking step goals can collect consumer reward points that will help them enjoy rest time at a movie or stock up on healthy snacks at local grocery stores.
The B.C. government is contributing $169,000 to the award-winning app, which can be downloaded from the Apple store or Google Play, to help educate British Columbians on how to make active transportation an essential part of healthy, green, and affordable communities.
To download the free Carrot Rewards smartphone app, go to www.carrotapp.com/home-2/.
Nominate an outstanding senior
Do you know an outstanding senior who is passionate about a cause, or active within their community? If so, nominate them for the second annual Extraordinary Senior Award, sponsored by Retirement Concepts in partnership with the Alzheimer Society of B.C. and the Pacific National Exhibition.
The recipient of the Extraordinary Senior Award will receive his or her award at Seniors Day at the Fair at the PNE on Aug. 22, 2019. The award includes a VIP day at The Fair at the PNE, including admission and parking, dinner for two at Hendricks Resto-Lounge in the Westin Grand Hotel, accommodation at the Westin Grand Hotel, and travel to and from the PNE.
Nominees must be over the age of 65 and a resident of British Columbia. The Extraordinary Senior Award will be accepting nominations online across B.C. until July 15; go to www.extraordinarysenior.com for more information or to make a nomination.
Public input on Forest and Range Practices Act sought
The B.C. government is inviting British Columbians to provide input into improving the Forest and Range Practices Act.
“Making changes to the act is essential to strengthen government’s oversight of the forest sector and improve public trust in how our forests and rangelands are managed,” says Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development.
“We want to improve the legislation to ensure it will continue to sustainably manage our forests and rangelands in the face of climate change.”
A discussion paper (“Forest and Range Practices Act Improvement Initiative: Renewal and Resilience”) and feedback form are available online at http://engage.gov.bc.ca/forestandrangepractices. Feedback can be provided until July 15, 2019.
The Forest and Range Practices Act governs on-the-ground forest and range activities on B.C.’s 55 million hectares of public forest land and its rangelands. Some 22 million hectares are considered available for timber harvesting, but less than one per cent is harvested each year.
Guiding principles for proposed changes include putting the resiliency of the land first, public trust, reconciliation with First Nations, and scientific knowledge, as well as flexibility and adaptation.
Feedback from the engagement process will inform changes to the Forest and Range Practices Act and regulations that are planned over the next two years.
editorial@accjournal.ca
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