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Wilderness society seeks all input

The Granby Wilderness Society (GWS) is hoping to get ideas for co-ordinating and developing on-the-ground restoration projects of the area grasslands.

Jenny Coleshill, GWS co-ordinator,  wants look at species at risk in the Grand Forks and surrounding areas and to get ideas together to make a grant proposal for projects in the area.

“I was hoping that maybe everyone in this room can get together and put together a big application and see what people need and what people want out there,” Coleshill said at a recent meeting.

“And not just Gilpin, it’s not the only issue in this community, there are plenty of others.”

Mike Ladd, area supervisor for B.C. Parks, spoke about the provincial parks including Boothman’s Oxbow, Gilpin Grasslands and the nature trust lands.

“We’re into protecting the grassland, so we’ve been restricting motorized vehicles and looking at trails and opportunities to put in more trails,” Ladd said.

“Right now we’re mostly doing a lot of planning and talking and some sense of where we want to go.” Ladd said that B.C. Parks has a mandate to protect the lands for conservation purposes as well as provide recreational services to the public, and protecting heritage values.

Gilpin is about 1,000 hectares (with some recent additions) while Boothman is about 34 hectares and is mostly riparian habitat.

Ladd says that motor vehicles, overnight camping and campfires are what B.C. Parks is looking out for.

Tim Coleman from Conservation Northwest in Washington State talked about the Columbia Highlands Initiative, a long-range management plan that collaborates with the timber industry, government, and local tribes.

“It has special protection for certain areas, wilderness, recreation areas and special conservation areas,” Coleman said.

Coleman said they are trying to restore the old forests to their natural cycles.

“We want to restore these old systems, put fire back into them, thin them out where Douglas Fir is encroaching on the big trees and use fire as the key part of the management tool,” he said.

Don Gayton, a biologist for FORREX, talked about his work over the past few decades of monitoring the Boundary area.

To study effects of cattle and wildlife on areas, he set up fenced enclosures in various locations, some which allow wild animals in, to compare what happens if left alone.

Gayton also talked about noxious weeds and how the efforts of fighting some of them in the past are showing up.

“What we’re seeing is a tremendous collapse of knapweed,” Gayton said.

“This is all because of biological control. We started way back in the ‘70s bringing these little tiny insects in from way over in Eastern Europe, testing them and spending lots of money,” and now seeing a result.

“It’s a 40-year timeline of payout, but it actually works,” he added.

The meeting has already resulted in some progress being made on the restoration front, said Coleshill.

“I already have a date from the high school teacher who runs the outdoor group when they want to plant trees,” she said.

“I know a rancher looking to plant trees.”

Coleshill also wanted to highlight that if anyone is interested in co-ordinating and developing on the ground restoration projects, to consider a committee that can work towards those goals.