Backhoe Work In The Oldman River

[bigbowtrout]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

http://www.pinchercreekvoice.com/2015/09/backhoe-in-oldman-river-causes-concern.html

 

 

 

Several landowners who own property adjacent to the Oldman River in the Porcupine Hills area north of Cowley (northwest of Pincher Creek) have expressed concerns about a river diversion project that was underway in the riverbed earlier this week. The photos and video attached to this article were taken on Monday, September 21. A backhoe operator was observed creating a rock and gravel dam of significant proportions, evidently designed to channel the river away from the west bank of the river, toward the east bank, at a juncture just before an area of the river that divides into two branches.

Based on the video and photographic evidence, the diversion project includes one major blockage of the west river branch that crosses most of the river, and another dam running almost parallel to the east bank that seems designed to channel the river along a planned pathway. Numerous tire tracks in the river bed were also observed, surrounding the site and leading to it from the west bank upstream of the construction.

I arrived in the early afternoon, at the invitation of a landowner on the east bank of the river. From there the scene was clearly visible. At approximately 2:30 pm on September 21 the work stopped, the backhoe was parked, and the driver exited the backhoe. Approximately an hour after that a pickup truck with what appears to be an Alberta Conservation Officer logo appeared at the site. Two people (possibly Alberta Environmental Protection Officers) from that vehicle were seen consulting with another man for approximately an hour, walking the length of the larger of the two dams and taking pictures. After they left, the work did not resume.

Government of Alberta Senior Public Affairs Officer Jamie Hanlon, responding to my inquiries, "A portion of work conducted to date fell outside of an approval issued under the Water Act (WA). After responding to a public complaint on September 21, all work was ceased. We will be working to determine the extent of non-compliance with the WA and if any remedial measures may be required to address impacts to the river."

Dr Alan Garbutt is one of the concerned landowners in the area. "We own land just north and south, upstream and downstream of the digging site." Garbutt said he was concerned about the project itself, and with the "lack of notification and consultation" preceding the work. He said he found out after the work had commenced. "I got a phone call from my wife, who got a phone call from neighbours. I have never seen anything like this before."

"I have already notified Environment and Parks, the Minister, I have notified our MLA. I have notified the leader of the Liberal party..." said Garbutt. "The MLA (Pat Stier) was in touch with me first thing this morning. I talked to researchers in his office."

"As an Albertan, there is no way that you should be allowed, or even think about desecrating hundreds of metres of the stream bed. He has effectively destroyed that. He has probably destroyed anything downstream from there for several miles."

 

[Guest bigdirty]

Wow is really all that can be said.

[ÜberFly]

Unbelievable!!

[jpinkster]

Whooops, I also posted this down in the S Alberta space. It's ridiculous enough for two posts, just a joke!

[bcubed]

Hate to be the voice of reason, but if they had a water act approval, then he may well be a-ok to be in the river, and the land owner had opportunity to comment had he looked into it. Sounds like he may have been outside of the approval boundaries, but this is hardly unheard of.

[Conor]

That is atrocious. There is no way he had approval for that scope of work. The Water Act approval process was abbreviated post flood in AB so that stake holders could perform in stream work to correct damage and mitigate future damage, but I would be horrified if he had approval for a realignment of the Oldman. This river would also have federal jurisdiction. Even though DFO has lost a lot of bite in recent years, I would suspect they will get involved (or he/her; I wouldn't be surprised if DFO is one person in a basement office in Ottowa).

 

If the Water Act or Fisheries Act can't land this Yahoo in jail, there is something very wrong with our legislation.

[murray]

Seldom do we see the maximum penalties handed out for violations. This is one that deserves swift and severe action by the courts. As I read the story one of the neighbours mentioned that this landowner had previously tried the same thing to a lesser degree. This guy doesn't get it. It's time to make an example of him. Maximum fines, jail time and pay for the repairs.

[SilverDoctor]

I agree with Murray, handing out stiff penalties sends a message plus education for others who might consider such negative actions.

[jones]

comment has been removed

jones

[trailhead]

So you are saying that Jamie Hanlon the Alberta Government Officer that quotes in the article that there was non-compliance with the approval given to do the work, is jumping to the wrong conclusion?

[jimbow]

of course if something is posted in the comments section on the internet it must be true.

[jones]

trailhead--you are correct and my comment is deleted my apologies for being incorrect

jones

[BurningChrome]

The river will decide were it flows very quickly.

That is the best quote in the article and should be applied to the vast majority of these "flood mitigation" efforts along with this quote:

I know he is using 'my house is being threatened by the river', and the key is it shouldn't be because you were in the flood of '95, you were taken out by a boat, because you flooded, and then you knowingly rebuilt in the same place. He chose to rebuild in the flood plain.

[bcubed]

 

That is atrocious. There is no way he had approval for that scope of work. The Water Act approval process was abbreviated post flood in AB so that stake holders could perform in stream work to correct damage and mitigate future damage, but I would be horrified if he had approval for a realignment of the Oldman. This river would also have federal jurisdiction. Even though DFO has lost a lot of bite in recent years, I would suspect they will get involved (or he/her; I wouldn't be surprised if DFO is one person in a basement office in Ottowa). If the Water Act or Fisheries Act can't land this Yahoo in jail, there is something very wrong with our legislation.

By no means was I condoning what was going on, but the way that article was written is that he had some sort of WA approval, and went outside of the boundaries. I do feel that if gets a fine, it'll be a good one as the government has really been pushing the fines on the water protection side of things

[lad]

"Seldom do we see the maximum penalties handed out for violations. This is one that deserves swift and severe action by the courts. As I read the story one of the neighbours mentioned that this landowner had previously tried the same thing to a lesser degree. This guy doesn't get it. It's time to make an example of him. Maximum fines, jail time and pay for the repairs."

 

Your opinion is influenced by a neighbors opinion? Like you said you read a story. "Lets make an example of him" and you have read a story....

 

Lets wait for the authorities to make the decisions rather than jumping to conclusions. Until ALL of the facts are on the table in front of the people with the authority to make a decision everything up until that point is nothing more than speculative opinion.

 

Hows your laundry doing?

 

Here is the quote of the day by none other than Edgar Allan Poe

 

"Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear"

[murray]

LAD, I understand that you are skeptical of things you read on internet sites, rightly so most of the time. Your comments caused me to reflect on my response to this story so I went back to the original "story" that was written in the Pincher Creek news to see if I might have misinterpreted something.

After rereading the article, I stand by my comments. I do agree that we don't have all of the facts. You made a comment that my opinion was made based on a neighbour's opinion, I disagree. My opinion was based on photographic evidence. The pictures clearly show SOME of the destruction done to the riverbed.

After rereading the article, I noticed that there was some suggestions that this landowner had a permit to do some sort of remedial work at that location. Nobody actually provided hard evidence that he did indeed have the required permits so it is equally possible that he did not. One comment was that the work that was done was outside of the scope of his permits.

 

I understand that you would urge caution and not pronounce him guilty before the facts are all known. I like that as well. I would hope that this investigation proceeds quickly and if that landowner is found to be in the wrong, penalize him appropriately.

The damage he has caused to the river will have long lasting effects.

[jpinkster]

There were some conversations about this in Pincher Creek yesterday that I was a part of. It sounds like this may not be the first time this landowner tried to do something of this nature.

[WinstonAngler]

Unbelievable and sad!