In response to a question I posed about the erosion of the Kicking Horse dyke by Fisher Road, I received the following response from Jon Wilsgard.
"Staff are well aware of this situation and I have walked the area. Essentially an approximately 90m section of the dyke in the area of Golden Transfer has eroded to the toe of the dyke. As recently as 2 weeks ago the area was visited by our staff and those from the Ministry of Environment including an engineer to assess it. Clearly, work will have to be done to this section and they have stated so; however, in the opinion of the MOE staff, this does not constitute an emergency. Non emergency dyke works may only occur in the summer months due to fish habitat (window) constraints. A further assessment has been suggested to occur in the spring after the ice has melted to determine the area’s status and where to go from there.
In the meantime we are awaiting engineering prescriptions on
rock volumes and gradation and will be spending some money to stockpile some in
preparation for this project.
The eventual work to be done is likely 6 figures.
Notwithstanding the fish window, if we were to undertake the work ourselves the
tax payers of Golden would be on the hook for the entire amount. There
are two ways to obtain provincial funding to do this work. The first is
if an emergency is declared by the province – then PEP would pay and we could
do the work. But that is the province’s call. The second is to
apply for grant funding - of which there is no current intake – it will
likely be in late 2014 for 2015 works. We do intend to engage in that
process when it becomes available.
Gravel bar scalping may occur only when the bars have reached a
certain height and then through application as well. Again, this is
grantable, when there is an intake.
I agree that scalping needs doing, and we have every intention
to apply for funding when it becomes available and when DFO/Province deem we
are eligible.
In the meantime, we will continue to monitor the area and if we
see things worsening we will call the MOE staff back for their thoughts.
Despite their current assessment, I don’t want to take any chances in
missing something happening but we are authorized in no way to undertake
in-stream works at this time."
