VLSA Board Meeting Minutes: March 27, 2021

March 17, 2021

1. Call to order

Norm Gaumont called to order the board meeting of the Vaseux Lake Stewardship Association at 14:00 on March 17, 2021, this was a Zoom meeting.

1. Roll call

Norm Gaumont conducted a roll call of the Board members. The following persons were present:  Rosalind Gardner, Myles Radchenko, Phyllis Radchenko and Diane Worth.  

1. Open issues

• Norm Gaumont updated on the application to the South Okanagan Conservation Fund (SOCF) for a $30,000 grant to study the siltation of the north end of Vaseux Lake.  In December the Association received notice that the application for the funds had been refused.  The following were the reasoning for the denial from the SOCF panel of experts. 

1)  Proposal poorly presented – including minimal info on the problem, biodiversity threats, work plan, measures of success, expertise and how it applies to this project. Vaseux lake Stewardship Association does not have experts being paid large sums of money to write up proposals compared to other organizations.  Many of the info requested would be determined in the study.  The Association felt if info was missing in the application why were we not contacted and provided some feedback before this final decision was made.

2) The SOCF panel of experts decided the resulting report unlikely to provide any new information or significant value in addressing the issue at a significant cost.  This comment was made without any kind of report or study providing evidence that this was the case.

3) Concerns that statutory decision maker and others have not been included or involved in this study.  It is hard to include statutory makers or other partners when we have no funding.  The Association stated once we had funding these partners would be included.

4) No in-kind or funding partnership; only 7% outside funding identified. Vaseux Lake Stewardship Association is very small and has very limited resources,  funding should not be made available for only well-funded organizations.

5) Shutteworth Creek is primary sediment source and there are limited options for addressing the fine sediment transport/deposition issue (very expensive and difficult to address).  Comments made by the SOCF failed to provide any kind of supporting documentation or recent study providing relevant evident that the sediment problem cannot be reduced at a cost that would be acceptable to government regulators and outside partners.

6) Project of limited value considering outcomes from work directed at this issue to date and has many challenges in coming up with answers beyond what has already been determined in previous studies.  The SOCF did not mention or provide what previous study came to these conclusions.

7) Sedimentation is a natural process within the watershed.  This scenario is repeated in Ellis Creek where no solution has been found to address fine sediment transport/deposition.   SOCF made a comparison to another watershed without any kind of documentation showing the two situations are similar and again no supporting studies or documentation provided. 

8) Important to understand that a significant amount of work has been done on the Okanagan River system, especially Shuttleworth Creek, and sediment sources including logging, residential, agricultural, and natural slide sources of sediments have been studied.  Concerned that an expensive report generated will come to the same conclusion related to solutions – expensive and not feasible.  SOCF provided no recent studies which would lead to these conclusions. 

9) Feasibility strategies to reduce sediment transport are likely limited to actions within Shuttleworth Creek, however high cost compared to potential downstream improvements would make this a questionable investment.  Once again a comment made without any kind of supporting documentation.

 

Comments made by the SOCF seemed to be of an individual’s personal opinion not based on any provided facts.

 

1. b) On the 7th January 2021 Norm Gaumont provided a presentation to the RDOS Environment and Infrastructure Committee objecting to the decision made by the SOCF panel of experts.  The RDOS Committee was under the assumption the Larratt Aquatic water study done at Vaseux Lake in 2017 and 2018 had completed an in-depth study of the siltation problem.  The Board was shown that a total of 3 paragraphs were dedicated to the issue and it was never really looked at in a comprehensive way.  The point was also made that there has been no recent study made on the siltation issue of Vaseux Lake that has been provided to the Association and any documents found date back 20 to 50 years or more.   Pictures were provided showing the extent of siltation in the past 10 years and how 10% of the lake has now been lost and another 10% may be in jeopardy.  

The RDOS Board voted to provide the funding and recommended regulatory agencies should be included in the study as well as outside partners.  The Association indicated this would not be a problem.

1. c) On the 1st March 2021 at 01:00 PM the Chair of the Association Norm Gaumont and Jim D’Andrea the Vise Chair met with numerous regulatory agencies and outside partners to discuss the siltation study.  James Littley (OBWB), Shaun Reimer (FLNRO), Camille Rivard-Sirois (ONA), Liisa Bloomfield (RDOS), Ailish Murphy (wildlife Canada), Bruce Harrison  (Ducks Unlimited), Bryn White (South Okanagan Conservation Fund).  The following were discussed:

1) Norm Gaumont and Jim D’Andrea updated the group on the reasons for the siltation study and some of the parameters and why it was important to get their input on how to improve the parameter of the study. The following were comments made during the meeting.

2) Shaun Reimer had concerns relating to the ability to move water during high flood years and how this may get worse in the future. He also had serious doubt on the ability to limit in a meaningful way the amount of fine silt coming from Shuttleworth Creek. 

3) Bryn White had concerns relating to making sure regulatory bodies need to be actively involved in the process.  Norm Gaumont stated this would not be a problem but the regulatory bodies should not be in a position to stop the study until a final recommendation can be made and accessed.

4) General comments were made on how the study should look at the overall effect on milfoil proliferation and how this affects the biodiversity of Vaseux Lake in particular the migration of Sockeye salmon. 

5) The ONA felt there may be some ability to collaborate since there were many 

 

1. d) Myles Rachendko provided an update on the monthly Vaseux Lake water testing and indicated results can be found on the Vaseux Lake website.  We discussed when the midterm report would be provided in early June so another $1500 in funding would be received from the Okanagan Basin Water Board to continue the water testing throughout the summer months.

1. New Business

• Norm Gaumont discussed the next steps relating to the Vaseux lake study.  That we will be working on modifying the parameters of the study with WaterSmart Solutions based on the input from the partners and will be meeting with ONA on the 26th of May at 10:00 AM to discuss their project on the Okanagan River Restoration Project between OK Falls and Vaseux Lake and discuss working together on the siltation issues.

• Norm Gaumont reminded the board members that elections would be held this year at the next general membership meeting and that he felt a new chair would be a good idea.  

 

1. Adjournment

Norm Gaumont adjourned the meeting at 15:15 hrs.

Minutes submitted by:  Norm Gaumont