There’s no concern for the elk population

DEAR EDITOR: Canadian Horizons is a Surrey developer applying to rezone a property along the north boundary of the Penticton city dump. The plan is to clear-cut about 125 acres and build a subdivision of about 300 homes.

Currently, the property is zoned as country residential, meaning about one home per two acres. If building next to the dump isn’t reason enough to oppose this subdivision, we should also consider the wildlife that currently takes refuge on that property.

At present, there are 15 red-listed

(near extinction) and 15 blue-listed (endangered) birds in the South Okanagan in the British Columbia species at risk report. Many of these are the songbirds that visit our gardens, or the birds that help control local insect infestations.

In a year 2000 report entitled “A National Treasure at Risk,” Richard Cannings stated: “The South Okanagan Valley is one of the four most endangered ecosystems in Canada.”

Melody Hessing in her report on species at risk in the Okanagan, says, “The Okanagan is not only noted for the diversity and uniqueness of its plant and animal species, it is also the region with the most endangered, threatened and rare species in the province.”

If you are lucky, on winter days you might see the Greyback elk herd grazing on and around the property. It’s a critical winter-feeding range as well as a spring calving ground. With this development, you can be certain that the elk will finally be added to the list of extinct animals.

In report after report, we are shown that human encroachment into wildlife habitat is responsible for the world-wide extinction of species.

In the Okanagan, because of the population density in the valley bottoms and encroachment into the bench-lands and slopes, we are witnessing the extinction of many more species. The proposed development will greatly accelerate the local extinction of amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, some of which are unique to this area.

Given the abundance of wildlife and the sensitivity of the habitat and the species at risk, it’s clearly evident that a planned subdivision on the Spiller Block promises to be the tipping point for many of those species on the list.

Any development of the scale proposed by CH on the hillsides above the Naramata Bench would fly in the face of conventional wisdom and destroy more of the natural habitat of already threatened species. To approve this planned sub-division or any change in zoning to allow for greater density on the Spiller Block would entail callous disregard for the natural habitat and the wildlife that nests, grazes or hunts there.

As concerned citizens and as an elected council, we can do the right thing and recognize what we are being told over and over: We must be smart about how we develop.

The proposed Spiller Block subdivision is not only lacking in smart, it is wantonly destructive, both aesthetically and environmentally.

Bill Laven Penticton