Topic
The mega-project would wipe out one of the province's most fertile food producing valleys. Second of five.
Peace Valley farmers, from left: Sandra Hoffman, Ken Boon, Arlene Boon and Ken Forrest.
Eating a truly local diet for a year poses some tricky questions.
That's the subtitle to a memoir about the 'trauma' and pleasures of farming on Salt Spring.
As we moved into our second, and third, cups of coffee, Ken and Arlene Boon, Sandra Hoffman and Ken Forrest itemized their concerns about the dam and its potential impact on the Peace River Valley that they loved and called home. I sat in the Boons' kitchen listening to the group talk about the potentially catastrophic effect the dam's reservoir would have on the migratory and mating patterns of local birds, fish, and ungulates. I heard their concerns about the social consequences that would result from the creation of the massive work camp that would be needed to construct the project.
If anyone needs a reminder of what kind of damage a dam can do, they told me, they need only visit the W.A.C Bennett Dam, the massive two kilometre-long earth-fill dam that was completed in 1967. Nearly 50 years on, the Williston Reservoir, a 70,000 square kilometre watershed that was flooded by the dam, remains a striking testament to the near-apocalyptic damage a dam can do to its surrounding environment. That massive reservoir, the largest body of water in British Columbia, was supposed to provide local residents with a valuable recreational resource and nearby First Nations communities with a bounty of fish and fowl. Instead, though, it is a dead zone, a toxic stew of dead trees and mercury-filled fish surrounded by the still-eroding banks, and recreational activity in the reservoir is limited to those with a taste for the extreme.
But as farmers, the damage that would be done to the Peace River Valley's agricultural capacity is what worried them the most. Why, they asked me, in an age where concerns about food security, global warming, and local culture are paramount, isn't the destruction of northern British Columbia's breadbasket a more pressing concern? It's a legitimate concern, and one that BC Hydro has yet to answer to their satisfaction.
Hydro policies already stifle food potential, say farmers
While BC Hydro contends that only 50 hectares of agriculturally viable land would be submerged by the project, local farmers, many of whom have lived in the valley for three generations, believe the figure is closer to 5,000. These farmers have proven that the class-one soil in the valley is capable of producing everything from cantaloupe to corn, while the silt-heavy class-two soil is perfectly suited for the mechanical harvesting of potatoes on a scale comparable to the industry in Prince Edward Island.
The problem, they think, is that the imposition of the flood reserve and the implementation of a passive land acquisition policy in the late 1970s by BC Hydro put the valley on death row, creating a major disincentive to investment in agricultural activity. "You hear that talk, 'All they do is grow hay down there,' or 'All they do is graze horses,'" Ken Boon said, "but that's a combination of several things, one being that agriculture isn't the most profitable thing right now. But who's to say that won't change? The other thing is that a lot of the land is leased back from BC Hydro, and people don't want to invest too much in their infrastructure. But what I say to them is, at least we're not ruining it. It's basically like holding it in trust, and when the agriculture situation changes, which it could, this land would be so unbelievably important."
Larry Peterson, a longtime resident of the Peace River Valley and an outspoken opponent of the Site C Dam during BC Hydro's first attempt to build it in the late 1970s and early 1980s, can attest to the valley's untapped agricultural potential. Peterson, who first saw the valley in 1968 before moving up there from Alberta a year later, bought 1,810 acres in partnership with his father-in-law and began working the land. "We raised up to 2,000 tonnes of potatoes with an irrigation system along the river," Peterson said by telephone in an October 2009 interview. "We farmed 3,000 acres of cropland, and had a 250 head cow-calf herd for many years. We supplied 25 per cent of the local market for many years through the Dawson Creek warehouses and the retail outlets, and we did that on just 110 acres that we rotated along the river."
A special micro-climate
Despite being located in a part of the province better known for ice and snow than cantaloupes and corn, Peterson notes that the Peace River Valley's unique micro-climate allows it to produce the same yield and variety of crops as the fields of farmers located a thousand kilometers to the south do each year. "This land is comparable in climate to the Lower Mainland," he said, "because of the long growing-degree units in the summer time; we have longer days. The only other comparable part would be the lower Fraser River in all of British Columbia, period." Given its unexpected fertility, Peterson believes that if the Site C flood reserve were to be removed, the valley would be capable of feeding every single person in the Peace, from Tumbler Ridge in the south to Fort St. John in the north. "It would produce enough vegetables for the entire Peace River area," he said, "for the northern third of the province and the 65,000 people that live there, easily. We did 25 per cent of the market with just 110 acres."
In his recent book Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller, Jeff Rubin, the former chief economist and chief strategist for CIBC World Markets, argues that the days of eating avocados in February are just about over, to be replaced by a renewed dependence on local agriculture. "In the new world of expensive oil and carbon tariffs," Rubin writes, "global cuisine, with its reliance on exotic imported ingredients, will soon be on the way out. Local fare, marketed under a green banner, is already on its way in." The catalyst behind that change is what Rubin believes will be sharp increases in the price of fuel, and with it a similar rise in the cost of transport and shipping. In other words, those South American avocados might be available at the Safeway in Fort St. John in February, but they'll cost ten dollars apiece.
The future, at least when it comes to what we eat and how we buy it, will look remarkably similar to the past, Rubin argues. "If you believe in markets, you may be surprised by what the future looks like," he writes. "Not personal spacecraft or gleaming megacities -- those are the daydreams of the era of cheap energy. The future will look a lot like the past. And that means more farms."
Yet BC Hydro's Site C Dam, if built, would destroy the most fertile agricultural land in the northeast at precisely the moment when, due to rising fuel costs and shifting consumption habits, it would be of greatest use to the people who live on or near it. Moreover, it would also undermine the capacity of the surrounding land to support any meaningful agricultural activity as well.
"If the dam were built, the remaining class one land, because of the climate change, would be ruined, and that includes the land that would be on the third bench," Larry Peterson told me. "That's a key point; the class one capability would be eliminated in the remainder of the entire valley."
Tomorrow: Instead of wanting to dam the Peace, why isn't B.C. doing more to develop the region's excellent wind and geothermal power potential? ![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
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freebear
3 years ago
God dam them all, those rivers!
Who needs rivers?
We need to power of all our gadgets and electric cars!
(sarcasm intended)
Hydrogen fuel is made using electricity
mikev
3 years ago
yes but
We could use the energy generated to produce lots and lots of delicious Quorn ;-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn
http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2002/04/02/Quornmeat_020402.html
Bytesmiths
3 years ago
Damns and gentrification are killing agriculture!
Here on Salt Spring Island, it isn't dams, it's hobby farms that are killing agriculture. Land of more than a few acres goes for $30,000 an acre and up!
We're trying to build a sustainable settlement here, where we could grow our own food, make our own energy, and share a surplus with fellow islanders. But we have been unable to raise enough money to secure our land.
I'm hoping there's a happy ending to these stories. By the time people realize oil is on the decline, it will be too late. We need to start growing food now!
Isabella2
3 years ago
Site C - Episode 2
Drives me crazy when people claim, "Oh well, nothing much can be grown on that marginal land anyway." Marginal being their operative word. It's even worse when the excuse is used against the backdrop of energy, because much of that marginal land is well-suited to growing non-food crops such as short rotation coppice and grasses which can be turned into, guess what? Yup! energy. Those crops, well-husbanded, would keep the farmers in half-decent profits from biomass until the land could again be rotated into food crops. Funny how farmers have known all about crops rotations and fallow years for centuries, but politicians cannot seem to grasp such a simple idea.
inwonderment
3 years ago
What does it matter
Hey isn't Vancouver a sustainable city as well as the greenest in the world. What does the rest of the province matter.
Takuan
3 years ago
There will always be
plankton biscuits for the worker's daily slops, what matter this trivial obstacle to the grand design of the rightful ruling class?
RickW
3 years ago
Takuan
Surely you mean Soylent Green "biscuits"....?
unhappyvoter
3 years ago
Site C and homegrown food
I agree with Bytesmiths. We need to start growing food now! Whether on Salt Spring, in the Peace Valley, in
what's left of the Fraser Valley, on Green roofs, and
in backyards everywhere. We can't rely on imports. Saying
NO to Site C is just a first step. We need to say NO to
Run-of-the-River projects.
Tbarnston
3 years ago
Realistically
So far I am not seeing a case against this dam. The comparisons will Williston Resevoir are silly - site C resevoir would be 1/20th the size of Williston, yet generate 1/3 the energy produced by the power house there. The Peace already has two other dams on it, so site C seems to be a reasonable addition with a good payback, and the payback will benefit the whole province by bringing in additional export revenue. Of course the benefits flow mainland to the Lower Mainland - most of the population lives there!
No IPPs and no site C is a silly position. We know the whole province benefits from a public BC Hydro developing the province's rivers. We are much better going the Site C route and fighting hard against IPPs.
BC isn't going to miss the 50 to 5000 hectares of currently under utilized arable land that Site C is going to take out. If shit ever really does hit the fan then we can get a lot more effecient with our farmland close to our actual population centres.
Not to mention, Site C should put a damper on enthusiasm to bring nuclear power to northern alberta. New generation like site C, which is just a stone's throw from the oilsands, is a game changer for nuke advocates looking to feed the oilsands with reactors.
Marushka
3 years ago
Isn't wind power an option?
When travelling last year in Arizona & California, then in Eastern Europe, I saw lots of wind farms. Not sure of the environmental impact of those, but are they an alternative to site C hydroelectric power?
mary jane
3 years ago
anything to hurt the people
gordo will never do anything to truely help the people
the waste of tax dollars makes any normal person wonder what goes on his head,
Hell we are only tax payers we don't need food or medical etc
Frank
3 years ago
Hydro
So we dam our rivers while the Americans get the benefits and yet we're supposedly the "smart" ones?
If rivers were a bad thing I could see the logic but I kinda like free flowing rivers.
But then I guess we get cash which can be used to lower taxes on rich Liberal supporters and corporations many of whom, (the corporations) are American. Now I get it. Cool.
Sometimes nonsense has a logic of its own.
RickW
3 years ago
Tbarnston
The government of BC is the government of ALL BC (at least that's the theory). Any projects commissoned by said government should act as incentives to move to other parts of this province, not to continue the move to the lower mainland.
woodworker
3 years ago
why not grow food in Richmond and Delta
All you have to do is take down the houses and shops and you have a 300 day plus growing season vs about 65 days in the Peace. the food would be close to the population. If the people complain about having to move off the agricultural land let them move to the rest of BC.
woodworker
3 years ago
transmission line
The transmission line from the Peace required to move the power to the population is going to be built any way to move the wind power that may one day be built in the Peace if the NYMBI's let it happen. Combine wind power with hydro power and you have an ideal combination, when the wind blows the reservoir stays full, when it quits the hydro tubines run.
Tbarnston
3 years ago
Free flowing rivers
Frank, the Peace isn't a free flowing river, it already has two dams on it.
RickW, Are site C opponents actually advocating for a densification of population in the Peace Valley? Seems like that would be bad for farmland too.
Stephanie
3 years ago
Fed up with supporting southern parasites!
“If shit ever really does hit the fan then we can get a lot more effecient with our farmland close to our actual population centres.” Tbarston
And just how do you propose to do this? The best farmland in the lower mainland has been, and continues to be, taken from agriculture and developed into housing! What are you going to do – close the highways into BC, adopt China’s birth rate policies, stop ALL immigration?
I’m from the North (Bulkley Valley) and the last thing we want to see is the continued influx of southeners moving up, buying up and building up land that could continue to be used for agriculturally based purposes.
Quite frankly, all of us north of William’s Lake are fed up with our resources being channelled straight down the provincial toilet bowl into the lower mainland and now we’re supposed to willingly hand over more land and resources because we’ve got it and you need it?
Like hell! Fend for yourselves – we’ve been doing our best to take care of ourselves for generations and we’re fed up with supporting parasites!
Woodworker, in case I wasn't clear enough - we don't want the parasites moving north!
Intention Pure
3 years ago
Soylent Green: Now with more girls!
Control the food and you control the people. Agrifood megacorporations DO NOT WANT YOU TO GROW ONE FRIGGIN' POTATO. Grow your own food now! Defy corporate domination.
freebear
3 years ago
BC has a bread basket?
I wonder what % of food consumed is grown in BC?
How much ALR land has been removed since the inception of the legislation?
Karl Weissalles...
3 years ago
Will happen
You can write this down, this is already a taken decision, Site C will happen, BC Hydro will build that and no one can stop them with the legislation we have. They want to export energy but it seems that California now does not consider as renewable any hydro dam bigger than 30 MW. What they will do now?
Karl Weissalles...
3 years ago
Wind Power
Marushka is right, Wind Power is the best one for the Peace, does not harm or destroy our land, "wir brauchen Windenergie", potchemu niet?
RickW
3 years ago
Tbarston
Your "reasoning" implies that the only place to build houses for an increased population, is one agricultural land. That has been the example set in the lowermainland (LML), not tomention most other urban/suburban centres in BC. It is an assinine policy of expediency that caters to lazy politicians, general contractors and developers. Are you insisting that "more of the same" be applied to future projects?
Tbarnston
3 years ago
Not at all
I hate the suburbs, grew up in one. Agreed, urban sprawl is a cancer. Agreed as well that development doesn't also have to be on agricultural land. I was being a bit too cheeky in my previous response to you RickW, sorry about that one.
Luck
3 years ago
Great article
Great article and some well thought out replies by people.
If so many of you are thinking this way, then who voted the liberals in, in BC.
Hopefully we can keep these thoughts firmly in mind when the next election comes up and vote accordingly.
People of BC are sleepers and only 37% vote.
This is what we need to work on, get it to 100% and we will all be happier for it.
Voter turn out in Canada is the lowest in free world.
Must not be such a free world in BC eh.