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Regional News: North West
B.C.
By Larry McCulloch, BCHPA Regional
Director for North West BC
In Smithers this year it has been slow. We did
not do a course in the spring and have no new members. Currently
only 8 active members. I plan on promoting another course this coming
spring.
Site Development
We spent some time maintaining our Tenas Hill site (drive to) and
negotiating with the land owner to let us continue using the access
through his property. At the beginning of the year he banned the
club from using it because a pilot from QC had come and used it
without informing him (or us) and left his vehicle parked in the
middle of his road where the landowner
apparently had some difficulty getting around it. It took some skillful
negotiation on our part to get access to this site again. Please,
if anybody wants to fly here, contact one of the Smithers club pilots
first so we can clear the way for you.
We also spent a fair bit of time in the early
summer developing a new site, much closer to Smithers, the new Kitseguecla
site. We did some reconnaissance work, negotiated with land owners
whose fields we want to use, and then ribboned a trail out. After
a couple of flights from the site we decided to go with it and so
did some trail clearing and clearing at the
launch. We now need to negotiate access with the MoF. If this is
successful, we will do more serious clearing and spread some geotextile.
No grass seeding as the local community is not keen on introducing
exotic species in these mountain areas. We don't expect much in
the way of expenses for this site because the road to it is maintained
by the Forest Service. The site is a 20 minute drive followed by
a 25 min hike and promises to be outstanding in the spring and early
summer. Launch is about 3500 feet above the LZ and we have a long
ridge to soar as well as two nearby massifs to try some cross country
to when conditions are good.
Larry McCulloch
LAING & McCULLOCH Forest Management Services Ltd.
Box 880, Smithers, B.C. V0J 2N0
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