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In-SHUCK-ch cut off by high water

Logging road floods for second time this year, chief negotiator calls for improvements
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High waters A pick up truck tries to make it through high waters on the In-SHUCK-ch Forest Services Road. Photo by Sylvia Shanoss.

Extensive flooding has closed the In-SHUCK-ch Forest Services Road (FSR) for the second time this year, leaving many residents of the First Nations community stranded and complicating funeral arrangements for a local elder.

Gerard Peters, In-SHUCK-ch chief negotiator, said it is always an issue when the road is impassable, but it is particularly troubling this time.

“One of the elders in my community has just passed away. The thing is we’ve got to get him home, and it’s causing all kinds of concern among the community, especially among the elders, that we can’t take care of our dead.”

Logging companies use the FSR to haul timber, and approximately 250 members of the In-SHUCK-ch Nation live along the road, which parallels Lillooet Lake and runs south to Harrison Lake.

Peters said he has been trying to call attention to the poor condition of the FSR for years now, but it is now time for change.

At a Tuesday meeting with provincial and federal chief negotiators, Peters officially identified the FSR as a treaty issue.

“…The roads and its needs for improvement must now be addressed in the context of treaty negotiations, because I’m not getting any movement anywhere else,” Peters said.

He said local government has done all they can to deal with the intermittent road closures, and now it’s time higher levels of government got involved.

“I think that it’s necessary for Canada to step up to the plate, as well as B.C., to ensure safe travel,” said Peters.

“Canada has a fiduciary responsibility for looking after the interests of Indians.”

Samahquam Chief Keith Smith has lived off the In-SHUCK-ch Forest Services Road, in the Baptiste Smith region, for most of his life. Smith said the severity of flooding varies from year to year, but this year, higher snow pack and recent hot temperatures have caused water levels to rise rapidly.

He managed to travel the road Monday morning, leaving the community at 6 a.m., about three hours before the road was officially closed.

“I have a four wheel drive, so I was relatively high enough,” said Smith. “It still came over my bumper.”

The forest service road is the only way in and out of the community for most people. Smith said there is an alternate route from the Lower Mainland, but it is a longer trip, and is used mainly by 4x4s. So when the main road becomes impassable, residents are trapped and logging operations come to a standstill.

Smith said his main concern is for elders in the community, many of whom have medical conditions and are unable to make medical appointments.

In an emergency, Smith said they have to call Pemberton Clinic and have them send a helicopter into the area.

Lizzie Bay Logging is a joint-venture partner of the In-SHUCK-ch Nation, and together they have been contracted by the government to maintain the FSR.

When the road floods, as it did last weekend, they haul in material to fill in eroded sections of road. But this is just a short-term fix.

Norm LeBlanc, owner of Lizzie Bay Logging, said the flooding of the FSR should be taken seriously because it is a major road, and it has been neglected for years.

Peters also pointed out the FSR is close to the Lower Mainland, Whistler and the Sea to Sky corridor, and would be ideal for economic development, but the poor road conditions are preventing the community from building and developing the area.

What’s more, the area lacks connection to the hydro grid and landline telephone service.

“You’ve got the looming 2010, with world attention to the region, and you’ve got a significant population that’s very ill served by infrastructure that other British Columbians take for granted,” said Peters.

But Peters is quick to point out that he doesn’t expect the government to immediately develop a paved, two-lane highway in the area. Rather, he thinks the road bed should be elevated by about one metre for two strategic kilometres along the FSR, so when high waters do come, people can still travel safely on the road.

Tuesday afternoon, LeBlanc said engineers were onsite inspecting the road to determine if it was safe for travel yet.

“When it’s deemed to be safe, and we’ve rebuilt it to the standard that’s required. It’ll be opened back up to the public.”