I want to tell you about a road trip I recently went on with Gwen Barlee and Sven Biggs from the Wilderness Committee and Rex Weyler from Citizens for Public Power.

We traveled from town to town to speak at public events and meet with local activist about the fight to keep BC's rivers wild and power public. We spoke at events in Vernon, Nelson, Invermere and Golden. See this short video about the road trip.

We had a wonderful time meeting people who love their wild rivers as much as we all do. In every town we were welcomed into people's homes, treated to great dinners, soft beds and amazing breakfasts. Best of all we could see the fighting spirit displayed everywhere as people spoke about their plans to protect their home rivers and we traded stories of river protection battles from all over the province.

In Vernon we heard about the people's concerns for shrinking drinking water supplies and a growing fear over water privatization schemes. While in Nelson we heard from Raelynn Gibson of the West Kootenay EcoSociety speak about the so-far-successful local campaign to fend off the private power project that aims to dam and divert Glacier and Howser Creeks.

In Invermere our host Rachel Darvill of Wildsight told us of a plan to dam and divert a local stream that contains rare West Slope Cutthroat Trout. The private company involved has received permission from the Provincial Government to move the trout to a nearby stream that currently has no fish, but it does contain amphibians. When it was discovered that the fish were carriers of a fungus that could kill off the amphibians, the fish were simply dipped in a salt bath and the government let the re-location project continue. This project has all the makings of a disaster for both the population of West Slope Cutthroat Trout - and the population of amphibians. Thankfully the local chapters of Wildsight and the Council of Canadians are doing all they can do to stop this crazy project.

In Golden we were hosted by the local chapter the Council of Canadians. This time we heard about the battle to save the Wood River. Here's an awe inspiring video about the fight to keep the Wood River wild and free of diversion pipes and dams.

Wood River Wild from Kicking Horse River on Vimeo.

At every event the crowd cheered when we spoke of the successful battles to save the Pitt River and the Kliniklini River from being dammed and diverted. And now it looks like the massive proposed project by General Electric to dam and divert 16 rivers in the Bute Inlet has been brought to a dead stop as well.

But happiness turned to anger when the crowd heard from us of the disaster at Tyson Lake on the Sunshine Coast. Here the private power developer has blown a hole in the bottom of Tyson Lake to drain water out into their power generators. This resulted in a load of mud and silt flowing down into trout and salmon habitat. The project currently has a stop work order on it - but people are concerned that the company may get a permit to continue polluting Tyson Creek. People in every town we visited vowed to help the citizens of the Sunshine Coast protect Tyson Creek from further damage.

We are all back home now - but I hear we have invites to go on the road again to Squamish, Pemberton, Houston and Revelstoke to talk about the campaign to keep our rivers wild and power public. Stay tuned - looks like we may be coming to a venue near you soon!

Joe Foy | National Campaign Director
Wilderness Committee