I have recently returned from a road trip to the Peace River Valley. Tria Donaldson, our Victoria-based campaigner, and I were attending the sixth annual Paddle for the Peace event.

It was quite a journey with our canoe strapped on top of the Wilderness Committee car!

First of all, we had to figure out a way around highways cut by numerous washouts caused by severe rainstorms north of Prince George. We ended up having to re-route through Alberta.

When we finally made it to the campsite at Bear Flats, we discovered the Paddle had been cancelled because the Peace River was so full of logs and other flood debris. But not to worry - a couple hundred people turned out anyway to celebrate the Peace River Valley, to enjoy some music and food and to talk about how to stop the proposed Site C Dam.

I have made a short video about our trip and the gathering, and Tria wrote an editorial for the Province newspaper about the fight to save the Peace River Valley which was published last Thursday.

If built, the Site C Dam would flood 80 kilometres of the Peace River and another 20 kilometres of its tributaries. That's an area of river equal to the distance between Richmond and Chilliwack! Within the proposed floodzone are thousands of hectares of farmland. The Site C Dam project would require the largest deletion of agricultural land in the history of the Agricultural Land Reserve! Numerous First Nations cultural sites would also be drowned, as well as the site of the oldest known non-native settlement in BC, Rocky Mountain House, a fur trade fort built in 1794.

And it's not just history that is imperiled by Site C. Tria and I stayed with the Boon Family at their Bear Flats Farm, much of which would be covered in many metres of water if the dam were to be built. We met people from up and down the valley whose future depends on the dam not being built.

In this northern climate, the temperate conditions found in the valley bottom are critical to local wildlife. The Site C Dam would eliminate this important wildlife refuge. And, at a cost of $8 billion dollars and rising, the Site C Dam would have a devastating impact on ratepayers too. All this for electrical power BC does not need, and will not need if we take some simple conservation measures.

That is why Tria and I are asking you to write a letter today in support of protecting the Peace River Valley by stopping the proposed Site C Dam.

We thank you - and the people and wildlife who live in the beautiful Peace River Valley will thank you too!

Joe Foy | National Campaign Director
Wilderness Committee