So with a topic ongoing about budget decisions causing road closures in the West Kootenays, I figured I had better ask about road closures in the East Kootenays in the Cranbrook & Invermere Forest Districts. Called MoF in Cranbrook to ask about it. None of the engineers were in, but I did talk to one of the techs. He said as far as he knew, the only closures he was aware of was decommissioning some of the roads already overgrown with alders. I can think of a few off the top of my head that meet that description, and most are now in a state that they're only useable by the most hard core alder-bashers anyways.
The guy I talked to couldn't give me a definitive answer on a road closure strategy related to budgets, but will be putting me in contact with the person responsible in the next couple of days. More definitive information then.
One road to be concerned about is the Ram Creek FSR. That would be the road that runs from the Premier Lake road, over the pass past the Ram Creek Hot Springs (which haven't been hot for decades), and then down into the White Swan into the Lussier/Coyote Creek road systems, coming out at Alces Lake. It isn't an intended closure, but one which may be made out of budgetry necessity.
As I have the info so far, the beavers got busy, dammed up the creek, whereupon the creek ran right down the middle of the road for some distance, pretty much scouring it out. To shorten a long story, 4x4's and quads came to play in the mud, started messing up fish habitat, and the MoF bermed the road to protect the fish habitat for the time being. The quad guys have managed to defeat the berms somehow or other and are now back to riding in and playing in the creek. Which of course is a major concern for the fisheries biologists.
The end result is that right now the Cranbrook MoF is deciding whether to get MOE to take out the beavers, pay for road repairs, and then try to keep quads from going back into the creek and other habitat. Or to keep their money in their jeans and simply let the through road go permanently.
Anyone who enjoys using the Ram Creek Road for hunting, riding, whatever should take this as a hint to lobby for having this designated as a high recreational value road and having it properly repaired. To the best of my knowledge no decision has been made as of yet.
Now would be a good time to do that. Contact MoF in Cranbrook and Bill Bennett - in a nice way.
The guy I talked to couldn't give me a definitive answer on a road closure strategy related to budgets, but will be putting me in contact with the person responsible in the next couple of days. More definitive information then.
One road to be concerned about is the Ram Creek FSR. That would be the road that runs from the Premier Lake road, over the pass past the Ram Creek Hot Springs (which haven't been hot for decades), and then down into the White Swan into the Lussier/Coyote Creek road systems, coming out at Alces Lake. It isn't an intended closure, but one which may be made out of budgetry necessity.
As I have the info so far, the beavers got busy, dammed up the creek, whereupon the creek ran right down the middle of the road for some distance, pretty much scouring it out. To shorten a long story, 4x4's and quads came to play in the mud, started messing up fish habitat, and the MoF bermed the road to protect the fish habitat for the time being. The quad guys have managed to defeat the berms somehow or other and are now back to riding in and playing in the creek. Which of course is a major concern for the fisheries biologists.
The end result is that right now the Cranbrook MoF is deciding whether to get MOE to take out the beavers, pay for road repairs, and then try to keep quads from going back into the creek and other habitat. Or to keep their money in their jeans and simply let the through road go permanently.
Anyone who enjoys using the Ram Creek Road for hunting, riding, whatever should take this as a hint to lobby for having this designated as a high recreational value road and having it properly repaired. To the best of my knowledge no decision has been made as of yet.
Now would be a good time to do that. Contact MoF in Cranbrook and Bill Bennett - in a nice way.