Nechako Watershed Gets Premier’s Attention

Jan 28, 2019 | 1:59 PM

VANDERHOOF – It’s not a new story. The 52,000 square kilometre Nechako River watershed is the only one in BC without a watershed plan. And, with so many users of that watershed, from cattlemen to Rio Tinto Alcan, there should be such a plan, according to the Nechako Environment and Water Stewardship Society and the District of Vanderhoof. 

But what is new is a meeting with Premier John Horgan at the Natural Resources forum and a commitment from the Premier that, indeed, the Province owns that watershed and needs to exercise stewardship over it.

“The Province needs to take the responsibility and take leadership. This should be a pride factor,” says Wayne Salewsky of the Nechako Environment and Water Stewardship Society. “And it irks me to no end that the Premier has told everybody they are going to do this and yet the bureaucrats, again, don’t buy into the whole thing.”

He believes a lack of resources in government is leading to inaction on this front.