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Proudly serving Houston and District - Home of Canada’s Largest Fly Rod
WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2015
www.houston-today.com
NO. 28 $1.30 Inc. GST
Calling for air inventory By Jackie Lieuwen + Robin Vander Heide Houston Today
The District of Houston is being urged to petition upper government to protect air quality until inventory is updated. A 2015 State of the Air Report from the BC Lung Association shows that the Bulkley Valley is among the most polluted areas in B.C. in 2014. The concern was brought to Houston council at a meeting last Tuesday. Gina LeHaye presented on behalf of a group of six professionals and technicians in the Bulkley Valley who meet casually to discuss air quality. A letter from the group to council says “it is well known that there is an increase in respiratory and cardiovascular
emergency room visits during episodes of poor air quality.” Air with Fine Particulate Matter (PM>2.5) is of particular concern as it negatively affects health. Houston met the provincial yearly average for PM>2.5, but did not meet 24-hour air quality objectives, LeHaye said. There were 11 days of high PM>2.5 in Houston in 2014, where the Ministry of Environment issued poor air quality warnings. Smithers and Telkwa did not meet 24-hour provincial objectives either. LeHaye says concerns about air quality are much bigger than industry, and include road dust, wood smoke, and other emission sources as well. See AIR on Page 2
MUD Flies
Jackie Lieuwen/Houston Today
Trucks and sleds from Quesnel to Kitimat raced through the mud pits at the Houston Airport last weekend. Above is Chris Gagnon from Moricetown kicking up mud in the 1,800-horsepower “Bucket Truck.” See page 10 for more photos of the Mud Drags.
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Hatchery working to enhance Bulkley salmon stocks By Bill Phillips Black Press
When you catch that award-winning coho or chinook this summer, and we know you will, do a quick check of the fish. Look for the adipose fin. It’s a small fin located along the backbone of the fish
just ahead of the tailfin. If you don’t see a fin there, it means the fish was raised in a fish hatchery. If you decide to keep the fish, the Toboggan Creek Salmon and Steelhead Enhancement Society wants the head. They are asking anglers who catch a coho or
www.glaciertoyota.ca TODAY TOMORROW TOYOTA
Smithers, BC 1.866.844.6723
*please add $345 Documentation
fee and applicable taxes DL#8879
“Asking anglers who catch a coho or chinook with the adipose fin removed to drop off head.”
chinook with the adipose fin removed to take the head and drop it off at one of several locations …
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either the Toboggan Creek Hatchery, McBike in Smithers, Country Wide Sports in Houston
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or a Department of Fisheries and Oceans office. The heads are fitted with a coded wire tag Pkg
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which, when returned to the hatchery, will help staff see how successful their stocking programs are working. The hatchery works to enhance and assess local chinook, coho, and steelhead salmon stocks in the Bulkley River watershed. The main stocks it works with are the Upper
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Bulkley River chinook stock, which is a unique spring-run population, and the Toboggan Creek coho and steelhead stocks, which are summer-run stocks. Mike O’Neill, of the society, says there have been successes with all of these local stocks.
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