Community News
The Community Society has had a very successful start in 2008, with 31 families now participating as members. Not bad when you consider there are less than 100 homes from Osoyoos to Anarchist Summit. We had an excellent tree planting project occur in May, where just under 4,000 new ponderosa pines were planted by 28 neighbours on one Saturday morning. We are also in the process of GPS mapping trails and hope to publish a Trail Map some time later this summer. A committee of members has completed a Stewardship Agreement with Regal Ridge, that recognizes the role of the Community Society in advising that company on how the nearly 2,300 acres of conservation lands will be managed in the future. We will be meeting as a Board of Directors, on July 16th and intend to send out details of the Stewardship Agreement following that Board meeting. Finally, we have approval from the Board of Directors to create a Community Society website and hope to have that operational in a few months. We will be asking people what they would like to have included on that website in the near future. Keeping people informed with what is happening in the Community will be a key feature of the website.

Forest Health Assessment

Most recently the Society, with shared funding from Regal Ridge, hired Eric Haupt a Forest Health Forester who specializes in Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) and insect infestations to do an evaluation of Anarchist Mountain's trees. An inspection tour in late October by Mr. Haupt looked at 14 sites in the Anarchist Mountain / Sidley Mountain area and he confirmed that there are no unusual infestations of either MBP or Western Pine Beetles evident. While some naturally occurring populations of MPB were found the forester's report was that the trees on the Mountain are generally quite healthy and well spaced. These features should help deter a MPB infestation if a flight of beetles occurs here. The Society has posted the forester's report on the website on the Business Page / Announcements. The Society intends to have this evaluation done again in the future.

Bear Awareness Seminar

The potential of bears getting into residents garbage and becoming a major hazard was discussed at a seminar held in conjuction with the Annual General Meeting , Ocober 30, 2008. Ms. Bree Andritz - Bear Aware Program Delivery Specialist , outlined that bears become conditioned to people, and garbage they encounter and become an escalating hazard. The 30 minute slide presentation is available on the website (Business Section in Announcements section)

 

Carbon Sequestering - Tree Plantation

The potential for a tree plantation on some Regal Ridge lands on upper Anarchist Mountain is being examined by that company. Regal Ridge has hired, Robin Clark & Associates, from vancouver as their consultants to examine the feasibility of a carbon sequestering project and to recommend strategies for its implementation. The Society has endorsed the idea and is provided its support for the idea of planting trees in significant numbers to provide a "carbon sink" for green house gas emissions. The idea of planting trees is consistent with green house gas mitigation strategies accepted by the UN - International Panel on Climate Change. Planning is underway to plant tens of thousands of mixed species of naturally occurring trees in the "Kelly farm" property owned by Regal Ridge. These trees and natural shrubs would be left to grow and sequester ("suck up") carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for many decades. If the project proceeds as planned the first phases of restoring deteriorated grazing lands could begin as early as March or April 2009.

Calendar of Events

  • July 16, 2008 – AMCS Board of Directors Meeting – 7 PM
  • July 25, 2008 – AMFFS Annual Yard Sale – OK RV Centre 9 – 2 PM
  • July 26 , 2008 – Anarchist Mountain Fire Fighters Society BBQ
  • October 30, 2008 - Bear Aware Seminar - Anarchist Fire Hall 7:00 PM
  • October 30, 2008 - Anarchist mtn Community Society - Annual General Meeting - Fire Hall 7:30 PM
  • December 21, 2008 - Anarchist Mtn Firefighters - Christmas Pot Luck Dinner - 4:30 - 8:00 PM

Community Projects and Society Committees

  • Conservation Committee
    • Chair : Art Harfman. Not fully active yet.
    • Commencement of GPS mapping of some trails in S Conservation area
    • Some Members have walked some of the trails since the Oct 30 AGM, and we will be getting those GPS plotted routes mapped for the spring time.
  • Stewardship Agreement Negotiating Committee
    • This committee was Chaired by Ron Palmer, and also had members Bonnie Douglas and Naga Terada sit on it. The Committee’s mandate was to meet with Regal Ridge owner Adrian Erickson and negotiate a Stewardship Agreement document as a first step in the Society playing a roll in advising on how the conservation lands on Anarchist Mountain are managed. This agreement was successfully negotiated and signed in late June 2008. See Business Page for a copy of the Stewardship Agreement
  • Communications Committee
    • Chair: Mark McKenney
    • Purpose is to prepare newsletters, announcements and news circulations and distribute these to members. Notifications of Directors meetings will be posted to website. Notifications of Annual General Meetings to be distributed at the request of the Society Secretary – Joe Cardoso.