Feature - Telegraph

Last week the Telegraph featured a story on the latest in a string of efforts by the Friends of The Rossland Range to protect the backcountry around Rossland with some form of provincial designation. That effort, generations in the making, has yet to achieve a lasting result.

Is it possible to love an area to death? Is it possible to have a recreational resource so well-loved and used that ultimately that use and overuse takes away from and/or destroys the original reason for loving an area? The Rossland Range could be in danger from just such an onslaught of affection. With a dramatic rise in backcountry use (snowmobilers, snowshoers, backcountry skiers, bikers and hikers) in recent years a new effort has begun to protect and preserve the recreational resource that is the Rossland Range high country.

The Nelson District Credit Union strike, which is closing in on two months, may soon be coming to an end. This week has seen the first face-to-face interaction and negotiations between the two sides as they got back to the negotiating table on Tuesday. After a bargaining session that lasted well into the night, an agreement wasn't, but the latest proposal from the Credit Union is currently being voted on by the union.

The Rossland Foodies and their mission to get a community garden established in town have become a little more real over the winter, both in name and project. 

For starters the “Foodies” have officially become Rossland REAL Food. “I can’t stop using “The Foodies”, but we have changed our name to Rossland REAL Food. The REAL is capitalized, but I can’t remember exactly what it stands for now,” explained Rachel Roussin.”We were originally going to call ourselves 'Rossland’s Food Group' but Rossland isn’t really a food group [laughs].”

It was standing room only in council chambers Monday night as Diana Daghoher of Prevent Cancer Now and Susanne Belanger of the Canadian Cancer Society presented before council on the possibility of adopting a pesticide ban bylaw. The “Pesticide free” flag waving crowd of about 15 residents heartily supported the duo as they explained their mission: why Rossland should adopt a pesticide ban bylaw, the best way to build that bylaw and the economic effects of doing so.

As with most small mountain towns in BC, Rossland sits squarely in and is surrounded by prime real estate when it comes to our big black friends in the forest. While certainly not desired, it’s not entirely uncommon to see the occasional black bear strolling through town. Rossland has been perhaps lucky over the past number of years to have not had any major bear/human interactions to have resulted in injuries. One probable cause contributing to that and to reducing bear/human interactions in general has been the hard work of the Bear Aware society.

At a special 5:00pm meeting of city council this past Monday night, the arena roof replacement issue was back on the table, this time with the intent of moving the project forward to the next step of undergoing an alternate approval process to borrow the money needed for the project.

The Rossland Skate Park Association (RSA) got an early Christmas present from Rossland City council at the last regular council meeting on December 14th.The group which has been working for over a decade towards its ultimate goal of seeing a world class skate park constructed in town took a big step towards making that dream a reality.
 

 Over the past several years, the city of Nelson has gone through an extensive process to get a new arena facility built. Significantly smaller than Creston's development, the 13 million dollar project involved the adding of a new arena to an existing aquatc center whereas in Creston it was the addition of an aquatic centre to an existing arena. This week The Rossland Telegraph's Andrew Zwicker caught up with Nelson Mayor John Dooley to discuss how Nelson got their project completed and what advice they may have to help Rossland with its arena.

Kootenay West MLA Katrine Conroy won a resounding victory yesterday, garnering a whopping 67% of the vote in the BC Provincial Election. Controy's percentage was the fourth highest in the province. At the same time, the referendum on the Single Transferable Vote (STV) went down to defeat, winning only 39% of the vote; the measure needed 60% in order to pass.