Dear Heather Forsyth,
As per our phone conversation, I'm writing this email so you might be informed
about the devastation of the river access points. Succinctly, it won't matter
that the flooding will subside and the river is fishable if we don't have
access points to enter and exit the river. Action will need to be taken now,
planning done now if we are to repair these sites so the visiting tourist
angler can come to the Bow and have a positive experience. If the government
waits, as it seems they do so often, the fishing season will be over and
millions of dollars of tourist revenue will be lost to the province.
Rather than rewrite the email I sent you November 2004, I thought I would
paste it in below. It is in black
print. This will refresh your memory as to the
deficiencies of the current access points on the Bow River. Some of these
sites have suffered great devastation from the high water. Policeman's Flats (
#2 ) might be the worst hit. Next would be Jensen's access ( #4 ) where this
island access point was completely submerged not once but twice. We won't know
the exact extent of the destruction until the water drops and we can survey
these sites. I fear that both of these sites will have suffered so much damage
they will be unusable this year. McKinnons access ( #3 ) has been
underwater twice and may have been silted up so badly that vehicles will get
stuck backing the trailers into the river to launch or take out the boats.
Carseland ( #5 ) has been flooded twice as well. You might recall that the
peak flow in that area was 1945 cms ( cubic meters per second ) on June 18/05.
Converted to cfs ( cubic feet per second ) multiply this number by 35. This
would give you 68,075 cfs. This flow is more than 50% higher than the flood in
1995. Click on this link to view a spreadsheet of the river flows during this
time. This is a page on my web site with coverage of this flood event. http://www.thebowriver.com/2005_stream_flows_june_alert_act_2.htm
To illustrate the damage done to these access points, more than my verbal
description, I'm including some hyper links to pages on my web site. Pictures
are worth a 1000 words. In order of the river access points here are photos of
Policeman's http://www.thebowriver.com/2005_run_off_pics_7.htm
The next page http://www.thebowriver.com/2005_run_off_pics_6.htm
is a collection of photos of various access points. Look at the 3rd row of
pictures. These are of McKinnons Flats. Notice the entire parking lot is under
water. The next access is Jensen's - it is in the 4th row of photos. The last
access point is Carseland. It is the last row of photos. At this time, we
don't know the full extent of the damage done to McKinnons, Jensen's and
Carseland. We won't know until the water recedes. It is my opinion that there
will be considerable damage. Damage that will jeopardize the entire
upcoming guiding season. Plans need to be made now and put into action as
soon as the water recedes. I'm not asking for expensive state of the art
infrastructure. I'm just asking for the Gov't to use some common sense and use
the resources at their disposal. The new Deerfoot Trail bridge that crosses
the Bow just upstream of Policeman's Flats should replace Policeman's. It is
there and just waiting for the fence to be taken down and a parking graded and
a re bar type launch put in place. This location would never have been damaged
like Policeman's as it is on a straight stretch of river - not an outside
bend. The other access points could be fixed up in a similar fashion with
minimal expense. If you would like some suggestions for repairs I would be
happy to describe them to you.
Heather, I would like to thank you for listening to me tonight on the phone. I
would also implore you to make it a priority to get this situation resolved. I
will eagerly await your updates to me on progress, or lack of progress, as you
push this issue forward.
Sincerely,
Tom Cutmore
"Must Be Nice" Drift Company
155 Deer Lane Road SE Calgary AB Canada T2J 5S9
Phone/Fax/Voice Mail 403 271-9108
Email
mustbenice@thebowriver.com
Web
www.thebowriver.com
Dear Heather,
Thank you for calling me back the other day to talk about some concerns of
mine. As per your request I'm writing down a few of them in this email.
1) The province of Alberta doesn't seem to be interested in helping small
businesses to generate income. Given that the Premier is a fly fisherman this
seems really odd to me. In my business of guiding fly fishermen on the Bow
River, I have to deal with very poor and sub standard facilities. I'm speaking
specifically of boat launch sites. There are just a few of them downstream
from the city and none of the launches that are used by the guiding community
are paved. All the launches are an embarrassment to the guide, the city and
the province. I can't count the number of times that foreign fishing clients
have looked at me with a disbelieving expression on their faces and then ask,
"Why aren't the boat ramps paved and why aren't the access roads to the
river paved or at least in better condition?" My answer is a shrug of my
shoulders and the comment that the government doesn't care about the Bow
River, the native trout or the guiding industry. I've even asked a few of them
to write a letter or send an email to the government complaining about the sad
state of roads and boat launches.
As previously mentioned there are few boat launch sites down stream from the
city of Calgary. The "Trophy Stretch" of the Bow River is from 22X
down to the Carseland weir. There are only 5 launch sites in that reach of
river.
1) 22x - Fish Creek Park - this is a paved launch within Fish Creek Park
and is used by the Calgary Fire department. If the fire dept were not using
this access - it would not be paved. It is the only access on the river most
frequented by the guiding community that is paved.
2) Policeman's Flats - This launch site is on the south side of the
river, an outside bend of the river, and is maybe the absolute worst access on
the river. Any one with half a brain would not put an access on the outside
bend of a river as the current is constantly eroding the bank. In high water
conditions, it is a very hard access point to negotiate to take your boat out
of the water. The reason for this is the tiny back water is very tough to
successfully reach as the current is moving very fast and if you are not a
good oarsman you will miss the launch. Once you miss the launch you then must
try to grab the willows along the bank and somehow stop your boat and then
drag it back up the river. To do this you must hug the bank as closely as
possible and try not to be swept out into the river. This is almost an
impossible feat to achieve. It is my opinion that sooner or later someone will
lose their life trying to reach this tiny little back water in the attempt to
take their boat off the river.
In low water conditions the Policeman's access is reduced to launching your
boat onto the rocks on the river bed and having to walk your boat out into the
current to be able to start your float. The so-called ramp is steep and rut
filled due to people spinning their tires trying to climb the steep ramp back
into the parking lot. If you don't have a 4x4 vehicle
you will get stuck.
On several occasions I've been involved in pulling such vehicles out. While
this is going on - no one else can access the river. The launching of boats
comes to a complete halt. The Policeman's parking lot is sadly undersized and
fishermen are forced to park their vehicles along the road that accesses the
launch site. This causes congestion and has inconvenienced local residents.
3) McKinnons Flats - This is a Provincial park that has an undersized
parking lot and the so called ramp is where over the years the boat trailers
have worn down the bank somewhat. Getting stuck in low water conditions for
non 4 wheel drive vehicles is also a concern here. The road into McKinnons
Flats is an 11 Kilometer poor gravel road that when originally constructed was
built for 6 vehicles a day. These vehicles were to be farm vehicles - a pick
up truck or two and maybe a combine or tractor or some other farm machinery.
The road is well travelled and due to the soil base every time a vehicle
brakes or speeds up it pushes the gravel and soil around and makes wash board
ruts. At times the road is so bad any vehicle that is travelling above about
50 KPH runs a great risk of driving off the road into the ditch. Again I'm
amazed that no one has been killed while travelling this road. A traffic count
was done by the municipality a couple of years ago. The study was conducted
over a 4 day long week end. According to the stats compiled the first day
counted 100 vehicles. The 2nd day 200, the 3rd day 300 and the last day there
were 400 vehicles driving down this "death trap" road. These stats
were provided to me by the municipality. The guiding community travels this
road every day. They either launch the boat in the morning at McKinnons or
take out there at the end of the day. The shuttle company that moves fishing
vehicles and their boat trailers down stream drive this road to deliver the
guides rig to the take out point. So you see the vehicle and boat trailer
drive both into the access point and also out. That is 2 trips per guide per
day. This goes on all season long.
4) Jensen's - This access is actually an island. Currently Trout
Unlimited has taken on the responsibility for this site. They recently, due to
a private donation, were able to construct a parking lot at this site. Again
there is no ramp. You back your boat trailer up to the edge of the water and
launch the boat. During higher water this access is not usable. The back
channel flow is too high and it is very risky to try to drive across this bank
channel to access the island and the boat launch. As the water drops the
island is more accessible and the access point is used. If a vehicle gets
stuck in the back channel the access is closed until that vehicle is removed.
This again impedes the guiding industry to conduct business. I have a
suggestion for this access - have a removable bridge laid in place for the
fishing season. The kind of bridge that is used on the Trans Canada highway in
the mountains when a bridge crossing a creek is washed out. It is a temporary
bridge used until the repairs are made. A one lane bridge is all that is
necessary. It would also keep vehicles from damaging the stream bed as they
traverse the back channel.
5) Carseland - This "so called" access point is nothing more
than a point of land that sticks out into the river somewhat. It is a dirt
point and in high water is a muddy mess. As the water recedes the ground dries
out but the water's edge is a slippery mud bank. I've seen many people step
out of the drift boats and place a foot on the river bottom only to
immediately slip and fall in. This is a dangerous site as the river drops off
very quickly into considerable depth. It also is very close to the Carseland
weir. Now and then a boat goes over the weir when someone is careless. This
access point is another such place that is an accident waiting to happen and a
law suit lurking in the wings! The Province of Alberta will surely be named in
a wrongful death suit should one occur.
The above descriptions are I believe an honest assessment of the river access
points. One should wonder just what the visiting angler thinks about the river
launch sites. As I said earlier, anglers too numerous to count have expressed
disbelief and shock at the poor facilities. Trout rivers in the United States
have highways running along the rivers and almost every launch has a paved and
well thought out parking lot and ramp. I personally am embarrassed and
disgusted at the lack of participation by the Alberta gov't. In a province
that has totally eliminated its debt, it is unthinkable that these conditions
exist. The old argument of we don't have the money doesn't, if you will pardon
the pun, hold water. If Alberta thinks there is an "Alberta
advantage" and the provincial government is truly concerned about making
it "business friendly" then it is time to put some of my/our tax
payor funds into the fishing industry and correct this long time "black
eye" on the province.
Another glaring error is that there is no access point at the site of the new
bridge crossing the Bow River. This bridge is part of the new Deerfoot
extension. Why would the government not make allowances for a boat launch site
at this bridge? This site could replace the Policeman's access and would be a
tremendous improvement as the river runs straight and is a natural for a boat
launch. The only answer I can think of is they don't care about the fishing
industry. This industry brings in many millions of dollars a year that spin
off to airlines, hotels, restaurants, fly shops, car rental business and of
course the guiding industry. The city at present supports 5 fly shops and
several sporting goods stores. We have an unique situation here in Calgary
that exists no where else in the world - not even in Montana which is
considered to be "Trout Mecca".
The Bow River is world famous, its trout are world renowned as they are the
toughest trout in fresh water. Fly fishermen travel here from the 4 corners of
the globe to fish our river. They all leave Calgary just amazed at the river
and the trout and eagerly plan their next trip to the Bow. They also leave
Calgary laughing at the roads and launch sites. To draw an analogy, the Bow
River and the fishing/guiding industry is the Olympics of the fishing sport.
We found the money for the 1988 winter Olympics but we somehow refuse to build
the necessary infrastructure to support this lucrative and growing industry. I
am proud to be an Albertan, proud of our Bow River and its draw on the
fly fisherman both local, Canadian and foreign.
I am ashamed of our
provincial government and their lack of vision.
For the most part I am a supporter of the Conservative government in Alberta.
I've voted Conservative long before Klein became leader and each election
since. This is the first time that the thought of voting for another party has
been considered. I'm tired of "lip service" by all governments. It
is long over due for the Provincial government to step up and do the right
thing.
Sincerely,
Tom Cutmore