Stauffer Creek - further info

[Don Andersen]

Folks,

Adjoining the lands of Border Paving, the proponent of the gravel pit, and within 50 yards on both the east side and north side are lands held under title by the Alberta Conservation Assoc., Trout Unlimited Canada, Alberta Fish and Game Assoc..
These lands were purchased by the above authorities with additional contributions of Central Alberta Trout unlimited Chapter.
If you purchased a fishing or hunting license and or are dues paying members of one or more of those organizations, these lands belong to you and you must have standing in any decision rendered.
These lands held by the above groups have management plans developed by the owners whose decisions reflect any similar owner decisions. Examples of these decisions include land use, access, grazing and the like.
Please address all comments about the application of Border Paving to:

Planning Dept.
Country of Clearwater,
4340 47 Ave, Rocky Mountain House, AB T4T 1A4

Please write a letter as letters have much more “weight” than emails or online petitions.

Regards,

Don

[Don Andersen]

Typically, gravel pits have a narrow circumference of persons who can speak to the application however, this pit may have some profound effects on the land values of downstream owners. This is the result of thermal uptake of the spring water flowing through the end pit lakes increasing water temperature enough to render the stream in its lower reaches lethal to trout.
I would encourage any landowner downstream of or in the vicinity of the gravel pit to attend Border Pavings Open House Nov. 28/19 from 5>8 pm at the Butte Community Hall.

Regards,

Don

[Swagger]

Boarder_Paving_Wet_Pit.pdf

Here is a map showing a rough sketch of the area.

In general, these flats contain gravel within a few feet of the surface, often shallower. The water table is just below that. One can presume the water is very mobile and could easily be interrupted.

The elevation difference between the Clearwater (N. Sask Watershed) and Raven springs (Red Deer River Watershed) is just a couple of feet.

The Clearwater breeched it's banks and man made berms in 2005 and flowed down the Raven for a few days. Major work was done to re-direct the Clearwater back.

THIS IS A VERY UNIQUE AND ENVIRONMENTALY SENSITIVE AREA!

[Don Andersen]

Border Paving meeting held Nov. 28 saw a audience of perhaps 75. The audience was composed of most of the landowners within close proximity of the proposed wet gravel pit, several downstream landowners, business owners located along the stream, Trout Unlimited representatives from Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton, Alberta F&G, Alberta Conservation Association, Red Deer Watershed Alliance & Butte Action Committee, plus a number of interested Anglers, landowners and county residents.
Border Paving had their Hydrologist Consultants, fisheries consultant, plus in-house staff presenting info.

1) As expected, water and how to protect the North Raven River from potential effects on the stream was the major focus of the audience. The Hydrologist presented his findings which the audience felt meager at best. Many expressed the view of why risk the stream. This section of the meeting used perhaps 70% of the 2 hour session.

2) Border provided “story boards” showing pit locations, exactions, end pit lakes and the like

3) Border outlined a desire to combine applications for both pits as requested by Dept. of Environment.

4) Road use, anticipated use of the pit, operating hours were all detailed.

5) As part of the application process, attendees could sign in for further info sent to them, use a response sheet provided by Border. All responses sent or recorded become part of tbe package provided to the County

For those who wished to comment on the application, please see previous post for letters.

Regards,

Don

[yetiseeker]

Don,

I attended the meeting myself and was impressed with the cross section of concerned attendees. I would have guessed closer to 150 or so people attended to meeting.

I myself would encourage everyone who knows and cares about this stream to reach out and voice your concerns. The wet gravel pit application will be submitted to AEP for review, with all statements of impact forming a part of the review.

Over the past couple of years, there have been a number of concerning activities getting the green light, but we as an angling community have also witnessed the power in numbers expressing their concerns. The government does consider the number of concerns raised as part of these initiatives and does form part of the decision making process.

Be active - voice your concerns as it really does make a difference.