Thoughts on BC Politics and More

I'm a passionate advocate for protecting agricultural land. And I'm pleased to be able to work with Minister Lana Popham to strengthen the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) Act. But, within the ALC Act is a critical gap with respect to wetlands, water quality (and volume) and protecting our watersheds. Currently the ALC Act allows for, and encourages, draining wetlands to increase access to agricultural production. As droughts increase in frequency and severity we are going to have to protect our watersheds with the same level of vigour as we protect food producing land. There is no question these conflicts test us. I had the opportunity to ask Minster of Agriculture, Hon. Lana Popham, about these issues. Transcript A. Olsen: In recognition of World Water Day last week, I stand to ask about an issue that has long troubled me. For the most part, the (Agricultural Land Reserve) ALR protects arable land from urban sprawl. ...

The late Dick Goin Have you ever heard of Dick Goin ? Dick and his family moved to the Olympic Peninsula during the depression of the 1930's. He lived next to the Elwha River until he passed away in 2015. On Thursday night (March 21st), I had the honour of being on a panel hosted Laura Brandes of the  POLIS Water Sustainability Project  at the University of Victoria. It was an event to celebrate World Water day. Prior to discussing my salmon work alongside Tanis Gower (Project Biologist, of the Watershed Watch Salmon Society) and Tom Rutherford (Executive Director of the ), we viewed a screening of  The Memory of Fish . It's another story of passion and persistence, the life's work of Dick Goin. This theme of passion and persistence has been emerging in this blog recently. Either I am finding it, or it is finding me. Nonetheless, these powerful stories are inescapable. Frankly, the movie left me fragile. It tracked Goin's advocacy...