SEPTEMBER 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
BC-Washington collaborate on water management Working group ramps up this fall
by PETER MITHAM ABBOTSFORD – Whatcom
County dairy farmers have succeeded in getting BC to pay closer attention to the impact urban development and farming practices have across the Fraser River delta. Writing to Washington
Governor Jay Inslee last year, the Ag Water Board of Whatcom County said that six watershed improvement districts it represents have worked to maintain local streams in a way that serves the interests of both fish and farmers.
The board alleged that
activities north of the border were working against those efforts, exacerbating the criticism Whatcom County farmers – primarily dairy producers – face regarding their nutrient management practices. “We request you to bring this issue to the attention of the British Columbia government, the BC- Washington Environmental Co-operation Council, and the International Joint Commission which addresses trans-boundary concerns,” wrote Scott Bedlington, chair of the local water board. The letter followed a December 2015 request from the Washington Department of Agriculture for BC to clean up its act with respect to fecal coliform in Perry Homestead Brook and Pepin Creek. The letter seemed to get lost in the shuffle, however, as BC Ministry of Agriculture staff were unable to tell Country Life in BC last October whether or not the letter had ever been acted upon. Two months later, however,
government staff from BC and Washington as well as their federal counterparts with the US Environmental Protection Agency and Environment and Climate Change Canada formed the BC-WA Nooksack River Transboundary Water Quality Task Group. The group’s formation
extends the work of the BC- Washington Environmental Co-operation Council, which had previously overseen cross-border issues. BC environment minister
George Heyman, who has made agricultural impacts on water quality a priority of his ministry, welcomed the work of the new group. It set an agenda for the fall when it met on July 25-26, and he looks forward to seeing the results of its work. He stressed that its work remains at an early stage, however. “I haven’t had a direct
report about the work of the trans-boundary working
group,” he said. “They are controlling their own schedule.” Closer collaboration
between farmers on both sides of the border is something BC agriculture minister Lana Popham would like to see more often, not just on nutrient management. “Collaboration between
Washington and British Columbia will lead to more innovative solutions, especially as we look at different technologies that are available now that weren’t available in the past,” she said.
Working together This is a view that resonates
with Gerald Baron, a spokesperson for Whatcom County farmers, who told Country Life in BC last year that producers on both sides of the border need to work together to protect the environment."
Fishtrap Creek straddles the Canada-US border and is one of the major streams originating in Canada that has seen high contamination levels coming across the line. JAYSON KORTHUIS/WHATCOM FAMILY FARMERS PHOTO
Common practices would also help protect farmers on both sides of the border against charges from conservation groups that
claim farmers aren’t doing their part to protect the environment. “Farmers are under a lot of pressure in Whatcom County
relating to water issues, both water quality and water access into the streams,” he said. “We need to find a way to respond.”
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