30 MAP critical
the priority buildings, it might help them choose if they have limited resources.” Steward recommends
marking your water sources so crews can tap into a pond, rather than, say, a domestic tap.
He also reminds ranchers to be nice to fire crews, many of them students. “It is inexcusable to take
your anger out on a 21-year- old in a red shirt,” warns Steward. Knowing what resources
are available at your farm is part of the planning process, but knowing what resources are available in the community is also essential. Bree Patterson, BCCA’s beef
production specialist, shared a resource list for each regional district which will be uploaded to the BCCA website.
Building a local community plan is an excellent idea, Steward suggests. “A community plan isn’t specific to fire,” he points out. It can be for locating an overdue worker, or children of a visiting family. It can be for
nfrom page 29
dealing with animals on the highway, a livestock truck rollover or a storage truck in the area.
“Identify the problem you want to plan for, the resources you have available and the steps you want to take to solve the problem,” he advises. There are always a range of
resources across a community, Steward says. “Some guys can run a Cat,
but you also need someone to use a shovel.” He says you will often find someone who enjoys being on the phone to work the call-out list. “Community is who you can lean on.”
Inside the zone “Issuing the evacuation
order is easy,” Steward recalls hearing the Cariboo Emergency Co-ordinator saying to the media. “Managing inside the evacuation zone is the difficult part.”
Based on his time in the
Cariboo evacuation zone last summer, Steward had several
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BCBFA BC BREEDER & FEEDER ASSOCIATION
APP (ADVANCE PAYMENTS PROGRAM) FOR BC PRODUCERS FEEDER ASSOCIATIONS LOAN GUARANTEE PROGRAM | BRED HEIFER ASSOCIATIONS LOAN GUARANTEE PROGRAM
THE ADVANCE PAYMENTS PROGRAM IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR ALL BC PRODUCERS.
Producers can apply for an advance on calves, yearlings, lambs, bison, forage and grain up to $400,000.00 with the first $100,000.00 being interest free. Plus, interest relief through the Advance Payments Program is available to association members on their feeder cattle purchases.
Application forms are available at
www.bcbfa.ca or by contacting your local association or the BCBFA office. Financing for feeder cattle, sheep and bred heifers/cows is available throughout B.C. from Co-operative Feeder and Bred Heifer Associations. The Province provides a loan guarantee to the Association’s lender. All persons are eligible who reside in British Columbia, are at least 19 years of age and own or lease a farm or ranch. Financing for feeders is for a one year term. Financing for bred heifers/cows is over a 5 year term. Cattlemen, please contact your local association:
Cariboo Bred Heifer Cooperative Cariboo-Chilcotin Cooperative Feeders Assoc Fraser Nechako Bred Heifer Cooperative Assoc
Secretary: Lindy Gilson, Quesnel
Ph 250/992-8483 | Fax 250/992-8489 Ph 250/991-8413 email:
bearvlly@telus.net
Central Interior Feeders Cooperative Assoc Secretary: Audrey Cooper, Vanderhoof Ph 250/567-2049 | Fax 250/567-9049 email:
cifcasecretary@uniserve.com
Okanagan Feeders Cooperative Association Secretary: Michele Lypchuk, Armstrong Tel 250/546-2638 | Fax 250/546-8037 email:
ml@rhllp.ca
North Peace B.C. Feeder Cooperative North Peace B.C. Bred Heifer Cooperative Assoc South Peace B.C. Bred Heifer Cooperative Assoc
Secretary: Connie Patterson, Dawson Creek Ph 250/782-6272 | Fax 250/782-1881 Ph 250/219-0791 email:
pcc@neonet.bc.ca
ADVANTAGES TO THE LIVESTOCK PRODUCER
Reliable source of credit available on short notice from the Association.
Interest rate is competitive or better than on an individual basis.
5% deposit on feeders & 10% deposit on bred heifers allows producers to continue during periods of limited cash flow.
The association is controlled by the members.
Livestock mortality insurance. BC BREEDER & FEEDER ASSOCIATION
LINDY GILSON 308 St. Laurent Avenue, Qusenel, BC, V2J 6R1 P 250.992.8483 | F 250.992.8489 email:
bearvlly@telus.net
BCBFA
www.bcbfa.ca
CIDC Check-off
Check-off
Beef at
Work
bchereford.ca
BCID Fund
BCHA President John Lewis 250-218-2537
BCHA Secretary Janice Tapp 250-699-6466
Producers were reminded to “be nice” to fire crews. BC WILDFIRE SERVICE PHOTO
observations. The key one is that the province needs to recognize and utilize the resources in a community. This ranges from calling local ranchers to help map a fire’s spread when there’s too much smoke to do so from the air,
to consulting on a back-burn up a draw on a hillside. “We all know which draws
have a downdraft because we stop there for lunch,” says Steward. “We know there will be a breeze to keep the bugs away.”
Steward would also like
more communication with fire command. “I had two out of the 10 operations commanders who would phone me to say they had scheduled a back-burn in a couple of days,” says Steward. “It really helped. We were able to get in and move livestock and equipment around and make sure people were out of the way.” The province also needs to
recognize that people will stay in the evacuation zone even when they’re not supposed to be there. “When an evacuation order
is issued, typically only 80% of the people leave,” he explains. Some see no immediate need to leave. Many ranchers have equipment, resources and training to protect their property. They also have animals to care for and forage to water and cut.
“Nobody wants to die for
their cows,” says Steward. “But a lot of people stayed in, or snuck back in, because they
couldn’t trust that they would be allowed back in if they left.”
The mistrust wasn’t helped
by officials who maintained a hard line against re-entry and, Steward says, “that just didn’t make sense.”
On the plus side, the
Cariboo Regional District developed a permit system using premises ID to identify people who had a legitimate reason for going back into the fire zone, including support services. The system provided a map of who was where and if there was change in fire behaviour, people received a notification to leave immediately. “The permitting system
worked, says Steward. “We figured how to email or text them back and forth and now people had something to show and that really relieved the tensions at the roadblocks.” Regional district
representatives were at most of the workshops and Steward has been invited to further meetings with several regional districts. However, he urged producers to enquire about follow-up. “We don’t want to see the same mistakes happen again,” he says.
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • MAY 2018
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