A washed-out day. The threat of an environmental crisis ebbs when a cleanup operation flows smoothly under the three Cs of communication, co-operation, and co-ordination

Canadian Forest Industries, Oct 2000 by Pulsifer, Craig

As spring freshets go in British Columbia's Central Interior, the year 2000 was relatively sane. Average annual snow packs and cool weather meant the slow release of meltwater. Still, licensees and ministry agencies were on their guard for avalanches, landslides and debris torrents. All was calm until...

Tuesday, June 20 - Area superintendent, Fernando Cocciolo is working his desk at the woodlands office of Evans Forest Products in Malakwa, B.C., when he hears his name crackle over the base's VHF radio. He walks over and cues the mike, "Go ahead."

Earlier that morning, on an unnamed tributary in the Perry River watershed, a large debris torrent had kicked off from steep upper regions of the drainage's western slope. The man on the other end of the radio is reporting damage to a bridge at 24 Kilometre on the Perry/North Fork Forest Service Road (FSR). It is suspected that debris has entered the Perry River - a fish-bearing river that is home to bull trout, which the Forest Practices Code of B.C. identifies as a "species at risk". The area also features one of the more densely populated grizzly bear habitats in the province.

From a desk covered by his own torrent of plans and paperwork, Cocciolo drafts an advisory of the event, which he faxes to Ministry of Forests' district engineering officer, Bob Davey. Under the Forest Practices Code, it is necessary for a licensee holding a Road Use Permit to notify MOF of any major structural damage to a road under permit. That afternoon, Cocciolo personally inspects the site and posts road closures.

[Graph Not Transcribed]

Wednesday, June 21 - It's 9:30 a.m. when Cocciolo E-mails a formal report to Davey. "The debris flow appears to have started about 1 km above road at elevations of approximately 1 300 meters in very steep, inoperable terrain," he writes. "A small slope failure at this point flowed down into the main stream channel and probably created a dam effect, which then let go down the gully to the North Fork Road and Perry River. Note: This debris flow is not related to any forest roads or harvesting as there is no development above the North Fork FSR in this area."

[Graph Not Transcribed]

Because the event is an act of God, the responsibility for maintenance and repair to the road and bridge falls to the legal road tenure holder and owner - the Ministry of Forests - but the pressure to fix things is on. Sedimentation from the scoured and rerouted tributary channel continues to hit the Perry River. Local residents of Seymour Arm use the road to access their community. And another licensee operating in the area, Bell Pole Co. Ltd., is slated to begin a new logging show up road of the closure the following week.

Davey immediately picks up the telephone to arrange reconnaissance of the area and to initiate a plan of action with MOF staff. Following protocol, he also notifies Bob Harding, habitat field technician at Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and Jeff Morgan, Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks (MELP) of MOF's intentions.

Thursday, June 22 - MOF contract supervisor Ken Blundell is bouncing over the Perry/North Fork FSR toward the slide slowing only to let a young grizzly bear cross the road at the 20-kilometre marker. Fresh, 9-inch-wide bear tracks in the sediment at the site prompt Blundell to reach for his pepper spray. "The griz like this stuff," he jokes. "It's kind of like seasoning for them."

While the torrent jammed tonnes of rock and debris up against and under the bridge deck, Blundell is amazed at how well things have held together. The up-stream panel of the concrete bridge deck has been lifted from the abutments. The shear connection plates of the deck panel are bent and cracked but otherwise, the bridge seems to be intact.

Blundell is hoping to get a Caterpillar 235 excavator for the work. He knows the 235 has the reach, weight and breakout force needed to minimize in-stream work, handle the elephant-sized boulders deposited in the streambed and possibly remove the bridge deck for cleaning and repairs. Blundell grabs his 25-watt Autotel Mobile radiophone to make a call from deep within the mountainous watershed. Unlike ordinary 3-watt cellular phones that service population centres and traffic corridors, the Autotel service pumps a 25-watt signal to proprietary, high-elevation repeaters. The call gets out.

[Graph Not Transcribed]

At K&S Builders Ltd., owner Ron Kriese picks up the phone. K&S are big proponents of preventative maintenance and Blundell knows they can supply the "dry machine" (one not leaking oils) needed for environmentally sensitive work. Unfortunately, their nearest 235 is two and a half days away. A CAT 330L RB unit, however, is available. Knowing that K&S operator Ron Nieminen has years of experience and the Advanced Road Deactivation course under his belt, Blundell asks that the senior road builder be assigned the job and tentatively books the lighter hoe.

Blundell then calls Davey to brief him on the job requirements and Davey, in turn, lines up two geotechnical engineers to check the stability of the area and the suitability for work in the torrent's path.