Dear Editor:

I am writing in response to Heather Leschieds letter, Lets all share watershed governance, in the July 13th edition. As you state Heather, and in my previous letter I also stated, that those interested in the waters of British Columbia should get involved with the process and act on those discussions.

Like you, I attended the day-long discussions in Nelson. I too contributed numerous suggestions and ideas within the online discussion precipitated by MLA John Slater, who is in charge of revamping the Water Act. I am still in contact and dialogue with him.

However, I still maintain that Wildsight or any other advocacy group does not have the expertise to make decisions towards water management, watershed management nor for aquifers, rivers or lakes.

You and I, Wildsight and councils can and certainly should contribute concerns, suggestions and pertinent local knowledge about an area, but making decisions on the watershed? Never.

Any government allowing that to happen would have abdicated the responsibility for which we hired those individuals through the election process. We as society did not hire Wildsight or Invermere or Radium councils to make decisions to manage aquifers, rivers or watersheds, no matter how much you and they want to make these decisions.

I know our MLA, Norm Macdonald, would have you and others think that is what should be his reality, but then if that occurs, we may as well fire the man and save the province about $100,000+ per year. But then we have the same type of chaos as is occurring in California.

Should Wildsight contribute? Yes. Should Invermere or Radium councils contribute? Yes, absolutely. Should you and they make the decisions? NEVER. Wildsight and councils at municipal levels dont have the expertise or the knowledge to make those complex decisions.

Yes, Heather, you get paid, I believe, to attend different advocacy and special interest group meetings. And yes, because you have that exposure to those groups, you might or might not have more information at your fingertips, but that does not change the fact that you are simply working for an advocacy group.

I believe Wildsight has done some good work over the years, some dumb work as well, but some good. But Wildsight was not hired to make decisions on a provincial or municipal level on public assets, in this case forestry, mining, water and access. Our politicians were hired through the electoral process. Not Wildsight. Sorry.

David Pacey

Radium