VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Thanks mf4. Keep us posted and we can all work together to get the early grunt work started. Gene

The road into Knob Point is impassable due to washouts. Fred no longer lives on that side of the lake. People have commented a good 4X4 will make it through. I highly doubt it, motorbike might make it if you are a Trial bike expert. On top of that, people should not be driving through it as it is a creek/river which has salmon habitat, so to drive through could possibly cause damage or even worse cause a reaction with the hatchery which is right nearby.

I am engineering the campsite boundary's this weekend. The contrator should start removing the downed tree's by Monday April 16th. I don't believe it will take him that long to clear, I will know more next week. After tree removal general clean up should start picnic tables painted etc..


The other road to Knob Pt is called Klanawa 1900 it is ver grown with 1-4 yr old alder saplings I estimate a work crew with two chainsaws and a few guys could clear it in one day, it takes 1-hr to drive fron the village to my old house across the lake that way.

Fred


[quote="kitesurferdale"]The road into Knob Point is impassable due to washouts. Fred no longer lives on that side of the lake. People have commented a good 4X4 will make it through. I highly doubt it, motorbike might make it if you are a Trial bike expert. On top of that, people should not be driving through it as it is a creek/river which has salmon habitat, so to drive through could possibly cause damage or even worse cause a reaction with the hatchery which is right nearby.[/quote]

ya the alders didn't look that bad last year if you don't mind a couple scratches on your car, but what about the huge creek gully that has no bridge??? chainsaw ain't gonna fix that...

An hour, and thats only 1/2 way? I bet there might be some customers for you to ferry camping/sailing gear over to Knob Pt, Fred!

Good news that the campsite clearing is going to go soon!

Morb, the more I think about your observations the more I think you took the wrong road It is possible perhaps, last time I drove there I only recall a smaller washout, some tire-size sinkholes near the end and the trip from campground to Knob Point took around 35min. one way. The alders I wouldn't underestimate and they suck to remove, a trip with a flail or a blade is what's needed.

I think the road that Fred is talking about comes around the back from the Klanawa side near Flora Lake.

So here is the latest update on the campground. They have indeed as Nitinaht Pat has mentioned starting clearing in the park. 95% of the falling and bucking is now complete. The access road is repaired and passable. What is left now is for the self loading logging trucks to come in and begin taking the wood out and for the grapple machine & buckers to finish the remaining windfall and stack for the self loaders. Once the wood is removed, as I understand it, they will be using a forestry rake to gather and pile the remaining debris. Talking with the fellow operating the grappler, he figures the park should be cleared and ready for habitation by the end of next week. He did mention that at this time the park is still closed and no one is to use the campground until they have finished their work. It is definately brighter in there folks!! might make for a warmer camping experience

Wow, thats great Dale, thanks for reporting! I feel a first Nat session coming on for next weekend (9 days away assuming they've finished with the big stuff by then!)

Fred mentioned dealing with picnic tables (and I presume outhouses) after the main cleanup - will that affect the opening (volunteer labour including shovels, rakes, chainsaw, towchain and comealong available until the wind picks up each day!)

Okay well after 7 hours of driving yesterday I have determined that I definitely cannot drive to Knob Point. Flora and Klanawa Main and K1900 are all very smooth - it looks like there's a lot of logging activity out there. I found the top of "Upper Hitchie" (the road which goes down to Knob Point) but like Fred said, chainsaws and a lot more clearance than my Civic has are needed. There are lots of little rainwater gullies across the road and little trees and bushes. And Kus, I tried the more direct route to Knob Point with a GPS this time and I was definitely on the right road and there is definitely a really big stream/river/gulley right at the bottom of the lake so that's a no-go.

But the good news is that the campsite is looking pretty good! There are lots of piles of logs. A ton of trees are down, mainly in the middle of the circle and the east side. Up towards the kiter section there is very little damage and the dismantled sauna looks untouched.

There was one other guy at the campsite who was there yesterday and he said that there was no sign of loggers yesterday and I didn't see any today... guess they don't work weekends. Anyway it's looking good and with that sun today it almost got windy enough to plane on a 5.5!

Told ya I knew what I was talking about regarding Knob point, sheesh, nobody believes me.... Hope you enjoyed the adventure of getting to know the backroads though!

latest info from TSA May 2 10am

Joe, I will let Frank respond to you as he is closer to the situation than I am. My understanding is that the logging is scheduled to be completed this week although we do not have any more info than that. Frank should make a decision about opening the site though. That may require an inspection on our part and I will leave that for Frank to get back to you on.

_____________________________________________
From: McBride, Joe AG:EX
Sent: May 2, 2007 9:35 AM
To: Tataryn, Paul TSA:EX; Ullmann, Frank TSA:EX
Cc: ''; ''; ''; Mitchell, Robin LCS:EX
Subject: Nitinat Lake status?

Paul, we spoke in January about Nitinat. Could you or Frank let me know the campsite's official status so I can post it to the discussion forum? i.e. is it still closed?

The word is that it is almost ready to use and I'm sure lots of people would like to head up the weekend of May 5. If you don't know yet, could you let me know when you might know?

Here's a link to the latest talk on the discussion forum.

http://www.bigwavedave.ca/phpBB2/viewto ... 2&start=30

see esp. item posted : Thu Apr 26, 2007 9:44 pm

Thanks

Joe McBride

Tel: 250-953-4485
Fax: 250-356-0064
Email:


______________________________________________
From: Tataryn, Paul TSA:EX
Sent: January 17, 2007 2:44 PM
To: Ullmann, Frank TSA:EX
Cc: McBride, Joe AG:EX
Subject: Nitinat Lake

Frank, I received a call from Joe McBride, who is one of the long time users at Nitinat. The surfing/kiting community is interested to know what our plans are for the site. Essentially, I said that as the first step, we are assessing the log salvage opportunity to see how that fits in with our rehab plans. We hope to have the site safe and usable by the beginning of the season but it is too soon to predict that. I'm not sure if you are dealing with any other users but I indicated to Joe that we will keep in contact with him as our plans develop. He will then get word to the users. There seems to be a willingness from the community to assist with clean-up.



See attached link for Big Wave Dave's discussion forum

http://www.bigwavedave.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2234

No camping May 5 weekend - maybe Mother's Day?

Here's the reply from Frank at TSA

The site is still closed as we speak. The salvager is removing trees this week and we should be getting a cleanup going as soon as he is finished. I will know more when he has completed his stuff mid week next week. We can then see what exactly needs to happen. I am hopeful that we can at least open up to limited use soon thereafter. I know the season is progressing. I have been out sailing on this side of the water twice already, albeit with a proper hull as opposed to a board but do understand your frustrations.

Frank Ullmann
Recreation Officer

Hi Joe:

Saw your name on Bigwavedaves' forum and thought i could provide an update. I've registered for the forum, but the moderator hasn't let me in yet.

We have felled danger trees, and bucked all the new windthrow in and around the recreation site. The logs have been moved to roadside and should all be moved out by May 9th. We'll have two logging trucks hauling for the next while.

The hoe will pile the debris in the camp pad areas into burnable piles, (leaving enough room to park) and will leave some logs and wood behind at roadside as firewood.

I'll post photos of the site before we started cleanup, as it looked like a tornado had touched down. The windthrow to the west as you drive into the Recreation site will give visitors a sense of the damage.



Ray Bartram MBA, RFT
Ryka Industries Ltd.
123 Denman Drive, Qualicum Beach, BC
V9K 1R6
250.731.6210 cell

Thank you for the update.