Western Pine Beetle

Last week the Regional District invited elected officials on a tour of regional parks - including some that they hope to add to the inventory! This was a very informative tour and I feel like I have a much better grasp of the "big picture" with our regional parks system.
One of the stops we made was at Mission Creek Regional Park to view the areas that have been affected by the Western Pine Beetle. Parks staff have removed about 2250 Ponderosa Pine trees in certain areas to contain the spread of the beetle. The only way to really get rid of the beetles is to burn the bark of the trees. The bark and limbs were disposed of by burning with an air curtain burner - this minimized the smoke. Any wood that could be salvaged for use has been.
Parks staff have also set traps (see photo below). These traps contain an attraction pheromone which draws the beetles away from the trees and into the trap. This works really well in conjunction with the neighbouring homes which are using verbenone, which acts as a repellant. Verbenone basically signals to the beetle that the tree is already full of beetles. The beetles then fly to the traps instead! The beetles caught in the traps are frozen to kill them (if they haven't been eaten by larger bugs first!).

A bit of Ponderosa Pine trivia - to identify a Ponderosa Pine with your eyes closed, take a deep sniff! The bark of the Ponderosa Pine in the summer smells like vanilla ice cream - mmmmm!
For more information on the Western Pine Beetle, please visit the City of Kelowna's Pine Beetle Page

Central Okanagan Crystal Meth Task Force

Last night I attended the screening of "Crystal Clear, Crystal Fear", a documentary based on the lives of three families living in Hope, B.C., whose children were addicted to Crystal Meth. It was an incredibly powerful movie and the panel discussion with some of the film participants was inspiring and frightening at the same time. Later in the evening we were introduced to the chairs of the three pillars of the Central Okanagan Crystal Meth Task Force. The pillars are Education, Enforcement and Treatment. Each pillar has laid out a 90 day plan to tackle Cyrstal Meth in our community.
Please take advantage of this opportunity to educate yourselves and your children about this extremely dangerous drug. Visit the Central Okanagan Crystal Meth Task Force website often and check out upcoming public meetings and opportunities to get involved.

Rutland May Days Parade!

CATCH Coalition Survey on Early Childhood Development

NEWS RELEASE

Central Okanagan residents want to help kids… and think they need help!

Kelowna, BC – Overwhelmingly, residents of the Central Okanagan approve using their tax dollars to support early childhood development and learning initiatives. While the overall findings of a recent telephone survey were not surprising to Menno Salverda, manager of the CATCH Coalition based in the Central Okanagan, the level of support definitely was.
“The survey showed that 89 percent of the respondents were in favour of government support for young children,” he said. “That was a surprise, but certainly not the only one, or the biggest!”
The recent telephone survey of 250 Central Okanagan residents revealed some startling information about the attitudes of residents about children living in their community.
“For example, as well as supporting the use of their taxes for children’s initiatives, 79 percent also believe that the community should provide some support to parents and their children,” he said. “I think this shows that, at least in the Central Okanagan, people recognize that children really are our future, that parenting can be a challenging role, and that the community has an obligation to step in and help out.”
While there was a huge level of support for children overall, there were also concerns about how children are perceived in the community.
“Respondents were asked to choose two words to describe children these days, and the first word mentioned by 57 percent was negative. They used words like difficult, unruly, undisciplined and troubled. The second word mentioned by 62 percent was also negative and 60 percent used negative descriptors for both of their choices.”
Salverda also noted another surprising finding. “We were surprised that 77 percent don’t know about the research that links the early years with how the child turns out in their teen and adult years,” he said. “I guess that those of us involved in early childhood development, whether in the medical, educational or care giving professions, are very aware of the research that clearly indicates these linkages and we assume everyone knows about them.”

He explained, “We see the consequences of a difficult childhood all the time, so we were completely surprised that so many didn’t know about it. I guess it is such a basic and important connection to the safety and health of our communities that we simply assume that everyone sees it.”
The Community Action Toward Children’s Health (CATCH) coalition is made up of most Central Okanagan organizations and individuals who either are directly involved in children’s health and welfare issues or are interested partners, such as provincial and local governments, educators, non-profit organizations, businesses and health professionals.
The survey of 250 respondents was conducted by Discovery Research as part of the group’s work in improving the lives of children in the Central Okanagan. The survey results are accurate within ±6.2 percent 19 times out of 20.
A summary of the survey is available on the CATCH website under the “What’s New” heading.

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For more information:
Menno Salverda
(250) 763-5100, ext. 222