Dear Family and Friends...                                                                                             January 14th 2013

Brian and Licorice at Mt Washington

It’s been a busy three years since our last Christmas/New Years letter. We are still relatively healthy. We may not work as quickly as we used to but still try to squeeze as much as we can into each day. Brian is still challenged by Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). When he can, he holidays each winter where the weather is sunny.

To cope with the unpredictability of BC weather, he has developed the strategy of getting out of his office to exercise in the fresh air each day, The outside part can be a  hike with Licorice, our 5 year old dog (a mix of Bernese/ retriever and border collie), or skiing on Mt. Washington (he usually takes Licorice with him). A skate skier for the last 14 years, he recently purchased alpine touring skis that allow him to lock down his  heel and ski downhill if conditions are favourable, or to put on skins and do back-country skiing, neither of which he had done for 15 years. He usually swims in the Comox pool on his way home from skiing. Another strategy is to drive slowly and carefully (a big change for Brian).

Brian and some other concerned professional engineers met to evaluate Enbridge’s Northern Gateway plan to ship diluted bitumen (dilbit) 160 nautical miles through the exposed waterways between Kitimat and the Pacific Ocean. They decided to do an oil tanker spill risk analysis and submit it to the National Energy Board’s joint review panel as a letter of comment. This group concluded that a risk of a spill greater than 5,000 cubic meters was 22% during a 50 year time period and that this was unacceptable considering the pristine environment of the North Coast. They concluded that the risk when shipping oil should be no greater than the acceptable risk to bridges from ship collisions or to buildings from earthquakes.  These risks are considerably lower than the risk for oil shipment proposed by Enbridge (1 in 200 years for oil shipment, 1 in 10,000 years for bridges and  1 in 1000 years for buildings). Brian and his colleagues published a paper in the Sept./Oct. issue of the BC Professional Engineering publication “Innovation”. They received good publicity for their work and will be involved in questioning Enbridge’s engineers in March in Prince Rupert.

Brian and an engineering friend were able to follow up this paper with a wonderful 17-day trip in an open boat visiting First Nation and other communities along the northern coast (BC’s Great Bear Rain Forest). As a result of preliminary planning and lots of patience, the duo was usually welcomed in good spirit but with some suspicion as to who they really were and who was funding them (themselves). All the First Nations they met with were opposed to the pipeline and tanker project as they believe that spills in their territory would ruin the fishing on which their livelihoods depend.

Phil Stone, Mary Haig Brown, Valerie Haig Brown,
Brian, and Alex Adsetts-Champoux

Brian’s seventh annual hike into Strathcona Park with Phil Stone as lead guide went along Flower Ridge in 2012. These trips are for seniors who love to hike in the mountains but at a slower pace. Mary Haig Brown (with six trips) and her sister Valerie (with five trips) are stalwart participants. The group heads for unmarked trails in the back country which can be both a challenge and fun. Guides carry 70 pound packs compared to 25-30 pounds for the participants. Hikes are six days and five nights. Next year sometime around the last week in August and the first week in September, there will be another hike. If you are interested send Brian an email (mbg@uniserve.com), and he will put you on his email list that will give you updates on the expedition cost, planning and route.

Cream Lake in Strathcona Park

Jamie and Tina

If you ask Myrna what she does at the Lodge she will say that she is the Lodge caretaker. This involves a walk around the property each day to take note of things that need attention, also to pick up small garbage, clothes and occasionally lost valuables. She passes “to do” lists to Jamie (her son) or his wife Tina (Christine Clarke) who do the day-to-day management and make the large decisions at the Lodge. Myrna also continues to work in the food service area, mostly training front end staff. She also makes sure that food that comes out of the Lodge kitchen is fresh and tasty, nutritious, free from objectionable ingredients and as local as possible.

 As a  long- time nutrition teacher Myrna cares deeply about what people eat and what they feed their children. At the moment she is working on a Lodge cookbook with recipes sized for both for domestic use and for large groups like we have at the Lodge. The cookbook will also include advice about healthy eating.

Myrna has a great garden with raised boxes near the house, and as a result Brian and Myrna now have organic veggies, berries, herbs and a selection of flowers, mostly perennials. The goal is to see what can be grown on the adjacent Lodge property. Also some school groups and guests like to visit the garden. The planting boxes were built by neighbor Ralf Schulze. The planks came from cedar salvaged from the lake and sawn by David Boulding (Myrna’s nephew) on his Wood Miser sawmill. The fencing is made of discarded open net cage fish farm nets. The planting, weeding and harvesting was carried out by Myrna with the assistance of Teresa Strukoff, our resident naturopathic physician, skilled gardener and friend, who lives on site.

Catherine and Michael at Byron Bay

Michael Gunn and Catherine Bryant married (eloped) on September 2nd 2011. To share their joy amongst their family and friends they had receptions in Brisbane (where Brian enjoyed meeting Catherine’s family), Sydney, Perth, Vancouver, London and Barcelona. Catherine works as a writer for ABC Television in Perth and Michael is expediting equipment for gas development in Western Australia.

Dylan Gunn, Keith Allan, Morgan Wagner, Janel Macdonald, Tina Gunn, Dan Gunn,
Anna Karlen, Traci Majewski, Jesse Eyer, Benamon Maughen

Dan Gunn and Tina Allen were married on August 14^th 2010 at Strathcona Lodge. Tina’s relatives as well as Dan’s extended family were all present to wish them both well. The ceremony was flawless and everyone had a lot of fun as well as many heartfelt moments. Dan is working for a power consulting firm helping to train companies and people in the use of power saving programs, and Tina is teaching autistic children to cope with school in special needs classes.

Myrna, Brian, Michael, Ann-Marie Eddie, Jackie, Kathleen Gunn, Dylan, Catherine, Jeffery Sember, Rose Allan, Jamie Eddie, Ian Eddie, Gerry Allan, Keith Allan, Lock Eddie, Tim Sember. Tina and Dan in the pram.

lou and Nick

Nick Boulding and lou Dahl’s wedding took place at the Lodge on July 28^th 2012. Lou’s father, Larry Dahl officiated. He charmed everyone with his warmth and wit. The Dahl and Boulding/Gunn families and a large number of close friends enjoyed  the beautiful ceremony, reception and dinner.

Lou works as a senior project manager for a market research company, Vision Critical. Nick is the head teacher for grades 10 and 11 of  “Take a Hike”, a program for young people who have been expelled from regular schools. The young couple had a spectacular honeymoon centered on the Botswana Okavango in Africa.

Audrey Dahl, lou, Larry Dahl, Nick

Nick and Myrna

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We continued with our interest in the visitor industry with our annual trip to the “Tourism Industry Conference” held in Vancouver, Nov. 2012. We try to be supportive of any effort to pull tourism back together after the damage done by former Premier Campbell when he axed the industry-driven crown corporation “Tourism BC” and put Ministers and Deputy Ministers with little tourism experience in charge.

Jamie Boulding and Brian have been recording water flows and estimating the potential capacity of Lodge hydro generation. BC Hydro plans to bring the option of power to the ninety or so local property owners, and possibly give SPL the opportunity to sell hydro power to the grid and then buy back what is required.

Outdoor Education with Nick

The Lodge began 2012 with BC public school teachers on “work to rule”, thus cutting Lodge revenues significantly. Brian drafted a letter and with Christine (Tina) Clarke’s assistance sent it to a list of affected outdoor education facilities. The letter pointed out that youth were missing a vital part of their education. Most schools and camps signed the letter. Jamie Boulding went to the press with the story. He also pointed out that children from poorer districts were the most affected because their mothers had to work and could not replace the teachers as supervisors on field trips. The government responded and thanked the group for the letter. A one year moratorium on the job action (until fall of 2013) was put in place. Fortunately the summer and fall business helped make up the Lodge shortfall with increased student, wedding and tourism revenues. Also the 2012 Canadian Outdoor Leadership courses were full.

back row; Elizabeth, Toby, Jamie, Don, Annie, lou, Nick, Myrna, Brian, Ryan, Evan.

front row; Rosie, Tina, Zannah, Malia, Kyra, Paige, Josie, Emma

Myrna’s children are thriving. Elizabeth Boulding and Toby Hay purchased lakefront property near the Lodge. They plan to replace the existing building with a new cabin. Their daughter Emma is enrolled in an accelerated Bachelor of Nursing program. Elizabeth is a full professor in ecological genomics at the University of Guelph. Annie Boulding is teaching grade ten at Lake Trail School in Courtenay. She paddles on the ocean almost every day. Her husband, Don Irvine is a luxury home builder and a successful international paddler. Their son Evan is at University of Victoria and their daughter Malia, sixteen, is an outstanding athlete. Jamie and Tina and their family are doing well with their girls, Zannah, Kyra and Rosie. They are now teenagers and busy with activities including sports and learning how to drive. Josie Boulding is working in TV. Check her out at “restlessjosie.com”. Husband Ryan Stuart is a journalist and daughter Paige an exuberant eight.

Josie and Jackie

Brian’s children are also doing well. Jackie Taranto (Gunn) is one of Australia’s leading and most influential business women. Now in its 11^th year, Jackie has built CeBIT Australia into the leading business technology event in the Asia Pacific region. Dylan Gunn who has a degree in engineering physics is working with an engineering company at UBC developing DNA equipment for diagnosing cancer.

Dylan, Emily Beach, lou, Nick, Tina Gunn, Dan

Myrna in Western Australia

                                                                             Brian and friend Neville Horne at Maroubra
We spent Dec. 2010 to Feb. 2011 in Australia with Christmas week at Byron Bay in northern New South Wales. Brian rented a great house only two minutes from a spectacular beach. Brian’s son Dylan, and his daughter Jackie who lives in Sydney, Myrna’s daughter Josie, husband Ryan and their daughter Paige; nephew Michael Baikie, his wife Lindsay and their daughter Sapphire were there. From there we drove to Sydney, enjoyed time with Jackie, then stayed overnight in Canberra at an alpaca farm, moving on to spend several great days in Southern Australia.  We then flew to Perth staying with Michael and Catherine at their recently purchased home. In a rental car we drove south to Albany, enjoyed the “Forest Top Canopy Walk” and the vineyards around Margaret River. Back in Sydney we saw the almost complete rebuild of Jackie’s beach house in Maroubra, Sydney. Now she has a spectacular home with many alternative design features that fit her personality. The previous occupant of Jackie’s house was a grandmother, Mavis, who provided as a mother for her four grandsons, including Koby and Jai Abberton. (Their mother was a heroin addict. The boys were members of the “Bra Boys”, an Australian surfer gang. Jai was charged with the murder of standover man Tony Hines, but found not guilty. A feature-length documentary entitled “Bra Boys: Blood is Thicker than Water” was released in 2007 and narrated by Russell Crowe.)

Mauna Kea observatories

Our Christmas of 2009 was celebrated on Hawaii, the big island. Participants were Brian’s brother Ron, sister Judy, son Dylan, daughter Jackie, her friend Linda Mitsui (with her partner and two daughters), Myrna’s daughters Elizabeth, Annie, (husband Don, their children Evan and Malia), and Josie, (husband Ryan and daughter Paige). Brian and Dylan took their yellow rental Jeep to Mauna Kea where, through the snow and mist, Brian photographed the magnificent observatories.

Hugh Cooper and Brian at San Blas

In November of 2010 we flew to Mexico’s Puerto Vallarta, took a cab ride north to San Blas where we visited with Brian’s friend Hugh Cooper and his partner Marilyn. They winter in their own home in San Blas and summer at their Powell River home. We had many great days swimming, exploring and visiting a crocodile swamp. Later we we had a great visit with Myrna’s sister Joanne and husband Dave in their time-share near Puerto Vallarta. We enjoyed the swimming, also sipping our first Margaritas while watching the sun disappear with its green flash over the horizon.

    

Myrna with guide Yolanda

 In December 2011 we went on a two week holiday to Varadero, Cuba.  The first week on guided day trips we visited historic sites in Havana, drove a jeep off the main roads, went swimming in a cave pool, had a short horseback ride, travelled by river boat and visited farms and craft shops. The beach at the hotel was great but big waves made swimming difficult. The second week we were restless so we left our bags and set off to explore more of Cuba. First we stayed at a B&B in Havana. Our host supplied us with a delightful guide, a young medical student who wanted to improve his English.  We also met an American Cuban who took us to Hemmingway’s bar where we danced, and argued about politics. We later travelled south west to “Valle de Vinales”, a World Heritage site.  The hostess at our B&B was a warm and sophisticated lady. Her daughter was an artist. We found Cubans to be extremely critical of their country and very defensive and proud at the same time. They felt betrayed because first the Americans have made them endure a severe and ongoing boycott and then the Soviets left them. The average Cubans survives with maximum government pay of about 20 Canadian dollars per month. They get free medical services and education (even post secondary), inexpensive food and heavily subsidized housing. Many have come to depend on income from a family member working in the tourism industry. Tips can raise income to about $300 per month. Most Cubans lead simple lives and few expect in their lifetime to travel out of Cuba. Brian recommends “The Woman She Was” written by Rosa Jordan, a Canadian, for a good view on how Cubans think and live. 

John Caton of Clayquot Wilderness Resort,
Alex Morton - the voice for wild salmon, and Brian

As of our 2012 AGM, I (Brian) am now past president of the Wilderness Tourism Association (WTA). At first stepping down felt to me like a loss and a breaking of bonds. However the process of stepping down started a year ago when I realized that I could not stay healthy and work seven days a week. At the same time I need stimulation, contact with others, and to work on issues I care about. The last big WTA effort for me was to fight the major timber licensees in the 100 Mile House forest district who, because of the lack of government controls, had neglected to notify Debbie, the owner of the “Free Rein Guest Ranch” (a fellow tenure holder) before they trashed her horseback riding trails. Forestry was threatening another guest ranch with the same thing. The WTA had to appeal to the ethics of the professional foresters. To make amends they helped Debbie map out and construct new trails. Government protection was not there, although help was given by a tourism tenure official and the “100 Mile House” district manager to get licensees together and ensure revised tenures could be issued before the 2012 season.

Myrna and Brian were amongst the canoeists who "Paddled for Wild Salmon" on the Fraser River

I (Brian) have worked for thirteen years on land use and many other issues as the president of the Wilderness Tourism Association. I continue to be passionate about saving wild salmon from the lice and viruses that are an acknowledged cost of open-net fish farms. This October saw the Cohen Commission on the decline of sockeye salmon in the Fraser River come forward with strong recommendations to the Federal government including limiting farm expansion in all the inland coastal areas unless proof of non-damage to wild species could be provided. In addition Cohen recommended that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans be restricted to regulating and improving wild salmon stocks rather than having a split mandate to also promote farmed salmon. Good news is that a closed containment, land-based salmon farm (south of Port McNeil on the Nimpkish River), to be owned and operated by the Namgis First Nation of Alert Bay, is nearing completion. This facility has been supported by “Save our Salmon,” a Marine Conservation Foundation and many other groups. The  facility will receive 23 thousand juvenile salmon in January 2013.

Sonora Lodge

At the beginning of October 2012, we needed rest and relaxation. We went for two days to Sonora Lodge, a two hour boat ride from Campbell River. It was perfect! Great food, luxurious surroundings and a guided trip where we saw sea lions, many many leaping fish, eagles and views of Bute Inlet, one the most beautiful places on earth.           

Sea Lions near Sonora Lodge

Wishing you a happy 2013 !

Myrna and Brian

Brian and Myrna posing on Dylan and Emily's bikes