The People

Paul Turje, P.Eng., President, P.S.Turje & Associates Ltd. (civil engineering and planning)

I was first introduced to the area in 1969 while working for the forestry ministry as a engineering student surveyor. Our crew was tasked with reconnaissance, road survey and timber survey for connecting Johnsons Landing with the Fry Creek watershed. I was struck at the time by not only the physical beauty of Kootenay Lake, the Fry Creek alluvial fan and canyon, but also by the significance this land held to the residents of neighboring Argenta, Johnsons Landing and Lardeau. Opening this area to industrial logging struck me at the time as being highly inappropriate, prompting me to add detailed notes to that effect on my survey plans. I have returned many times since my callow youth to camp at Fry Creek and visit friends I made at the time in Argenta and have formed a bond with the landscape and members of the community. There are few opportunities remaining in our beautiful province to preserve (largely) untouched wilderness areas and this is a “no brainer” given its assets, the relatively small size, the impacts of a failure to preserve a near pristine area. Also, the earlier omission of this parcel from the Conservancy stands out as a failure seeking remediation. I therefore urge the BC to take this opportunity to correct what I and many other residents of this province consider to be a former mistake and to include this land in the conversancy.