Safe, stable, affordable

HOUSING

at Ward Street Place

The Issue

Nelson CARES operates Ward Street Place on behalf of the community. It is a unique commercial/residential social enterprise that houses an emergency homeless shelter, 35 single occupancy rooms and three apartments. The building is 100 years old and without improvements is fast approaching the end of its usable life.

The Challenge

To preserve this stock of safe, stable and affordable housing for another half century. We have invested $2.2 million to complete health and safety improvements and purchase and renovate a new site for the emergency shelter. It’s now time to focus on the residents and their homes.

The Solution

Refurbish each room and the common living spaces, install energy efficient windows and doors, and fund a long term maintenance reserve that will make the rooms available for the next fifty years. The cost is $690,000.

To read more about this valuable initiative click here.

On October 8, 2014, Deconstructing Dinner welcomed British Columbia publishing pioneer, Judith Plant – the co-founder and publisher of New Society Publishers (NSP). The event was called Gathering the Threads of Social Change – The Story of New Society Publishers.

Chances are, if your personal or professional interests revolve around food, gardening or permaculture, natural building & alternative energy, parenting, education & community building, or environmental & sustainability issues, you probably already have an NSP book on your bookshelf.

Presented by the Kootenay Co-op, Otter Books and Deconstructing Dinner, this event was a rare opportunity to hear from a leader of our time who has been instrumental in empowering people and communities around the world to be their own leaders in building more ecologically sustainable and equitable societies. NSPs mission really has been to publish books that can change the world.

http://www.newsociety.com

Small Town Films shot 2nd Unit Photography for the wheat and the one on garlic episodes and webisodes, see them all on http://deconstructingdinner.ichannel.ca/

Deconstructing Dinner: Bringing Home the Bread
 (24min, Canada, 2013)

Worldwide theatrical premiere (and sneak peek!) of Bringing Home the Bread – one of six episodes for the forthcoming series set to air nationwide on ichannel this Summer. Written and hosted by Nelson’s very own Jon Steinman of Kootenay Co-op Radio’s Deconstructing Dinner (2006-2010). Alongside James Beard Award winning producer and former Kootenay resident Declan O’Driscoll (Milk War), this episode features chef John Sundstrom of Lark in Seattle – also a James Beard Award winner! A great line-up of Kootenay residents are also featured including Matt Lowe, Roy Lawrence, Jay Blackmore, Jesse Phillips and Natalka Podstawskj. This episode examines the little known yet significant nutrient declines being documented in wheat following the decades-long evolution of modern wheat varieties. Along with the loss of nutrients, so too has the flavour of wheat all but disappeared. But there are inspiring efforts in the U.S. and Canada which are successfully reversing this trend and bringing the bread back home!

It was a Needoba who suggested sending a copy of the finished DVD to Jerry Yarnell, a 30-year veteran of a popular painting show on PBS. The Yarnell family was so impressed with the product that they agreed to list it on their popular website at www.yarnellart.com.

“I am incredibly excited to have my DVD listed on the Yarnell Art website, alongside other artists seen on PBS, such as Buck Paulson and Bob Ross,” says Vahala. “I was originally inspired by Yarnell’s clear instruction to create a DVD to guide aspiring artists. It’s an amazing feeling to be associated with an instructor of his caliber.”

Mirja Vahala’s DVD offers over 2.5 hours of content focusing on basic instruction for new artists. Starting with brush handling, tinting and shading, through to the basics of the colour wheel, gradations, blending, glazing and painting a landscape, this DVD is offered for $49.

“I was compelled to create this DVD for those who are unable to attend my workshops. It’s taken years to hone these methods for the true beginner. It is my passion to remove barriers to creativity.”

Mirja’s ability to provoke emotion in her own nature landscapes, and to articulate her methods to students have brought her some incredible teaching opportunities. Since moving to Castlegar BC in 2007 to pursue her craft fulltime, Mirja has instructed on behalf of Selkirk College and Holland America Cruises, as well holding classes in her own art studio.

For more information on ‘Acrylics for True Beginners’, please visit www.MirjaVahalaArtStudio.com, or contact Mirja Vahala at: mirja@mirjavahala.com or by phone at 250-365-7679.

Acrylucs for True Beginners – Masterpiece Chapter 1

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/requiem-for-a-glacier

WHO WE ARE: Artist PAUL WALDE and art curator KIARA LYNCH are working together with residents of the Kootenay communities of British Columbia and with the support of the LANGHAM CULTURAL CENTRE and OXYGEN ART CENTRE to produce an art project of epic proportions – Requiem for a Glacier.

THE PROJECT: Requiem for a Glacier is a sound performance by artist Paul Walde that will memorialize BC’s Jumbo Glacier area, an ancient feature of the landscape remaining from the last ice age, now under immediate threat from global warming and mega-resort development. A four movement oratorio, Walde’s Requiem for a Glacier presents the history of the glacier, the advent of electricity, climate change, and the BC government’s controversial announcement of a year-round recreational development on the glacier. A 40-person choir and 30-person orchestra, made up of volunteer professional and amateur musicians from communities adjacent to the Purcell mountain range, will perform the Requiem on the glacier this summer. Written and performed for the glacier alone – there will be no audience other than the landscape itself and those contributing in the presentation of the work.

Ajtony Csaba, chief conductor of the Central European Chamber Orchestra and conductor of the University of Victoria Symphony, will conduct the instrumentalists. A team of professional filmmakers and audio engineers will document the performance. In addition, a team of professional mountain guides will lead the expedition. In total our team is composed of approximately 100 dedicated individuals.

Requiem for a Glacier will ultimately take three forms: a) a site specific outdoor sound performance on a glacier near Invermere, BC;  b) an exhibition / installation in the Langham Cultural Centre, Oxygen Art Centre, and future venues,  based on documentation captured during the performance; and c) a a multimedia indoor sound performance.

Requiem for a Glacier will also be the subject of a documentary film which will extend the reach of this work and the issues it is exploring.

WHY HELP: Requiem for a Glacier will provide a cultural perspective into one of the biggest ecological issues of our time: global climate change and how it relates to the Kootenay region and the highly contentious Jumbo Alpine Resort. Located in the Purcell Mountain Range in eastern British Columbia, Jumbo or Qat’muk, is a range of five glaciers that have been spared some of the environmental degradation of other glaciers due to their high altitude. However with continued global warming, this geographical advantage will soon be lost, and in fact, these glaciers are already in retreat.

To compound matters, a $1 billion resort proposal has recently been approved by the provincial governmental. As Professor David Schindler of the University of Alberta warns, “Ski lifts and skier traffic on the surface of Jumbo Glacier will hasten its melting, and compromise one of the important headwater sources of the Columbia River system.”

In both the Columbia and Kootenay communities bordering the Purcell Mountain range, approximately 80% of residents are opposed to the approval of the resort.  In fact, the majority of citizens who live in the region are outraged and saddened by the continued development of our remaining wild spaces.

The proposed development area provides key habitat for grizzlies and important other wildlife species and is sacred to the local Ktunaxa Nation who have declared themselves, “expressly opposed to the Jumbo Glacier Resort.” In November 2011 the Ktunaxa Nation was joined by hockey legend Scott Neidermeyer in the Provincial legislature to present the Qat’muk Declaration, which outlines the sacred significance of this area.

HOW YOU CAN HELP: Requiem for a Glacier is a unique opportunity for you to lend your support and voice to this important artistic initiative.  Through public and private grants and fundraising, we have raised a significant amount of the funds required for the professional expenses associated with  the production of this project.  However, the logistics of bringing a crew of approximately 100 hundred people and their equipment to the back country of the Purcell Mountains is formidable, and expensive challenge.  We are asking for financial assistance for transportation costs (which includes travel allowances for volunteers who are travelling from throughout the region and province), accommodation, and food costs incurred during the weekend of production.  Additional monies raised will go directly towards post-production work on video and audio footage for the subsequent video and sound installations, audio publication and the film which documents this historical performance.

WHAT YOU GET: In exchange for your help you can choose from several Requiem for a Glacier themed rewards. These include, digital audio downloads and CDs, original requiem related artwork by Paul Walde, or even the unique opportunity to witness the performance on the glacier.

No matter how much you are able to donate, you will be left with the satisfaction of knowing that you have contributed to the creation of this important art event.

……..

PAUL WALDE – Description of Practice: This project marks a continuation of my studio research in which I explore interconnections between landscape, identity, and technology; amplifying cultural gestures in order to reveal their place within nature and conversely, by capturing natural events through cultural apparatii.  These ideas are developed through a diverse studio practice, which has in recent years led me to examining sound as a physical property and artistic medium. www.paulwalde.com

CONTACT US: requiemforaglacier@gmail.com

According to Craig Pettitt from Valhalla Wilderness Society, scientists have “…identified 283 species of lichens in this forest. 3 of them are new to BC and Canada, another 3 are new to North America and 7 are new to science.”  Pettitt goes on to explain that the work done through sampling wind fall and stumps in clear cuts have estimated trees in this old growth forest to be as old as 1600 to 2000 years!

The complete video interviews with Pettitt are posted at SmallTownFilms.com via our Youtube.com channel, along with a link to an EcoSociety post with a sample letter against the development that can be copied into the Comments section, and can also be sent to your local government representative.  The Valhalla Wilderness Society website houses many of the scientific reports referenced and other research done about the area.

We implore you to take the time to learn more about the Incomappleux and the devastating effects any development will have on its fragile ecosystem.

Comments can be posted on the Integrated Land Management Board website which also has details about the proposal submitted by TransAlta (formerly Calgary Power).
http://www.arfd.gov.bc.ca/ApplicationPosting/viewpost.jsp?PostID=32709

References:
1) http://www.arfd.gov.bc.ca/ApplicationPosting/viewpost.jsp?PostID=32709
Client: Galena Bay Power Corp.
Purpose: WATERPOWER/INVESTIGATIVE PHASE
Region: Kootenay, Cranbrook
Agency: Crown Land Allocation
File: #4404712
Location: vic of Upper Incomappleaux River
Area (Hectares): 17,044 hectares more or less
BCGS Mapsheet: Various
Legal Description: All those parcels or tracts of land in the vicinity of Upper Incomappleaux River, Kootenay District
2) http://ecosociety.ca/incomappleux-IPP
Background
A huge power corporation, TransAlta, has applied for a permit to do feasibility studies in order to install a power plant in the Incomappleux river valley.
The TransAlta proposal claims a capacity to generate 45 megawatts of power. Any project under 50 MW will receive no formal Environmental Assessment, yet the power production can be increased in the future.
What’s at Stake
The Incomappleux valley has been severely logged for a major part of its length. But the logging stopped before the end of the forest, leaving behind a five-kilometre stretch of river with very rare valley-bottom Inland Temperate Rainforest, with trees up to four metres in diameter and 1,800 years old. Scientists say this forest could have been growing undisturbed since the last ice age. It is part of a 17-kilometre stretch of wild river running through intact wilderness adjacent to Glacier National Park.
This now famous valley has drawn scientists from five countries to study the biodiversity of its ancient rainforest and its extensive wetland and have found numerous rare species.
What you can do
Send a letter to BC’s Integrated Land Management Bureau (ILMB) by midnight, September 20. Get your friends and family to do it too. Post in on your face book site. The following sample letter can be pasted into the government’s comment space on its website, and you can change it however you wish to express your own views.

SAMPLE LETTER (Copy and paste into Comments section of the Integrated Land Management Bureau Website)
It is unthinkable that the government would allow an IPP on the Incomappleux River. The interior of BC has only one segment of intact, wild river flowing through an undisturbed tract of ancient Inland Rainforest with trees 1,800 years old. This forest is very, very rare: a world heritage to be preserved for future generations. Development for this IPP would be right in the middle of this small tract of very ancient forest. The stretch of river where water will be diverted is prime grizzly bear habitat used by the bears of Glacier National Park. Scientists from many countries have come to study the biodiversity of the forest and surrounding wetlands. They have found rare species, including species new to science. The Incomappleux River is spawning and rearing habitat for the bull trout of the Arrow Lakes Reservoir, one of only 5 tributaries that contribute bull trout to the lake.
The activities of the investigation, and their potential impacts, have not been adequately disclosed by the proponent or the government, but it’s clear that the damage would begin with this investigation. Signing it would cause irreparable harm to BC and its residents. The Incomappleux River has many friends who want it kept as it is. This area should be protected as it holds precious opportunities for the future as it stands today. I strongly urge you to do the right thing and turn the permit application down NOW!

Send a copy of your letter
• Premier Christy Clark, Fax No: (250) 387-1715, email: premier@gov.bc.ca
• Hon. Steve Thomson, Min. of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources, Fax: (250)387-6249, FLNR.Minister@gov.bc.ca
• Hon. Terry Lake, Min. of Environment, Fax: (250)387-1187, terry.lake.mla@leg.bc.ca
• Norm MacDonald, MLA for Columbia River-Revelstoke, Fax: (250)344-4815, Norm.Macdonald.MLA@leg.bc.ca
• Michelle Mungall, MLA for Nelson-Creston, Fax: (250)356-5937, michelle.mungall.mla@leg.bc.ca
• Katrine Conroy, MLA for Kootenay-West, Fax: (250)304-2655, Katrine.Conroy.MLA@leg.bc.ca
Or click here to send an email to all these officials!
Learn More about the Incomappleux & Spread the word!
Integrated Land Management Bureau Website
Video about the Forest
The Incomappleux website

3) http://thecanadian.org/item/1721-action-urged-to-protect-ancient-incomappleux-valley-from-proposed-ipp-transalta-damien-gillis

The Valhalla Wilderness Society of the Kootenays is urging citizens to send a message today to the provincial government in opposition of a proposed private power project on the spectacular Incomappleux river.
The province’s Integrated Land Management Bureau (ILMB) is accepting comments from the public until <OCTOBER 15TH> on private power titan TranAlta’s application to carry out potentially damaging feasibility studies for a proposed private river diversion project on the Incomappleux, considered one of BC’s most intact old growth rainforest valleys.
According to Valhalla:
The upper Incomappleux River and its very ancient rainforest are the gems of the Selkirk Mountain Caribou Park Proposal.
The valley has been severely logged for a major part of its length.  But the logging stopped before the end of the forest, leaving behind a five-kilometre stretch of river with very rare valley-bottom Inland Temperate Rainforest, with trees up to four metres in diameter and 1,800 years old. Scientists say this forest could have been growing undisturbed since the last ice age. It is part of a 17-kilometre stretch of wild river running through intact wilderness adjacent to Glacier National Park. 

This now famous valley has drawn scientists from five countries to study the biodiversity of its ancient rainforest and its extensive wetland. They have found numerous rare species of lichens, mushrooms, snails and plants including a number of red- and blue-listed species.
The organization is concerned that even “feasibility studies” would have a detrimental impact on the highly sensitive and rare ecosystem. “The studies alone will include drilling, and possibly road building and cutting down trees to bring in heavy equipment. This will be a huge investment on the part of the proponent for a development that would then be leverage to get the IPP approved.”

Video Transcript:
http://youtu.be/xit3-XmzAMc
So when we get up into the more intact forest at the end of the valley, the forest is much damper because it’s contiguous, its been moist air fed by glaciers, the rain fall holds longer, and as a result the species richness and biodiversity is far richer.

In a few short studies with Doctor Toby Spribille he has identified 283 species of lichens in this forest.  3 of them are new to BC and Canada, another 3 are new to North America and 7are new to science.  With one one of those species being exclusive to the Incomappleux.

Not only that we’ve had mushroom scientists into this forest, and Doctor Oldriska Ceska (with Doctor Adolf Ceska) found a Phaeocolybia (Piceae) mushroom that previously was only known to Carmana and the Olympic Peninsula, two of the wettest places on our West Coast.  And the finding of this Phaeocolybia in the Incomappleux is the first known inland find and also the most further most north.

Work that we have done in these forests in sampling wind fall, stumps in clear cuts have shown that these trees grow at approximately a rate of 450 years per metre of diameter, and we’ve measured trees in this forest upwards of 4 metres.  And that would suggest that these trees are 1600-2000 years old.  So these trees, once they’re cut down, cannot be replaced.

Once these trees are flattened to the ground, no generation will see trees or a forest of this stature again, and this is one of the reasons why we’re here now, an IPP is proposed for this valley.   One of the things they have to do is put in a transmission line, well that means cutting a swath through a forest like this and that means we’re going to loose some of these trees.

Then what happens once you have the swath, is you have created a wind channel.  Then how many other trees are going to be affected and blown down?  So this is all part of taking apart an irreplaceable treasure.

Video Transcript:
http://youtu.be/AbkXUXCR7aY

The novel is set in a fictitious town here in the Kootenays! Check it out at a bookstore near you.

Small Town Films was thrilled to be able to lend a hand to shoot the intro for the Kickstarter campaign for Jon Steinman and Declan O’Driscoll’s project, Deconstructing Dinner: Reconstructing Our Food System. Steinman’s syndicated radio show Deconstructing Dinner was produced right here in Nelson, B.C. at Kootenay Co-op Radio. It was here that Steinman uncovered the Kootenay egg fraud scandal that many locals will recall, as well as enlightening us to the many facets of the food production industry and its players.

Steinman went on to research and produce the document “Towards A Regional Food System Alliance, Development Strategy For The West Kootenay” and is an active participant in Kootenay’s progressive and ground breaking local food production scene.

Small Town Films hopes everyone will get behind and spread the word about this great and important project as it crosses platforms and is reincarnated in TV land! Kickstarter campaigns are a direct way for people to support the independent production of content that interests them. Help produce the sort of media you want to watch.

This campaign closes on July 20^th.

For more information or to support the project directly go to the project’s website and select the “Donate: button.

Small Town Films edited the trailer for the Indiegogo campaign for Kootenay director and human rights advocate Rachel Schmidt’s latest film Defensora. This film documents the Mayan Q’eqchi people’s struggle to reclaim their ancestral lands, and find justice for the murder, shootings and rapes that have occurred in their communities. The film investigates why they have filed lawsuits here in Canada, against a Canadian owned mining company.

By telling these stories “… Defensora will examine if impunity is the norm in North America when it comes to holding large resource extraction companies legally accountable for human rights violations, environmental harms and crimes they cause in other countries. Most importantly, the film will build a community of support around the Mayan Q’eqchi people and the lawsuits they have launched in Canada.”

Please join Small Town Films in supporting and spreading the word about this important project and the plight of these people. Indiegogo campaigns are a direct way for people to support the independent production of content that interests them. Help produce the sort of media you want to watch. This campaign closes on September 19th.