by Dave Wiwchar
Southernl Region Reporter
Ha-shilth-sa Newspaper
March 25, 2004
Malachan - Ditidaht workers are frantically preparing for this years windsurfing season, cleaning hundreds of logs from deep with the Nitinat Lake Campground.
In early December, Nitinat Lake water levels rose more than 30 feet, pushing logs and debris into the popular campground, burying picnic tables and outhouses under tons of wood.
"I swear I could have walked across the lake on all the logs," said Fred Seiber, who lives across the lake from the main Ditidaht village of Malachan at the site of another ancient Ditidaht village.
"There's a base of an old longhouse beside my house and the water came almost to the front of the old longhouse. They knew where to build their houses back then," he said.
According to Seiber, who works as Ditidaht's archeologist, the recent flood was the worst he'd ever seen, and an event that only happens once every 50 years. "The lake floods two to four times every year, but nothing like that," he said.
The Ditidaht First Nation manages the BC Forest Service campground at Nitinat Lake, a popular spot for windsurfers and back-road tourists alike. But maintenance costs far outstrip revenues, making it difficult for Ditidaht to properly clear the campground after the flood.
"At $8 a night, this is the cheapest provincial campground in BC, so we're asking the government to raise the set-rate to $10 a night," said Seiber. Although the campgrounds are supposed to be 'not-for-profit', Seiber said the costs of maintenance crews, supplies, and summer students to staff the campground to collect camping fees make it difficult to run a popular campground with the small amount of revenue generated under current restrictions.
The BC Government
signed "management contracts" with numerous First Nations and
municipalities to operate provincial forest service campgrounds previously
staffed by provincial forestry workers. Whether or not the change in management
has led to any savings for the provincial government is unknown, as Ministry
of Forests officials did not return our phone calls or emails on this
issue prior to printing.
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