{"id":39470,"date":"2021-02-16T18:20:38","date_gmt":"2021-02-16T23:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=39470"},"modified":"2021-02-17T12:17:47","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T17:17:47","slug":"local-historian-says-recent-bute-inlet-slide-was-one-of-many","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/local-historian-says-recent-bute-inlet-slide-was-one-of-many\/","title":{"rendered":"Local historian says recent Bute Inlet slide was one of many"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Roy L Hales<\/p>\n

While the\u00a0largest local landslide<\/a>\u00a0occurred only months ago, local historian\u00a0Judith Williams<\/a>\u00a0says\u00a0Bute Inlet<\/a> \u2018lets loose\u2019 all the time.<\/p>\n

The earliest information she has comes from the diary Robert Humphrey left, after he came to survey the area in 1861.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe describes, very elaborately, an avalanche coming down the Homathko side carrying stands of trees,\u201d explained Williams. \u201cSo it\u2019s nothing new, this is an area that lets loose all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the better known slides disrupted plans for a Halloween party during the 1970s. The residents of a logging camp, on the flank of the inlet, abruptly left after \u201ceverything moved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams says landslides leave lots of scars on the landscape and \u201cevery so often you go up and there is a new one.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/a>

Collecting water at the Paradise River in 2011 at Bute Inlet. Photo courtesy of Judith Williams.<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The most recent Bute Inlet slide<\/h2>\n

She finds the most recent slide especially interesting because of the possible link to Climate Change. The\u00a0Homathko Icefield<\/a> is shrinking and part of the glacier fell into Elliot Lake. A 100 ft. high tidal wave crashed down Elliot Creek, into the Southgate River and into Bute Inlet.<\/p>\n

Williams suspects that some of the debris reached\u00a0Cortes<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Quadra<\/a>\u00a0Islands. She saw \u201ca fair bit of wood in the water,\u201d while crossing over on the ferry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was seeing things that looked kind of raw. The top was broken and shattered. The roots were broken. They hadn\u2019t been bouncing around on the shore for a long time, where things get smoothed around,\u201d she explained. \u201cIf you see a log like that, you know it has been washed out from somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams has a special connection to Bute Inlet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spent a lot of time: I\u2019ve written two books centered on Bute. So I take a big interest and I\u2019ve also travelled up there a number of times and even stayed up in the logging camp. So I feel very attached to it,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

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\"Two<\/a>

Some of the water samples. Photo courtesy of Judith Williams.<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Water collecting project<\/h2>\n

Williams started collecting water, from the eighteen rivers that empty into Bute Inlet, when there were plans to put run of river hydro projects into the area. The land is too steep to accommodate the 400 ft. wide corridors that power lines need.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutting in any kind of apparatus for carrying power will lead to more and more avalanches,\" she said.<\/p>\n

If the power project had gone forward, Williams would have taken more samples to see what had changed.<\/p>\n

As a result, she has a water sample from Elliot Creek prior to the landslide and will soon be in possession of a current sample.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think we have lots of water because it rains all the time, but the big storages are in the glaciers. If we tamper with these, and climate is already tampering, we could find ourselves in an odd position. You can read articles and watch programs, these days, about how water is going to be the new oil, it is in such demand. We have it, we should look after it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Links of interest:<\/h2>\n