This is an excerpt from the letter sent to Maureen Pinkney, Area L Director of the Cariboo Regional District on January 21, 2008
Dear Ms. Pinkney,
Enclosed is the statement of fact and cover letter for the CRD's consideration of our request to reduce the speed limit on Little Lac des Roches.
Transport Canada has indicated the C.R.D. should make the request for the speed limit reduction as they prefer to deal with a government agency as opposed to a volunteer group in this matter. The contact for Transport Canada is John Johnston at 604-666-2705. He is in support of the reduction.
We appreciate your help and support in this matter.
Sincerely, Bill Jollymore
Subject: SPEED LIMIT REDUCTION ON LITTLE LAC des ROCHES (West Lac des Roches)
There has been problems for several years of boaters exceeding, by significant margins, the existing speed limit. In order to control the speeding boats, damage to property, possible injury to occupants of small watercraft, swimmers and wildlife, the Friends of Lac des Roches are requesting that the existing speed restriction on the lake be further reduced from 20 km/hr to 10 km/hr. Seventy percent of the lakeshore property owners, including the resort owners, have voiced their support for this change.
This lake is situated on Highway 24, South Cariboo Regional District, District L. It is 1.4 Km long and approximately 300 metres wide at the widest point. The narrowest point is about 50 metres. It is connected to the main lake, Lac des Roches proper by a channel, which is 10-12 metres wide and during high water has a depth of about 1 metre. Lake users who wish to travel at speeds greater than the posted limit can access the main lake through the channel, where there is no speed restriction other than the BC Universal Shoreline speed restriction.
It is not uncommon to see boats or personal watercraft (jet skis) doing 50-70 KMH on this small body of water. There have been several occasions where boats, at high speeds, have gone between kayaks and canoes and once a canoe was nearly tipped over. There are times when swimmers are put in danger by these high-speed boats. There is a pair of breeding loons on this small body of water. Several incidents have occurred where nests were swamped by the wake from high-speed boats and the loons have been driven off the nest and eggs were washed into the lake. Personal property losses such as swamped boats, broken mooring lines and shoreline degradation have occurred from the excessive wakes for years.
The RCMP are aware of the problem as several residents are active in attempting to enforce the speed restriction through information distribution, discussions with offenders and the use of air horns. The owners of Lac des Roches Resort have decreased the size of motors for their rental boats and have made concerted efforts to advise guests with private boats about speeding conditions. The RCMP has stated in the past, that there was no boat available to patrol the area and the residents would just have to put up with the abuse. This will change in the future however as the RCMP has guaranteed patrolling the lake in 2008.
Lac des Roches has been classified as “sensitive” by the Cariboo Regional District. The Ministry of Environment has a special interest in this lake and its role in the watershed and conducts bi-annual water testing. Lac des Roches is part of Bird Studies Canada's Loon Survey. The lake is monitored for the BC Lake Stewardship Society. All this attention becomes somewhat worthless when so much immediate degradation occurs from the destructive wake of a speeding boat. We would like to try and keep the lake in its pristine condition, and feel that the 10km/hr speed restriction will play a major role in our success.