As drier conditions are being had in the Cariboo, it’s no surprise questions about drought are raised.
Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Lorne Doerkson says discussions around the topic have already been going on at multiple levels.
With this being his critic role, he’ll be going over his questions and concerns early this month.
“My biggest concern is the fact that of course water levels are very low, I mean we’re seeing some lakes multiple feet low,” says Doerkson.
“and then there are other issues with folks that would typically divert water over the next sort of month or so and may not be able to, because water levels are that low.”
Doerkson says there are already over 90 active wildfires in the province, many of which carried over from last year, stating that drought is very significant right now.
Conversations are being done with the Ministry of Water Land and Resource Stewardship, Agriculture, Forestry, and BC Wildfire Service.
He hopes to see some sort of support mechanism for ranchers and farmers early in the season, rather than sometime as late as August.
Doerkson added that they had the winter season to discuss the topic at a provincial level, and should be prepared by now.