"The optimum separation distance from a propane cannon is 600
metres"........Mr. Bert van Dalfsen, Ministry of Agriculture and
Lands
According to BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands employee, Mr. Bert van
Dalfsen, the optimum separation distance from a residence to a propane cannon
is 600 metres (more than a third of a mile). Mr. van Dalfsen made this
statement while giving testimony in the Farm Practices Complaint Hearing
between complainant Mr. Jim Wright and vineyard owner Mr. Alex Lubchynski in
August, 2002.
Mr. van Dalfsen is an employee of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands and is
very
knowledgeable in the area of bird control. He is a mechanical engineer, and is
the author of the Guidelines for Audible Bird Scare Devices in British Columbia
as well as several other noise and bird scare reports.
Mr. Van Dalfsen gave evidence at this hearing with respect to the Bird Scare
Devices Report. He testified that the purpose of the separation distance
guidelines is to
address the growing incompatibility between intensive agricultural operations
using
cannons located across the street from residential property. He also said that
buffers are
required to minimize the effect of audible bird scare devices.
Mr. Van Dalfsen said that propane cannons are the source of the highest number
of
complaints received by MAFF. He agreed that there is some pressure to set
decibel
levels on bird scare devices.
He did agree that none of the farms in the
Okanagan Valley could comply with an optimum separation distance of 600 metres
where urban development borders on property within the ALR.
The question must be asked, if the optimum distance from a residence is 600
meters, why are we forced to live with a 150 meter separation distance at
present?
What is also interesting is at the time of this hearing the separation distance
to non-ALR residences was 300 meters. Sometime after this hearing this 300
meter separation distance was reduced to 150 meters, probably due to pressure
from fruit grower organizations.
If you wish to read the entire FIRB complaint and decision, it can be found on
the
BC Farm Industry Review Board's web site at the following link:
FIRB Complaint Decisions
The case in which Mr. van Dalfsen testified is identified as "Wright v
Lubchynski - Merits Decision (August 12, 2002)"
It is time that control of propane cannon noise guidelines are taken away
from the Ministry of Agriculture who are totally influenced by agriculture
lobby groups. These guidelines should be maintained by an independent group
who consider the concerns of all affected parties. An even better
solution
would be to make it illegal to use propane cannons in the Province of BC.
