By Laurena Weninger/Special to The Herald
Thursday, June 18, 2009
“We, the undersigned residents of Osoyoos, British Columbia, Canada, call upon
our elected officials to ban the use of propane cannons in the Southern
Interior region of this province,” is the opening paragraph of a petition
presented to Osoyoos town council this week, by Mirella Baldissera.
“The use of these cannons compromises our civil liberties and freedoms to enjoy
our properties in peace and quiet. These cannons induce: annoyance, stress,
high blood pressure, sleep loss, inability to concentrate, inability to learn
and loss of productivity as well as anger.”
Baldissera appeared as a delegation, to seek council‘s support on her mission
to ban – or at least change regulations regarding the use of – propane bird
scaring devices used by local farmers.
“I just want to make it clear. I don‘t want it to be ’us against them,‘”
Baldissera said, adding that she has researched the issue and found out there
are other options other than the loud gun-shot-mimicking devices.
She said farmers can use lasers, mylar strips, and netting over the crops,
especially in the vicinity of town residences, instead of the “lazy” cannon
method.
Baldissera said she and her husband moved to their Osoyoos home on Larkspur
Place in 2007. They wanted a small-town atmosphere, and love the weather. But
last fall, their peace was interrupted when the bird cannons started up in a
nearby vineyard. Over their back fence is Highway 97, and across that is rural
area A.
She said it was mid-September when the noise started.
“It‘s a real clapping… like a gun shot,” she said. “You can hear it echoing off
Anarchist (mountain).”
It went on every day – from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. – for seven weeks.
“That was the breaking point for me,” she said. Baldissera‘s complaint is her
inability to enjoy her property, including the inside of her home, because of
the banging.
“You‘re forced to wake up at the same time every day,” she said, pointing out
that even if you work night shift, the noise still begins at 7 a.m. And after
dinner, there‘s no relaxing because of the cannons.
“There‘s just nothing good about them.”
Osoyoos town councillors agreed with Baldissera. They said it isn‘t the first
time such complaints have come forward.
“There are lazy ways and there are environmental ways to farm… and there are
also green ways, good ways and quiet ways,” Coun. Margaret Chadsey said, adding
the town can‘t do much about the issue. She recommended Baldissera go to the
Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen, and the Ministry of Agriculture and
Lands.
Coun. Ted Cronmiller suggested council write a letter supporting Baldissera.
They agreed to send it to the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, and said
Baldissera can also send anywhere else she sees fit. The letter is to express
their support of her complaints, and to suggest the industry look at other ways
and means of bird control.
Mayor Stu Wells said the provincial legislation allowing the cannon use is
“flawed” and needs to be reviewed.
“It‘s a problem. It‘s a province wide problem,” he said, referring to the same
issue affecting blueberry growers in the Lower Mainland. “It‘s a powder keg
ready to go off. I think a wise government would be doing something about it.”
Council asked Water Couns. Tony Laranjo and Claude Moreira if, as the farmers
in the group, they thought there was any way to change the practise. Both shook
their heads.
“No,” said Moreira. “You are wasting your time.”
The use of the cannons is protected by the B.C. Farm Practices Protection
(Right to Farm) Act, and the use of the cannons in the south costal region of
B.C. was reviewed by the British Columbia Farm Industry Review Board (BCFIRB)
this spring.
“(Since 1996,) the BCFIRB has received 15 complaints regarding the use of
propane cannons. Eight of these complaints have concerned the use of cannons in
the south coastal region,” the report states.
The point of the review was to look at the farm practice, including researching
other jurisdictions. They examined the benefits and detriments of the use of
propane cannons from the viewpoint of farmers and agri-industry (e.g. farm
suppliers), farm neighbours and their local governments, and the public
interest.
Out of the review, the BCFIRB said they are not prepared to support a ban on
cannon use.
“First, studies have concluded that use properly as part of a comprehensive
bird predation management strategy, cannons can still be an effective and
proper farm practice,” states the report.
It also states that farmers who do not use the cannons in accordance with
“normal farm practice” lose legal protection under the act and are subject to
private and municipal enforcement processes. This can result in court orders
that are enforceable in B.C. Supreme Court.
Also, the Local Government Act already contains a mechanism whereby a local
government could ban cannon use, via a “farm bylaw,” if granted by cabinet, so
the issue can be dealt with on a municipal or regional district level.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
TOWN BACKS RESIDENT’S EFFORTS TO SILENCE PROPANE CANNONS
OSOYOOS TIMES-June 24, 2009
By Paul Everest - Osoyoos Times
Osoyoos town council has unanimously agreed to put its support behind a
resident who is making noise about the problems she says are caused by propane
cannons in nearby vineyards and orchards.
Mirella Baldissera spoke before council on June 15 to make the Town aware of
her concerns about the negative effects the bangs from propane cannons can have
on residents who live near agricultural areas and tourists staying in Osoyoos.
She wants local and provincial government officials to at least review the
regulations surrounding the use of the cannons and she has started a petition
for people who feel the same way she does.
As of last week, the petition, which was started last fall, had more than 200
signatures on it.
“The use of these cannons compromises our civil liberties and freedoms to enjoy
our properties in peace and quiet,” the petition reads.
It calls for a ban of the cannons in the “Southern Interior region” of B.C. or
“at the very least around Town perimeters” and suggests that the devices, which
are meant to scare birds away from crops, cause problems such as sleep loss,
high blood pressure and a loss of productivity.
Baldissera lives in southwest Osoyoos almost directly across from a vineyard.
Last September, she said, cannons were going off every three minutes beginning
at 7 a.m.
Although the vineyard is located on Hwy. 97, the owner lives in another part of
town and Baldissera told the Osoyoos Times in December the owner shrugged his
shoulders when she complained to him about the noise.
The owner of the vineyard told the Times last year that, despite any annoyance,
he has a right to protect his crops.
He said he would consider alternatives to the cannons if there were government
subsidies in place, but in the end people who move into agricultural areas need
to accept certain aspects of agricultural life including bird-scaring
techniques.
Coun. C.J. Rhodes said he sympathized with Baldissera and agreed that cannons
aren’t very effective in scaring off birds.
And Coun. Margaret Chadsey said this type of situation boils down to
co-operation between neighbours.
Baldissera said she has approached another neighbour about cannon use and that
neighbour agreed to switch from cannons to devices that produce the sound of
birds in distress.
Although most councillors agreed there was little the Town could do, Coun. Ted
Cronmiller made a motion for the mayor to write a letter of support for
Baldissera that could be sent to B.C.’s Agricultural and Lands Ministry.
The motion was unanimously passed and Baldissera was also encouraged to present
her case to the Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) and the ministry.
Claude Moreira, one of the Town’s two water councillors, said it was unlikely
Baldissera would have any success in her campaign because the use of cannons is
protected under the Farm Practices Protection Act.
Earlier this year, the BC Farm Industry Review Board undertook a review of the
use and regulation of the cannons in the province’s South Coastal Region.
Although the board recognized that the use of cannons is a “highly contentious”
problem, it would not support a recommendation to ban the devices.
A ban would “compromise farmers’ ability to protect their crops from bird
predation,” the board said in its report.
The report also indicated that the Local Government Act “creates a special
mechanism” where a local government could ban cannon use through a “farm bylaw.”
“Such bylaws are effective where (provincial) Cabinet has granted a particular
local government the ability to pass a farm bylaw.”
Baldissera said local agriculturalists could be encouraged to use other
techniques to protect fruit from birds including netting, lasers or alternative
bird-scaring devices.
A new Summerland business is now selling helium kites that, according to the
company’s media release, use “birds’ fear of hovering objects that resemble
hawks to chase birds from crops.”
Moreira said, however, that unfortunately many alternative crop-protection
techniques and devices are too expensive or ineffective to keep flocks of
birds, especially starlings, from devastating cherry, grape and apple crops.
Manfred Freese, president of the British Columbia Grapegrowers Association,
said there has to be some give and take between residents living in
agricultural areas and their orchard and vineyard-owning neighbours.
He said he agreed that some farmers forget to rotate their cannons or adjust
their timings to limit the amount of noise focused in one direction.
Alternatives to propane cannons should be used when possible, he said, and
netting is one of the best defences against birds, but other bird-scaring
techniques can be expensive for farmers who already spend a great deal of money
protecting their crops.
Freese said grape growers spend anywhere from $300 to $350 per acre per year to
deter birds.
One of the better weapons in the battle to keep birds away is the Starling
Control Program which was launched in 2003.
Through the program, starlings are captured in agricultural areas or around
landfills and then euthanized using carbon dioxide.
The starlings, which cause more than $1.5 million in grape-crop losses in B.C.
each year according to the Grapegrowers Association, are then given to bird
rehabilitation centres and falconries.
At the same time, Freese said, people who have moved to the South Okanagan must
accept that it is an agricultural area and farmers are fighting a war against
the birds.
They should therefore, come to expect that cannons will be used.
Regardless, Baldissera said, people who have a problem with the cannons and
have had no luck dealing with a farmer directly should know there are places to
raise concerns.
She encourages people to call Boundary-Similkameen MLA John Slater’s office at
250-495-4909, the Town at 250-495-6515, RDOS Area A director Mark Pendergraft
at 250-492-0237 or the BC Farm Industry Review Board at 250-356-8945.
Baldissera said anyone who wants to share their thoughts on this issue can
email her at mirellacannon@yahoo.ca.
The petition is located at Yore Movie Store on Main Street.
news@osoyoostimes.com
