President's Report - 2013 - 2014

Les Amis de la rivière Kipawa

Report of the President

2014 06 21

This will be my last report to the executive and membership of Les Amis (LARK) as president.  If nominated I will not stand, and if elected I will not serve. It is time for some new blood.

Thankfully 2013-14 was a non-eventful year for Les Amis.  At the 2013 AGM a keen group of members joined the executive and advisory group.  While there were not many decisions we did decide to spend $800 on the upgrade of the Hollywood portage trail will have enduring benefit to those who make a better and safer choice for themselves.

A few outstanding items include initiating testing of the water in the Kipawa at the mouth of the river to establish baseline information on water quality.  This is particularly important as there are plans to build a mine on Kipawa Lake.  We must hold developers accountable for any contamination of the river.

Some may say there is pressure to make the Kipawa River Rally “bigger and better”.  My view of this is that like the river there is an ebb and flow, a high and low water mark to Les Amis and the Rally.  This being the 28^th Kipawa River Rally I feel that we should continue our traditions.   We should continue to introduce others to the river and foster a community aware of the river’s ecological, natural heritage and recreational values - a community which can be mobilized to act on behalf of the river if and when the need arises.

Coming to the Kipawa River has never been an easy proposition.  Many of the rally attendees travel from afar, none further than the Sorensen’s who come from Orem, Utah, USA to their version of a North Woods paradise.  The high cost of transportation will continue to make this pilgrimage expensive and unique.  Consider how change has come over the years, and how in the beginning rally goers had to hike out to Grand Chute rather that use the  improving road available today.  Who knows what the future holds?  Thank you for your support over the years.

Tabaret

The sky is vast, my blood runs cold, so who will speak for me?

with skin like rock my soul is old, and ancient as the sea

From whence I came the age knows not and source is lost in time

And where I go no end is clear except as ocean's brine

Memories lost pour ever more a wish - a breath exspired

Clock ticks rumbling with the stones within my depths inspired

Measured for a concrete suit and kilojoules of light

overlooked by countless those who'd rather see than fight

Sold for wages and of sin by disembodied drones

Nameless those triumphant boffs of steel and glass - atone!

Could ride my back, explore my ways consume what I have sown

But take not blood away from me from which their life has grown

kayaky