Wildfire in Sturgeon County no longer spreading
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
37 minutes ago
- CBC
More than 60 people rescued via helicopter after flooding in B.C. provincial park
It took rescuers 10 helicopter trips and about seven hours to airlift over 60 people from the flooding in Bugaboo Provincial Park on Sunday. Jordy Shepherd, a team member with Columbia Valley Search and Rescue, said they were first called to the popular park in the East Kootenay region around 8 a.m. local time on Aug. 17. She said the Alpine Club of Canada had informed rescuers that the creek levels were very high around the popular Conrad Kain Hut area, and that they should investigate. What rescuers discovered was the creek near the hut, and under a trail bridge, was running very fast, and the water was dirty — and about 60 hikers and campers in the area would have faced a dangerous trek out if help hadn't arrived. "It's quite fortunate that the road out, the logging road, was not compromised by this higher water," Shepherd told CBC News. "That would have been another problem, if all the vehicles were also stuck on the wrong side of a washout." As soon as rescuers realized that the hikers and campers were stranded, they set up a staging area and flew them out, after which they were taken to the trailhead to retrieve their vehicles. Shepherd said the stranded guests ranged from 10 years old all the way to about 70 years of age. "It took about seven hours total from when we were called to when we had everybody out," she said. "And we also did another flight out to a campground that's outside the park, in a further remote area." The rescuer said that a tarn — a mountain lake in the park, which has historically been popular for its rugged climbs and landscapes — had cut a channel and caused the flooding. "We noted that the upper tarn, below Bugaboo and Crescent Spires, had cut a deep channel through the glacier ice that has historically held back the tarn on that side," Shepherd told CBC News. Shephed commended the rescuers for the operation, which she said was staffed entirely by volunteers, and she was glad that campers didn't have to stay up overnight or try to brave the creek on their own. The park has much of its core area closed indefinitely, while B.C. Parks staff investigate the extent of the flooding damage.
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Calgary's rainy 'bummer of a summer' causes uptick in flies buzzing around
Social Sharing If you've noticed you're swatting away more flies as of late, you're not alone. Entomologists say Calgary's unusually rainy summer — plus hailstorms in parts of the city — have caused an increase in housefly, blow fly and fruit fly populations. "We've had what people are calling the bummer of a summer," said John Swann, an entomologist with ABI Environmental Services, on the season's damp and chillier-than-usual weather. Swann said that while the moisture has been great for plant growth, more rotting vegetation (such as cut grass) has created the conditions for flies to thrive. "You look at the lawns around Calgary. I mean, certainly the lawns in Varsity have never looked so good," he said. "We are leaving thatch around, that rotting grass.… There's a great environment for flies to breed in." Calgary's summer hailstorms have also played a factor in more fruit flies buzzing around, Swann said, with some areas of the city getting golf ball-sized hail that knocked fruit off trees and destroyed vegetable gardens. Those fallen fruits and vegetables lying around with their skin cut up have become breeding grounds for the common fruit fly. "The fruit flies get into them because they think it's nice and damp in here and it's the food we love," he said. Swann said fly populations will take awhile to decline, but he reminds Calgarians that having more flies around means other animals can thrive. "If those insects are doing really well, things that feed on those insects, including birds, bats, things like that, will do really well," he said, adding that dragonflies and damselflies also like to feed on houseflies. But if you're still bugged by flies in your home, Swann suggested people clean up their yards and toss any damaged fruit. Ken Fry, an entomologist at Olds College, said it's not just flies thriving during the wet weather, but mosquitoes and other insects are also out in higher populations. "We normally would be drying out in July and August — your lawn gets crunchy and you see the roadsides are browning and things like that. But not this year. Everything is still really vibrantly green right now," Fry said. "That means there's lots of food for the critters … [and] more and more reproduction and more and more survival and hence a lot more critters." Come September, Fry said Calgarians could have another bug to reckon with: tiny, green aphids. "With this really good plant growth, this really good moisture, I anticipate seeing … a large crop of aphids this fall." In the last few years, large aphid populations have thrived in Calgary, partly due to humidity, Swann said. But the fate of those insects this year isn't set in stone just yet. Swann said that along with moisture, aphids need warm temperatures to thrive, so if Calgary stays dry or temperatures don't increase enough, we may see fewer aphids than years past.
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Calgary's wet weather has resulted in swarm of mosquitoes — but it could mean fewer wasps
This summer's soggy weather has left many Calgarians slapping away what feels like more mosquitoes than normal, but there is buzz of a possible upside — we could see a quieter start to wasp season. Mosquitoes breed in water, but those same water-soaked conditions they flourish in are essentially the opposite of what wasps need to grow their colonies. "If they get a good start in the spring with a warm spring, then there's potential for the populations to be fairly large." said Ken Fry, an entomologist with Olds College. "If we get cooler temperatures, they're slower to develop, that first generation [is] slower to develop and they get a very slow start." 2024 saw a comparatively warmer and drier summer, with some pest control technicians swarmed by higher numbers of calls to come remove wasp nests. But this year is a different story, with July for example seeing a high number of wet, rainy days and chillier temperatures. The conditions can mean a more sluggish start for the queen to lay eggs and grow generations of workers. "If that's really slow, it takes a while for the colony to build up," said Fry, who predicts an average to below-average season. Population could still ramp up Typically, the most wasp activity will be in late August and early September. Fry says while it could be a quieter August, whether it gets busier is still up to mother nature. A stretch of a couple weeks of warm weather could be enough to accelerate their life cycle and create a higher population come September. Plus, more rain means more plant growth, and richer vegetation can lead to a proliferation of smaller insects that wasps can then kill to feed to their larvae. "If it warms up, we get persistent warm temperatures, like mid-20s, with all the abundant food, the warm weather for them to develop, the generation times will shorten, they'll develop more quickly and then we'll start to see the populations build," said Fry. While wasps buzzing around can be a nuisance, Fry says they do play a vital role in the ecosystem and keeping other insects in check. "What they're doing out there is feeding on insects. So, they're taking the grubs off your trees, the caterpillars off your trees, out of your vegetable garden," said Fry. And while you might not come into contact with as many wasps, if and when you do have a run-in, Fry cautions against squashing them — or you could end up with more of them on your hands.
