THE QUACK is back and getting fit for the another Great Capilano River Duck Race. Here, Big Duck is getting in the swim of things with a West Vancouver YMCA fitness class. He’!l also make an appearance at Rubber Ducky Day this Sunday at Capilano Suspension Bridge. The Nerth Shore YMCA is hosting a Duck Bal! on March 2. See story on page 5. NEWS photo Mike Wakefield Karthquake’s message: N. Shore on shaky ground TUESDAY’S SEISMIC jolt delivered a graphic reminder to local residents that the North Shore is situated within the most active earthquake region in Canada. North and West Vancouver res- idents felt the earth move at 3:04 p.m when an earthquake measur- ing 4.0 on the Richter scale shook the Lower Mainland area. An aftershock of 1.5 on the Richter scale was recorded at 3:45 p.m. Pacific Geoscience Centre spokesman Bob Horner said the quake was ‘‘shallow,’’ occurring five kilometres beneath the Earth’s surface. Its epicentre was just east of Mount Garibaldi in the Whistler area. The last moderate quake in southwestern B.C. occurred in 1976 under Pender Island. It measured 5.0 on the Richter scale and occurred 60 kilometres below the Earth’s surface. “On average over the last cen- tury, the B.C.-Washington Cascadia area has experienced at least one magnitude six quake every decade,’’ Horner said. A quake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale is powerful enough to be capabie of causing structural damage. In 1987, a 3.9 Richter scale By Michae! Becker News Reporter Its quake hit the West Coast. epicentre was in Sechelt. While most earthquakes are too small to be felt, over 200 are re- corded annually throughout the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. Horner cautioned the public against thinking that Tuesday’s quake foreshadows the imminent arrival of ‘the big one’. The quake, however, did not relieve much of the seismic stress created by the movement of the Juan de Fuca Plate, a slice of ocean floor situated between the Pacific Plate and the North Amer- ican Plate. The Juan de Fuca Plate slides beneath the continental ‘‘margin’’ at a pace of approximately four centimetres per year. The process causes local earthquakes. “We can say that these things have happened in the past and will happen in the future. But this one is not a harbinger of something larger. It’s just a reminder. We can be sure that every decade we will have a Sarger earthquake within the Cascadia area whether that be in Washington or B.C.,’’ Horner said. Meanwhile local residents felt Tuesday’s quake as a short, sharp jolt. “The closer you are, the more high frequency there is to it. Some highrises in the Lower Mainland felt it quite strongly at higher floors,’ Horner added. Said Horner, “it’s like a little hiccup. It would take 30,000 of Tuesday’s (earthquake) to give the equivalent energy of one magnitude seven.’ The recent San Francisco earth- quake registered 7.0. In 1946, the east coast of Vancouver Island was rocked by a quake measuring 7.3. The shock was felt throughout the Lower Mainland. From a geotechnical perspec- tive, most of the North Shore is literally on firm ground. The most vulnerable areas on the North Shore are the low lands such as lower Norgate and the area around Marine Drive. Looser, sandy soils combined with high water tables may liquify during a large earth- quake. Friday, February 22, 1991 - North Shore News - 3. NV District opposes logging in North Shore NORTH VANCOUVER District Council has formally recorded its opposition to watershed logging following presentations from the Greater Vancouver Water District (GVWD) and the Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC). By Martin Millerchip Contributing Writer The metion passed at Mondzy night’s policy and planning meeting states that ‘‘council is oppused to logging in watershed areas in North Vancouver; and that this be conveyed to all ap- propriate authorities."’ A WCWC delegation the previous Monday had urged council to support its call for a five-year moratorium on logging in the Capilano, Seymour, and Coquitlam watersheds. Said Ald. Ernie Crist, in pro- posing council’s motion, ‘I basically believe that there should be no logging in the watershed areas not just for five years, but for all time.”’ Ald. Paul Turner proposed an amendment that referred to coun- cil’s consideration of the evidence from both the WCWC and the GVWD and called for a full in- dependent investigation into the long-term effects of logging and road construction on water quality and turbidity. Said Turner, ‘‘Some time in the past we had a policy about water- sheds that you didn’t violate them, period. We are here at a time when we've seen some very serious changes in that policy. We've seen the GVWD bring forward to many councils a notion that the watershed can be opened up more and still be safe. I think this has proven to be wrong.” But Turner’s amendment failed to carry, with Crist suggesting that it added “turbidity” to what was Government lips zipped on Bowen ferry THE PROVINCIAL government is refusing to comment on media reports that a Victoria-based de- velopment company has been awarded a tentative contract to provide a high-speed passenger ferry service from Vancouver to Bowen Island and parts of the Sunshine Coast. By Surj Rattan News Reporter “They haven't got any com- ment on that yet. I think it’s (an- nouncement) a little premature. I think the cart was put before the horse,’” said a spokesrnan for the transportation and highways ministry. it has been reported that Vic- toria dentist Stewart Vinnels and his Island Development Group Ltd. will, beginning in May, pro- vide the passenger ferry service between the Vancouver SeaBus terminal and Bowen Island and the lower Sunshine Coast. Vinnels, who was unavailable to comment on the story by press time Thursday, also ran a group that operated a jetfoil service be- tween Victoria and Seattle in the mid-1980s, before the business & We already have a parking problem on Bowen Island and a service like that could cause more problems ...¥ — Dave Morgan islands Trust trustee folded. In| December, Transportation and Highways Minister Rita Johnston announced that the pro- vincial government would call for tenders from the private sector for a@ passenger ferry service that would run between Vancouver, Bowen Island and Gibsons. While no dollar figure has been attached to the cost of operating the service, ministry spokesman David Baker said in a Dec. 9 News story that the provincial government would not be prepared to subsidize the private sector for the ferry service and would not provide loans or any other financial help. The only help thet would be made available, he said, would be the use of the Vancouver SeaBus terminal. But a consultant’s report in- dicated modifications, costing about $48,000, would first have to be made to the Vancouver SeaBus terminal to accommodate a ferry service, which would make five round-trips a day. New terminal facilities would also have to be made on Bowen Island and at Gibsons and could cost as much as $585,000. The report added that it would cost a private operator about $14,300 a day to run the ferry service. That cost, according to the report, would be met by daily revenues from the Bowen island and Gibsons service, which could amount to as much as $14,000 a day, leaving a gross operating revenue of up to $1 million a yea. It has been estimated that it would take up to one year to build a ferry and that travel time from the Vancouver SeaBus ter- minal to Snug Cove on Bowen Island would be 35 minutes. But the ferry service has not been welcomed with open arms by some Bowen Islanders. In a Dec. 9 News story, Dave Morgan, one of two Islands Trust trustees, said the benefits of a passenger ferry service to Bowen Island are questionable. “We already have a parking problem on Bowen Island,’’ he said, ‘‘and a service like that could cause more problems if it means people parking their cars at Snug Cove.”* And Bowen Island resident Graham Ritchie, who commutes from his home to his job in downtown Vancouver, said he likes the present ferry and bus service and doubts if he would use the passenger ferry service. watershed areas Eee, NORTH VANCOUVER DISTRICT COUNCIL a straight-forward statement. Ald. Rick Buchols was the only council member to vote against the motion. He acknowledged that both the GVWD and the WCWC were concerned with the preservation of bass &id. Paul Turner... calls for a full independent investigaticn. water quality, but said, ‘‘I’m not sufficiently convinced that the WCWC position is the correct one.” Buchols argued that the connec- tion between logging and turbidity had not been proved. “I’ve lived here for 37 years and the water quality comes and goes,’ said Buchols. As reported in the Feb. 15 News, the Greater Vancouver Regional District has approved a public review of its logging prac- tices in the Lower Mainland wa- tersheds. The review is scheduled to begin on March 7 with a public pres- entation at the Robson Square conference centre in Vancouver. index = Automotives....... 23 @ Classified Ads...... 30 Crime Alert ....... 12 M Ecolnfo........... 13 i Editorial Page...... 6 @ Home & Garden ...45 @ Kids’ Stuff ........ 20 SB Mailbox........... 7 } News Briefs......... 5 MW Noel Wright ........ 6 @ Pauli St. Pierre....... 9 M® Rex Weyler......... 7 @ Trevor Lauters...... 4 @ What's Going On...20 Weather Saturday,cloudy with sunny periods. High of 10°C. Sunday, cloudy pericds, low of 1°C and high of ¥C. Second Class Registration Number 3865 oe