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 [email protected].
The petition is located at Yore Movie Store on Main Street.
[email protected]