By Chuck Chiang Rancher John Parkes wants more water storage in B.C.’s Interior, which is suffering the impacts of a multi-year drought. But Parkes, manager of Nicola Ranch near Merritt, says it’s not just for irrigation — water from dams is released into drying rivers to maintain flows and river ecosystems. “My predecessors, over the last 100 years, built plenty of upland water storage for irrigation. What we need right now is we need water storage for conservation use, for fish flows.” Ranchers in B.C.’s Interior say they have asked the province to consider reducing red tape around building and expanding water-storage dams to help them cope with the ongoing drought. Parkes said ranchers in the area have already been working with First Nations to control water use to make…
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