Wednesday - June 11, 2025 - From bamboo to gravel

🌤 High 25C

Good morning!

When there’s always a screen you can watch, reading can feel difficult. It reminded me of all the well-read people I know who don’t actually read books anymore. Instead they spend all day looking at their screens. I go through stretches where I do the same. In fact, I’m kind of in that rut now; I’m trying to read Moby Dick for the first time, but am getting through it slowly.

Yesterday, I saw a person ask online about how to re-start a reading habit. For me, the one thing that consistently gets me back in books is to focus on the reason my kids read: the fun of it. A book doesn’t have to be “important” to be worth reading. You just need a book that will satisfy you as much as a screen. It could be a good spy novel or a fun romance or even an apocalyptic zombie novel. But it has to make you want to read it. One other piece of advice: rather than relying on the library (which I love), buy a book if you can afford it. If you’re like me, spending actual money will force you to repay your investment with your time.

– Tyler

Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope 

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

News

Tryouts. Training. Competition. And video games

My hands tremble as they hold the Nintendo controller. My pulse throbs in my ears. I can feel the false confidence of professionalism being stripped away as teenager Mohammed Zeineddin, the top Super Smash Bros player at G.W. Graham Secondary, moves to my side to give me a lightning-fast introduction to the game.

The X and Y buttons to jump. A and B for attacks. The right trigger to fly, or something along those lines.

I pick a character: Yoshi, one of the few I recognize on a screen filled with dozens of characters from various half-known video game franchises.

“Yoshi’s actually one of the best characters in the game,” Nicholas Martinello tells me. He and half a dozen other teenage boys are seated around a classroom table, preparing to watch fellow student Jaxson Morneault destroy me in a friendly competition.

• Today, join Grace as she gets slaughtered in a game of Super Smash Bros and talks to the teens and teachers who are making video games part of G.W. Graham Secondary School’s legacy.

Related

Need to Know

👉 The City of Mission wants the province to regulate rent hikes on commercial properties [Mission Record]

🔎 The province is reviewing operations at Fraser Health and BC’s other health authorities to consider how to cut unnecessary costs [Castanet] / Last October, The Current broke the news that BC health authorities overspent their budgets by $3 billion [FVC] / In January 2024, we reported on the massive increases in corporate spending at Fraser Health [FVC]

👉 The province also says it will bring in more oversight for municipalities whose councils can’t properly function [CBC]

🛹 Two new skate shops are opening at Highstreet in Abbotsford [Fraser Valley Today]

👏 Mission will hold a community celebration next Tuesday to celebrate the Í:xel Sq'eq'ó agreement that returns land to local First Nations [City of Mission]

🚚 Abbotsford cops removed 11 commercial vehicles from the road during a weekend blitz [Abbotsford News]

🏐 Two Langley men have been named to Canada’s national volleyball team [Langley Advance Times]

🗣 In Chilliwack and Langley, a non-profit has formed new peer support groups for parents with adult children at risk of drug overdoses [Chilliwack Progress]

🫵🏼 Help shape Abbotsford’s future! Share your feedback on the draft of the Official Community Plan updates by completing the online survey by June 27.*

💡 Want to learn something new? Develop your professional and personal skills with KPU’s unique range of flexible Continuing Education courses, built to fit your schedule.*

*Sponsored Listing

SPONSORED BY THE HARRISON FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS

46th Annual Festival brings "WOW" factor to the Valley

Experience the magic of the Harrison Festival of the Arts! From July 11–20, enjoy world-class music, Children's Day, a renowned artisan market, and interactive workshops in the stunning lakeside town of Harrison Hot Springs. A celebration of culture, creativity, and community, this family-friendly festival is not to be missed! Learn more.

The Agenda

Fire danger extreme or high across much of BC

Campfire bans could be coming soon for southern BC. Although there are burning bans across much of the province, campfires are still allowed. But a scorching heatwave has significantly increased the fire danger across much of southern BC.

Such conditions often bring campfire bans, as officials hope to reduce the risk of human-caused fires. (As we wrote in 2023, campfires aren’t the only source of human-caused blazes.) Campfires are still allowed across southern BC as of Tuesday afternoon, but you can check the latest status here. With showers and rain forecast for many southern communities, this weekend is expected to bring some relief and could delay forthcoming campfire bans.

But don’t expect to be able to roast marshmallows in August. Environment Canada released its summer seasonal weather outlook yesterday. The agency expects Western Canada to have a warmer-than-normal summer with an increased risk of wildfires. You can see the outlook’s map here.

Bamboo plan pivots to gravel—or industrial development

A proposal to build a first-of-its-kind bamboo farm and processing facility on the north side of the Fraser River has hit the rocks, literally.

In 2023, a company called Bamboo Nations applied to build a facility that would turn bamboo into construction products on a piece of mostly forested farmland near Ruby Creek. Last fall, the Agricultural Land Commission gave their blessing to the plans, in large part because at least half the bamboo processed would be grown on the 13-hectare site and because bamboo is a grass—not a forestry product.

But the owners of the property have now listed the property for sale and applied for a permit to mine gravel from the area in which bamboo was supposed to be grown.

In that application, the owners had sought a permit to operate a gravel mine on the property for up to 15 years, after which they said the site would be planted with a species of hedges that would be processed into construction materials. (Gravel mining is occasionally permitted on farmland if the owner can show that the placement of new fill in place of the gravel will lead to better growing conditions.) FVRD staff, though, noted that a gravel mine could present a range of issues. Staff pointed out that existing rules prohibit gravel mining in places where doing so could increase flood risks—as would appear to be the case at the Ruby Creek site.

The gravel mining application has since been withdrawn after Fraser Valley Regional District staff recommended the local government refuse to forward it to the Agricultural Land Commission but before the FVRD’s politicians could vote on the proposal.

Despite the withdrawn application, the owners of the site don’t appear to have a firm plan for the site. The property was listed for sale for $5 million in late March. The listing declared: “The mining license is in the process of being obtained and is expected to be granted within 1 year.” It also declared that the site would be “suitable for developing 20 campsites and 7 log cabins.”

The listing says the local governments had approved the construction of a 20,000-square-foot warehouse, but does not explain that the approval is subject to adherence to the ALC’s 2024 decision on growing bamboo. The ALC ruling declared that the processing facility would need to be demolished if the conditions that enabled it to be built were not met.

Share

You can share this newsletter by forwarding it or by copy and pasting this link—https://fvcurrent.com/p/june-11-2025/—into a social media post.

📸 Current (Satellite) Cam

You guys are so good that today’s Current Cam is a bit different, and not our standard north-south top-down image. Can you find its location? You can use Google here, if you need help. If you find the location, copy the URL and paste it into the form here. Or just tell us the location in your own words. We’ll share the location in tomorrow’s newsletter.

🗓 Things to do

Abby Secondary reunion: The 1971 Abbotsford Senior Secondary grad class hosts their 54th reunion on Saturday at the Abbotsford Rugby Clubhouse. The event goes from 6pm to midnight, and all grads and spouses are welcome. Details online.

Chilliwack market: Chilliwack's Grand Summer Market takes place at Evergreen Hall on Saturday from 10am to 4pm. Admission is free. Details online.

Have an event to tell us about? Fill out this form to have it highlighted here.

Catch up

That’s it!

Thanks for reading Fraser Valley Current today ♥️ 

If you found something useful, consider forwarding this newsletter to another local.