Fraser-Fort George Regional District (FFGRD) officials are scrambling to save a campground and resort that's feeling the full force of the Salmon River.
The rate of erosion where Rockin's River Resort meets the river near the Salmon River Bridge, about 30 kilometres north of Prince George, is about a half-foot an hour, FFGRD spokeswoman Renee McCloskey said Wednesday afternoon.
"So if things stay at that same rate, the home has about four-and-a-half days before it becomes part of the the river," she said.
As a result, the FFGRD is seeking approval from the provincial emergency program to carry out mitigation work to protect the property, likely in the form of rip-rap, McCloskey said.
Resort co-owner Robin Stoy has been watching the Salmon River eat away at her property for the last five springs but has never seen it on such a scale until now.
"Right now, from my back door to the river is 87 feet," Stoy said Wednesday morning. "I replaced the well two years ago and we placed it halfway in the yard and it's now teetering in the river."
She estimates as much as 500 feet of property has been lost to the river over the time she and partner Horst Schulz have owned the resort.
McCloskey said it's unlikely the river won't ease up anytime soon.
"The weather forecast for the next few days has things warming up, followed by some more periods of rain, so the likelihood that that rate of erosion could increase is pretty high," she said.
"It's become priority one to get an estimate of what we can do in that sport to shore up the home."
Stoy said the septic field has been washed away along several trees.
"I've been up three or four times through the night just checking on things because I took pictures one day and the next day there was at least six or seven more feet gone," Stoy said. "In the back there, it's all this beautiful dirt silt and that river is just chomping away at it.
"I'm not flooding yet, I'm grateful for that, but I'm losing land like crazy and it's heading for my house."
Stoy said she's regretted buying the property.
"Of course," she said.
She estimates about $30,000 was sunk into the home and the picnic tables and the wash house were also upgraded. "We were prepared for that, right, but certainly not prepared for what the river has given us," Stoy said.
