Surrey Mayor Slanders Environment Groups
FVCC Petitions Auditor General for Environmental Assessment of Stokes Pit
[Surrey] In an interview conducted Friday, May 20th and broadcast throughout the Victoria Day weekend regarding community concerns of wildlife mismanagement in Stokes Pit, Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum told CBC reporter Salma Nurmohamed that trapping of wildlife had been carried out by an environmental group. The Fraser Valley Conservation Coalition, a group of 200 Langley and Surrey residents, had expressed concerns about the large number of deer, beaver, otter and other wildlife killed in the development of Stokes Pit into an industrial development.
“I spoke with Ms Nurmohamed on Friday following her interview with Doug McCallum and she confirmed that she has the Mayor on tape stating that it was an environmental group that did the trapping,” reports Surrey FVCC member, Donna Passmore. “This is an outrageous claim and appears intended to deflect attention away from the blood on the City’s hands and to harm the credibility of groups like the FVCC who are calling for a comprehensive environmental assessment, public consultation based on environmental assessment and creation of a humane wildlife management plan for this area. Coalition members will be meeting this week to discuss our legal options.”
Today the Fraser Valley Conservation Coalition petitioned the Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development under the Auditor General Act for a stop work order pending environmental assessment of Stokes Pit and the Campbell Heights Business Park Development.
“The City has turned a deaf ear to our concerns,” adds Passmore. “We begged the McCallum administration to develop a humane approach to wildlife management and were flatly refused. Instead we were given weak bureaucratic rationalizations for what has been a mass slaughter of wildlife. They are not being honest about the impacts on the watershed, the wildlife or the surrounding human community from this development.”
“We would have preferred to work this out with the City, but in the absence of fair play we had to petition the Auditor General for intervention,” concludes Passmore.
Formed in February 2005, FVCC is a group of Langley and Surrey residents who want their communities to adopt sustainable development and environmental protection practices.
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For more information:
Donna Passmore (FVCC) o) 604-631-6210 r) 604-574-9457
Cathleen Vecchiato (FVCC) 604-533-0173 c) 604-376-0641
Dorothy MacKenzie (FVCC) (604) 530-9170 c) (604) 328-9860
May 25, 2005
Office of the Auditor General of Canada
240 Sparks Street
Ottawa, Ontario Via Fax and Courier: (613) 957-0474
K1A 0G6 Canada
Attention: Commission of the Environment and Sustainable Development
Re: Campbell Heights Business Park
Stokes Pit, Surrey, British Columbia
The Fraser Valley Conservation Coalition (FVCC) is a local environmental organization representing two hundred members and other residents of the City of Surrey, Province of British Columbia. We do hereby petition the Office of the Auditor General, pursuant to the Auditor General Act, for a stop work order pending environmental assessment and community consultation of a development project in the City of Surrey known as “Campbell Heights Business Park”. This is an urgent environmental matter within the context of sustainable development.
It is our view that the subject development is of concern to Environment Canada (Species at Risk Act, Migratory Birds Convention Act, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act), Fisheries Canada (the Fisheries Act) and such other federal departments, acts and regulations as may be applicable.
Background
Stokes Pit, which is being developed into the Campbell Heights Business Park, is 1800 acres (800 ha) of mixed (deciduous and conifer) second growth forest on the Langley/Surrey border. It contains a large number of 80 year old Douglas Fir trees, which are heritage trees in the context of this City’s urban forest.
Stokes Pit is part of the Pacific Flyway (Boundary Bay) wildfowl migratory route and is part of an important multi-species wildlife corridor that connects to the Little Campbell River valley.
The area is home to 263 species of wildlife, including Coopers Hawks, Barn Owls, Eagles, Peregrine Falcon, Pacific Great Blue Heron, fox, white tailed deer, beaver, fresh water otter, coyote, and numerous species of frogs, snakes and turtles.
Stokes Pit contains a number of fish-bearing streams and one man-made lake (Latimer Lake).
An independent environmental assessment commissioned by the City of Surrey in 1997 (Addendum “A”), identified Stokes Pit as having high environmental values. This report was suppressed by the City administration (see newspaper clippings enclosed as Addendums “B” and “C”) and was not given to members of Council in 2003 when they voted in favour of developing the area.
Stokes Pit contains a long-retired (late 1950’s, early 1960’s we believe) gravel pit, from which the area’s name is derived. This pit has become naturalized, and is one of a rich mixture of habitats (wetlands, streams, mixed forest, meadow) in this unique area.
Stokes Pit also sits atop an aquifer that supports human and wildlife populations. (see Addendum “D”)
No further environmental assessment of this area or community consultation about environmental issues was performed prior to development.
Stokes Pit has longstanding community recreational value and is popular with hikers, mountain bikers and a large local equestrian community with little negative impact on resident wildlife.
Despite the rich diversity of flora and fauna, the only wildlife management plan in place during development involved 1) hiring trappers to kill large populations of beaver and otter and 2) a loss/gain contract with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
Development began in 2003 and nesting trees were felled throughout fall (2004) and spring (2005) wildfowl migration.
Contractors were hired to clear the land without knowledge of the ecological significance of the area. Large numbers of white tailed deer were driven onto nearby roadways and killed by motorists. At least one colony of beaver (and potentially hundreds of other burrowing mammals) are believed to have been buried alive. One bulldozer operator advised FVCC member, Dorothy MacKenzie, that he had to continually stop and empty the bucket of his bulldozer because rabbit and squirrels were leaping into it as he plowed through their burrows/nests.
In response to public outcry, the City of Surrey held a public meeting on May 12, 2005 (see http://www.city.surrey.bc.ca/Inside+City+Hall/City+Departments/Parks+Recreation+and+Culture/Events+and+News/Public+Meetings/Latimer+Lake+Park.htm), to propose creation of a “park” that will be approximately 1/20 the size of the current wilderness and will include man-made wetlands and narrow forest strips that are supposed to serve as wildlife habitat/corridor.
The Fraser Valley Conservation Coalition strongly questions the legitimacy of a loss/gain contract with the Department of Fisheries because:
1) There is no other area in the City of Surrey that is not now fish habitat that can be created to offer equal size and environmental value;
2) We are concerned that storm water runoff from this extensive development will create negative impacts for fisheries and ground water well beyond the proposed development site. (see Addendum “E” and “F” enclosed). As well, Latimer Creek flow monitoring information for several years can be accessed online at http://www.kwl.bc.ca/data_collection/surrey_streamflow/latimercreek.htm
3) Part of the loss/gain contract involves the creation of man-made wetlands. On May 10th, City of Surrey Engineer, Carrie Baron, advised the FVCC that the wildlife corridors and wetlands currently being proposed by the City of Surrey will exist for only 15 years, and then those areas will also be turned to industrial development. The loss of wetlands, streams and other wildlife habitat will, therefore, be complete and permanent.
4) Being surrounded by intensive industrial activity will destroy the habitat value for fish and other wildlife; will create an urban heat island that will alter the ecosystem, elevating temperatures, causing increased levels of NOx/VOCs (ground level ozone) that will drive away sensitive species like Barn Owls and song birds.
5) The Fraser Valley Conservation Coalition believe that a component of the project not yet publicly discussed will be extensive widening of area roads to facilitate the large volume of industrial traffic that will result from development. These expanded roads will also have storm water run off, air quality and ground water pollution issues and will further diminish the habitat value of the area.
As well, drainage of the area by the City of Surrey has already harmed water access and water quality for human and wildlife populations in the area.
Without regard for human or wildlife populations, the City of Surrey has destroyed an estimated twenty-five (25%) percent of Stokes Pit. Several “for sale” and re-zoning application signs are posted in surrounding green spaces. We are concerned that the City of Surrey are escalating habitat destruction before the FVCC can mount a successful campaign to have an environmental impact assessment performed.
The Fraser Valley Conservation Coalition does not oppose development. Rather, we advocate for sustainable development that respects and protects ecologically significant areas like Stokes Pit.