Tough times for city's mascot

By Steven Addison
MetroValley News
May 29 2005

It's called the City of Parks, and its emblem is the beaver.
But some conservationists in Surrey and Langley are accusing politicians of betraying their city's motto - and its mascot - in the rush to cash in on red hot real estate.
They accuse Surrey of turning a blind eye as industrial development near Stokes Pit chases beavers from their homes.
Meanwhile, the provincial environment ministry says the abundant rodents are a nuisance, not worth protecting or relocating.
"They're a chronic problem," said Brian Clark, regional manager with the ministry of Water Land and Air Protection.
He reasoned the beavers are abundant in the area, causing widespread problems by shredding trees, plugging culverts and creating floods.
"It's not a conservation issue. Where there's water there's beavers. They're problem wildlife in this region."
Nature lovers who frequent the area are distraught at the sight of beaver habitat drying up. They say government officials should do more to protect or relocate the creatures.
"They're slowly being pushed out," Langley's Dorothy MacKenzie said during a recent hike through the old gravel pit.
"Sometimes I cringe. I don't want to come here because I'm afraid of what I'm going to find."
MacKenzie has been walking trails on the eastern edge of the gravel pit for 10 years. This time last year she saw ducks, frogs and plenty of water.
Today, the land is parched. The mud is caked and cracking. There are neither ducks, nor herons visible, and of the half dozen beaver colonies that once lived there, one remains.
"If you're looking for a beaver, you're going to have to find it on a nickel or a Surrey Parks sign," MacKenzie said.
Her Langley-based Fraser Valley Conservation Coalition, teamed with other residents, has begun writing and e-mailing city councillors, staff and media. They think industrial development in Campbell Heights is to blame, and some suggest the wetlands have been drained so they're more attractive to build on.
Not so, says Surrey's mayor.
"Every year at this time the water dries up. It has nothing to do with draining," Doug McCallum said, pointing to several dry summers and a low snowpack as reason for the earlier-than-usual dry-out in Stokes Pit.
"In past years what the beavers have done is they migrate south into the Little Campbell River, because that's where the water is."
City staff say the mayor is right.
Engineer Rob Wilson said most beavers in Stokes Pit - they make their home in ditches left over from when the area was an active gravel pit - have moved out for the season.
Unlike nearby Latimer lake, which is filled by Brookswood Aquifer, Wilson said the ditches collect surface water. He said the ditches could not be drained by neighbouring developers.
Still, some city councillors fear there are more questions than answers.
Coun. Bob Bose says Surrey should make more effort to inventory wildlife in the area, and to come up with a plan to relocate them. Coun. Dianne Watts agreed, and said she'll press city staff for better answers.
"We need to make sure there is a wildlife strategy in place that everyone is privy to," Watts said.
Surrey last hired trappers in November to round up and destroy a number of beavers living near the centre of Stokes Pit. The city also obtained permits earlier this year to destroy dams which were causing water to back up and threaten the active quarry.
City staff maintain neither case involved beavers at the eastern edge of the pit, the area Fraser Valley Conservation Coalition is most concerned about.
Watts says city officials and the provincial environment ministry should be more concerned.
"If they're such insignificant creatures, why does the City of Surrey have the beaver as it emblem," she said.