Battle for the bog

From a North Delta hillside Eliza Olson gazes out over the panorama of tree tops interspersed with pockets of wetlands before her and sees much more than undisturbed nature.

“This is such an incredible resource and I’m not sure if people realize what we could be losing here,” says the President of the Burns Bog Conservation Society. “Bogs are one of the most efficient storers of carbon. And they remove 10 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gases, filter 10 per cent of the world’s fresh water, yet only account for three per cent of the surface area in the world.”

That makes them pretty special and precious, Olson says, adding the roughly 40-square-kilometres that make up Burns Bog is a vital component of the ecosystem which should be afforded every opportunity to protect and preserve.

Fears for the future

But she—and other environmentalists—fear the construction of the South Fraser Perimeter Road will severely impact the site, greatly curtailing its ability to scrub the air of pollutants and support local wildlife that call the peat bog home.

The perimeter road is a $1 billion, 40 km stretch of the Gateway Program’s plan to expedite container truck traffic from an expanded Deltaport at Roberts Bank. Work is expected to begin once an environmental certificate is issued in the coming months. Then a portion of the roadway will skirt the northern edge of the bog. And that’s where, Olson says, lies the problem.

Building a highway adjacent to the bog will interfere with its natural drainage patterns as water flows between the bog and the Fraser River.

The roadway could act like a bathtub plug, backing up the bog water and saturating the land year round. The Fraser River also stands to suffer as bog water helps to cool the river, making conditions more hospitable for migrating salmon.

In combination, the effects could have detrimental results on not only the Lower Mainland’s ecosystem which benefits from the bog’s presence, but much further afield.

“Burns Bog is the largest peat bog on the west coast of the Americas and the only one found in a Mediterranean climate,” Olson says. “It’s only here out of sheer luck and we need to preserve it.

“We’ve already destroyed 80 per cent of the natural wetlands in the Lower Mainland. This one has to be protected.”

Protective line

Listening to Geoff Freer, you get a much different perspective.

Freer is the executive director of the Gateway Program, a quasi governmental agency which is overseeing the perimeter road project and related transportation developments designed to ease traffic congestion in the region and improve air quality.

Routing the South Fraser Perimeter along the bog’s northern edge will “hardline” the area, preventing any further encroachment on land surrounding the protected 5,000-plus acres Delta, the GVRD (now Metro Vancouver) and the federal and provincial governments collectively purchased for $73 million in 2004 to preserve.

“In some ways it will offer that protection,” Freer says.

While the exact route has yet to be confirmed, a recent rejigging was made to a portion in the northwest portion of the project along the southwest corner of the bog—close to 72nd Street and Highway 99—near the Vancouver Landfill. The move was done in response to concerns from Environment Canada

As for plugging up the bog, Freer says the peat lands currently experience uncontrollable drainage that will be corrected once a system of gates and lag ponds are constructed adjacent to the new road bed.

“Those controls will be put in place and was part of the recommendations in the Burn Bog Management Plans,” Freer says. “We see it as a key benefit of what we are doing.”

In addition, the perimeter road will be dotted with wildlife crossings—a series of bridges and culverts—that will allow animals to traverse the area at key points along the roadway.

Too late to stop?

With construction expected to start later this summer and completion in 2012, is it too late for the forces opposed to the South Fraser Perimeter Road to put the brakes on the project?

Brent West doesn’t think so.

West is the Healthy Communities Campaigner for the Western Canada Wilderness Committee and points to the battle in Vancouver in the 1960s that halted plans to drive highway development through the city.

“You look at sections in east Vancouver where roadways suddenly end and you see a project that was stopped,” West says. “It can happen here with the South Fraser Perimeter Road, too.”

West said the wilderness committee has grave concerns about the overall impact of the Gateway Project and believes not enough consideration was given to alternatives to building new roadways.

“We’re very concerned where this is all headed, especially since other options such as increased rail traffic to move goods was not explored. Building more roads is a very old approach to the problem of traffic congestion.”

West believes opposition to the perimeter road is mounting.

“The number of people expressing concern is growing and will continue to grow to a chorus of voices that will not be able to be ignored.”

Numbers tell a story

In South Delta, Perry Long believes he is already seeing a groundswell of opposition.

Long has been spear-heading the Action Group for Public Awareness for the past year which has been best known for carrying a coffin to public events to publicise the “end of life” for South Deltans if the South Fraser Perimeter Road and expanded Deltaport become reality.

Last month, Long and some of his group members conducted a phone survey of Delta residents asking their opinion on port expansion and perimeter road projects.

A total of 180 homes were called at random.

The result was 61 per cent of respondents opposed the projects—with 54 per cent of them indicating they were strongly opposed.

A total of 16 per cent were in favour, 19 per cent remained neutral and four per cent did not know where they stood on the issue.

The survey also asked about specific areas of concern. And under the heading of Burns Bog 85 per cent responded they were concerned—79 per cent indicating they were extremely concerned.

Long said he embarked on the survey to provide leadership on the issue he feels should have come from local government to bring the issue to public attention.

He doesn’t buy the response from civic politicians they have little clout in matters straddling federal and provincial politics.

“They may not have the legal power, but they have the moral and ethical power to help put a stop to this,” Long said. “We will keep trying to raise public awareness, but this is where (Delta) council can take a stand and provide the resources to inform the public.”

Long added Delta is being invaded by “economic imperialism” with the prospect of an expanded port and increased highway infrastructure.

“There’s so much at stake here,” he says. “And anything can be stopped, though I fear they don’t believe in their own power to make change.”

n editor@southdeltaleader.com