Vital Port Moody North Shore Wetlands Must Be Fully Protected
Wildlife tree along side trail in Port Moody's beautiful North Shore Forest. Photo credit: Elaine Golds
Take advantage of this third CHANCE TO STOP THE PROPOSED sprawling HOUSING DEVELOPMENT CALLED “NEIGHBOURHOODS 3 & 4” and ask that this entire 381 acre publicly owned forested area, within walking distance from downtown Port Moody, be made a park.
Your land values and quality of life are at stake. No matter what Council says, the proposed 1,400 housing units added to the urban expansion already approved will destroy the beauty and livability of Port Moody. We must keep our North Shore recreational forest and precious wetlands.
It is time to preserve our public green spaces, not let developers convert them to cash. If the current council continues to push this development, despite a third massive turnout of people who oppose it and want the area to become a park, the next step will be to vote the present Council out of office next November. We will vote in a new Council that will reverse a decision to destroy this irreplaceable natural area.
Photo credit: Airphoto 85
Help stop Port Moody's beautiful North Shore Forest from being turned into urban blight like that now found on Coquitlam's Westwood plateau (shown beside).
Wetlands are an extremely important type of wildlife habitat. In Canada, 42 endangered or threatened species depend on wetlands for their survival. Due in large part to being drained and filled for development, only a fraction of the original wetlands in the Fraser Valley remain.
Hidden within the tall coniferous stands on Port Moody's North Shore Forest lies a wetland area which, until recently, had escaped most people's attention. One is seven acres in size; the smaller one found nearby is almost two acres in size.
Since sphagnum mosses, which eventually turn into peat, only grow a few centimetres a year, the 3 metre (10 feet) deep peat deposits in these wetlands suggest they have survived since the last ice age. Plants that are true relics of the ice age and commonly found in the Arctic, such as Labrador Tea and Bog Laurel, grow here.
These plants, plus several others found exclusively in bogs, are present in these North Shore wetlands. The wetlands are particularly noteworthy for the abundance of native Pacific Crabapple, as well as False Azalea which grows here to record size.
The wetlands' layers of woody debris create excellent habitat for a number of amphibians and small mammals. The forest canopy boasts a multitude of snags—standing dead trees—that are better named wildlife trees because they provide food and nesting habitat for a variety of animals and birds including pileated wood peckers.
Water flows from the wetlands in the North Shore forest into Mossom Creek, a significant salmon bearing stream located on the western border of the proposed Neighbourhoods 3&4 megadevelopment. Water run-off from the bog is believed to feed into Hett Creek, another stream threatened by this development plan.
Even the city's cursory Environmental Assessment for Neighbourhoods 3&4 stated that "the greatest diversity of species was found in association with the wetlands." and "these areas are also important in terms of their buffering effects on... the prevention of erosion and degradation of fish habitat in Mossom Creek."
The latest plan calls for an asphalt road between the two wetlands, as well as an asphalt cycle path around the perimeter of the wetland area. Both of these intrusions will wreck the area's biological value. The development plan also calls for buildings up to four stories close to the wetland.
Let's not kid ourselves. These precious wetlands will not survive any urban development. The Neighbourhoods 3&4 development plans must be stopped or this environmental treasure will be dealt a fatal blow.
