if there is a petition we could sign please post a link here.
No we have not at this time but here is the full letter we have sent to all 3 levels of government and many others, a lot of work has been put into this including a lot of Zoom meetings with many.
The Honourable Bernadette Jordan, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and Canadian Coast
Guard, Canada
The Honourable Doug Donaldson, BC Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource
Operations and Rural Development
Mayor Ken Popove and Council, City of Chilliwack
Mayor Henry Braun and Council, City of Abbotsford
Mr. Ted White, Comptroller of Water, Victoria
Re: Proposed Gravel Removal for the Vedder River and Canal 2020
Dear Sirs and Madams:
I am writing on behalf of our group, the Gravel Stewardship Group, to express our
concerns regarding plans being put forward by the City of Chilliwack to remove gravel
from the Vedder River and Canal in Chilliwack, British Columbia this coming summer
(2020).
The 2020 gravel removal plan was initiated by the City of Chilliwack and vetted last
week (May, 2020) through the Vedder River Management Area Committee (VRMAC), a
joint body comprised of the City of Chilliwack, City of Abbotsford, Province of BC, and
federal Department of Fisheries and Ocean Canada. The VRMAC is a group charged
with the responsibility of removing gravel for the purpose of flood protection.
I am a member of the VRMAC and represent several stewardship and angling groups,
including the Fraser Valley Salmon Society. I attended this meeting and I was not
impressed as to the outcome. Hence this letter.
This project is ostensibly for flood protection. However, it is the opinion of the group that
I am representing that, based on all of the technical information being made available in
support of this proposal by the City of Chilliwack, there is no discernible merit for this
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proposal particularly when balanced off with the environmental damage that it will cause.
The 2020 plan by the City of Chilliwack is to remove up to 95,000 cubic meters of gravel
from eight sites from the Vedder River and Canal. This is an operation that would
significantly harm, alter, disrupt and destroy sensitive fish habitat in one of British
Columbia’s most important salmon and steelhead streams. Notwithstanding our opinion,
we note that the environmental report for this project is largely deficient in quantifying
habitat values, the damage that this project would cause, and any appropriate fisheries
offsets as required under the Canada Fisheries Act legislation.
The purported immediate flood-reduction benefits, which relate to freeboard concerns at
just one short area of dike (Great Blue Heron Reserve) are tiny and will amount to just
6.2 cm (2.4 inches) over a vertical flood elevation of streambed-to-top-of-dike of 8.5 m
(28 ft.). Moreover, the water surface elevation has been naturally declining, mostly
stable, or only slightly rising from 2018-2020. This is a normal condition for gravelbedded streams and does not indicate any real concern for the need to take large volumes
of gravel out since we already know that the Vedder River is currently in a naturally
degrading mode.
Thus, this proposal is not an acceptable trade-off considering the large-scale damage to
the aquatic ecosystem that we believe this project will cause.
This 2020 gravel removal project is being proposed despite the fact that even in 2018,
which was the last year that this action was previously contemplated, removal operations
were cancelled when it was realized then that the river was degrading due to a lack of
gravel deposition.
Since then, the stream has now extensively lost even more gravel on its own accord due
to natural erosion processes. For example, the Vedder River portion of the floodway has
undergone a state of extensive losses between 2018 and 2020, losing 50,000 cubic
meters of critical spawning and rearing gravels during the interim period. Moreover, the
Vedder Canal has naturally eroded compared to the 2016 bed levels as well. Also, there
have been large-scale historic losses in both portions of the floodway management area
compared to the baseline years of 1981 and 1991, respectively.
Let me emphasize: The stewardship groups I represent are not against gravel removal per
se from the Vedder River provided there is a demonstrable benefit to lowering the flood
profile where it is legitimately required, and where environmental damage can be
reasonably mitigated.
I have attached for your review, our overview of the 2020 Vedder River and Canal
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Hydraulic Profile provided to the VRMAC by the environmental engineers, KWL
consultants. The information in this report was used by the City of Chilliwack to provide
the rational to mine the gravel but our re-assessment of the information provided shows
that the City does not have a reasonable argument for removal.
The KWL report of modelled water surface flood profiles show that under the criteria that
the provincial agencies use for flood protection, the surrounding areas are well protected
within the guidelines set by the Provincial diking authorities with the small and modest
exception of one area (1.7% of the total dike length). Here, on the Right Bank dike, at
the Great Blue Heron Reserve, there is now an historical lack of design freeboard
capacity (0.75 m) because of higher risk-averse standards that have been implemented
since the dike was constructed many years ago.
It is also important to recognize that this 2020 proposal is in direct contradiction to the
City of Chilliwack’s publicly stated positions in 2017 and 2018 when the riverbed was
also seen to be dropping naturally, and where the agencies deemed there was no need to
take any gravel out at that time.
Indeed, Chilliwack’s Manager of Engineering, David Blain, was quoted in the Chilliwack
Progress on May 14, 2018: “There haven’t been any really big storms for several years,
which will move large amounts of material into the river…Over the last two years in
particular there was no need to take any out. We only take it out to protect against
flooding, so if no gravel comes in, there is no reason to take it out.” (my emphasis).
Moreover, the City of Chilliwack has repeatedly stated, in a November 27, 2017 meeting
with the stewardship folks on this issue, that they would not take gravel out of the
floodway if not required.
It is very concerning that the City is now going back on its stated words.
We are also very concerned with regards to the lack of transparency that the City of
Chilliwack has given us. This year, we were given the relative information being used to
make this decision only 24 hours before the VRMAC met in May 2020 despite the fact
that we first asked for this information back in February 2020. Based on this fact alone, it
is clear to us that the City of Chilliwack has little interest in fulfilling their commitments
and promises to British Columbian to engage in an open and collaborative approach.
I respectfully request that the authorizing Ministers emphasize to your regulatory staff the
importance of protecting fish, fish habitat under their respective environmental legislations.
Moreover, you are certainly aware of the significance of the economic and recreational
value this river provides to our community and to thousands of fishers from across the
entire Lower Mainland and elsewhere. These statutes should protect against capricious and
inappropriate removal of gravel where it is not warranted for flood protection.
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Thus, we are asking that the regulatory agencies including BC FLNRORD (under the
Water Sustainability Act Section 11) and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, (under the federal
Fisheries Act Section 35) refuse to grant the necessary permits for this damaging gravel
removal project for 2020.
Thank-you for the opportunity to bring this concern to your attention. I look forward to
your responses.
Sincerely,
Dean Werk
President, Fraser Valley Salmon Society (est. 1984)
Author
Topic: Vedder River Under Attack again (Read 12802 times)