Environment

Late last week I received the results from the soil samples I collected on Lot 21 during the period that title reverted to the Crown.

As I discussed earlier, I collected a total of fives samples from five separate locations on Lot 21 (see image above left for precise locations). Since automated drilling instruments were not allowed under FLNRO policy on Crown Land Use Policy, we used shovels to dig the five samples at depths of 28″, 14″, 15″, 22″ and 0″, respectively,

The soil samples were analysed by Maxxam Analytics for Volatile Organic, Total Hydrocarbon and Elemental Metal analyses. The results are now available. While I recognize that my approach of taking a few samples is a bit like looking for a needle in a hay stack, the good news is that both volatile organic and total hydrocarbon content were below detectable levels in all samples.

As indicated in the Residential/Parkland column of the Soil Quality Guidelines of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, the only sample that revealed above-recommended values was Sample #3. In this case both Zinc and Copper were over the guidelines.

While my tests are by no means exhaustive and do not address the fundamental question as to what, if anything, is buried deep under the surface in Lot 21, they add to the body of knowledge concerning the area.

Media Statement: March 03, 2016
Andrew Weaver calls for more ambition in Federal approach to climate
For Immediate Release

Victoria, B.C. –  Recognizing the positive step forward that has been taken in bringing together the Premiers of Canada to work on a climate plan, Andrew Weaver, Leader of the B.C. Green Party and MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head, says the agreement today is more about good political optics, than about substantive climate policy.

“We don’t meet our targets without a price on carbon. Pure and simple,” says Weaver. “While I recognize that federal leadership has been lacking for the last decade, and that coming together to try and unite our country around climate action is a significant improvement, in reality this agreement  postpones any nation-wide action for at least six months.”

“At the end of the day we don’t need a plan to create a plan,” says Weaver. “Our Prime Minister promised to work out a national climate strategy within 90 days of Paris and that didn’t happen today. We need action and firm commitments. Investments in green infrastructure is good news, but carbon pricing is what is ultimately needed.”

“Climate action in British Columbia has also been stalled under Premier Clark,” said Andrew Weaver. “No substantive new climate action has been taken, and GHG emissions are once again on the rise. Leader’s lead. They don’t wait for others to catch up.”

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Media Contact

Mat Wright – Press Secretary Andrew Weaver MLA
1 250 216 3382
mat.wright@leg.bc.ca

Given the myriad challenges facing wildlife in our province, one of the best things we can do to protect biodiversity in B.C. is to leave key habitat areas intact. As the global climate warms and precipitation patterns shift, having a complete ecosystem within which animals and plants can try to adapt will be essential, and frankly the least we can do given the dire situation many species are in.

This is not news to the government, of course. For species ranging from mountain caribou to spotted owls and goshawks, the Ministry of Environment is quick to reference habitat loss as a contributing, if not the main, factor in population declines:

“human activities associated with resource extraction are the ultimate threats to caribou in British Columbia. Human development fragments and alters caribou habitat…“

“[The spotted owl] is at risk in this province because much of its habitat has been adversely affected by logging or lost due to land development.“

“The laingi subspecies of Northern Goshawk requires large areas of old-growth and mature forest. Large-scale timber harvesting removes much suitable nesting and foraging habitat… Because of this, the laingi subspecies is believed to be in jeopardy, and is on the British Columbia Red List.“

Likewise, the government cites habitat destruction as one of the greatest impacts on western toad populations in B.C.

“Development in and around wetlands can destroy or isolate populations.“

To a lesser extent, though still of importance, migrating toads are often killed by traffic as they try to cross roads.

Western toads are considered a species of conservation concern  by the government of British Columbia and have been designated a status of special concern by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). In theory, they are protected under the B.C.’s Wildlife Act. 

While BC has the most biodiversity in Canada, it is also one of two provinces (the other being Alberta) that has no provincial endangered species legislation. Sadly, BC is the home of more than 1,500 species currently at risk of extirpation or extinction.

Summit Lake, just outside the village of Nakusp in the Kootenay region, is a key breeding area for western toads. Every year, usually around the end of August, young toadlets migrate from the shoreline of Summit Lake, across Highway 6, to upland habitat where they will live for four or five years before they return to the lake to breed. The mass migration sees upwards of a million little toads attempting the crossing, with tens of thousands getting run-over in the process.

Hoping to help, nearby communities hold an annual Toadfest where people carrying the migrating western toads from the curb to the forest in buckets. The provincial government has also tried to address the problem by building directional fences leading to toad tunnels that allow the toads to safely cross under the highway. This amounts to an innovative solution and $200,000 investment in the protection of an increasingly threatened species. In the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure’s employee newsletter about their work they described the mass movement of western toads from Summit Lake to the forest as “among the great wildlife migrations in the world.”

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end there. After being safely escorted across the highway, via toad tunnel or bucket, the toads will now find themselves in a forest slotted for logging. Road building began last week and there are plans in the works to clear cut the 30 hectares where the toads hibernate.

To their credit, the Nakusp and Area Community Forest (NACFOR) logging company has drafted a toad management plan and identified small habitat features that they’ll try to leave intact. I commend NACFOR for exploring ways in which they can continue to harvest the timber while also being mindful of this species of special concern, but it is really the government that should be in the leadership role here.

Protection of core terrestrial habitat – defined as “the spatial delineation of 95% of the population that encompasses terrestrial foraging, breeding, and overwintering habitats rather than buffers” –  is seriously recommended in the scientific literature for amphibians (Semlitsch and Bodie 2003, Browne and Paszkowski 2010, Crawford and Semlitsch 2007). If the existing provincial park at Summit Lake were expanded to include the forest within roughly two kilometers of the lake the protection of core terrestrial habitat would likely be achieved, wildlife biologist Wayne McCrory said in his analysis of the situation.

The province has been criticized for failing to set aside adequate habitat to protect caribou, spotted owls and goshawks and this toad situation illustrates just how reluctant the B.C. government is to remove forest from the logging land base. The key western toad forest habitat around Summit Lake is a relatively small, very specific area that could be included into the existing provincial park. This would represent a minor exemption from their 9,816 hectare total operating base.

The creation of the toad tunnel represented an admirable step forward for the government’s approach to wildlife issues. Granting approval to log their core terrestrial habitat represents more of a smoking bulldozer ride back – squashing all their advancements in the process.

“Be an advocate for amphibians – protect toads and their habitat in your neighbourhood,” reads the government’s BC Frog Watch website.

Good advice, that I respectfully urge the BC government to follow by protecting western toad habitat around Summit Lake before it’s too late.

Media Statement: February 29, 2016
Andrew Weaver Expresses Sympathy for Protesters in the Wake of Site C Ruling
For Immediate Release

Victoria, B.C. – Andrew Weaver, Leader of the B.C. Green Party and MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head, expresses sympathy for the protesters’ position but recognizes the court’s ruling.

“We must respect the rulings of the courts,” says Weaver. “However, I think the reasons behind why the protesters were there in the first place were, and remain, valid. I greatly sympathize with the lengths they have gone in an attempt to be heard during this process.”

“Site C has been a project that has been aggressively pushed through by this government, primarily to fuel an LNG industry that doesn’t exist. They committed to a huge project and are now in the process of trying to save face. It’s expensive gamble borne on the backs of British Columbians.”

“There have been exemptions on oversight every step of the way,” says Weaver. “The government has done everything it can to push aside dissent without reasonable justification. This injunction is, to my mind, another example of bullying out disagreement, rather than listening to the concerns of British Columbians.”

“Despite the court’s ruling, I still believe Site C is risky and foolish and I will continue to voice my opposition to this project. British Columbians are going to be paying for Site C for decades and in the absence of a vastly expanded LNG industry, we simply don’t need it.”

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Media Contact
Mat Wright – Press Secretary Andrew Weaver MLA
1 250 216 3382
mat.wright@leg.bc.ca

Last Monday I noted that the Crown was now the new owner of Lot 21, c/o the surveyor of taxes. Lot 21, of course, is the property located immediately beside the site of the contaminated soil facility operating in the Shawnigan Lake watershed.

In a media release that I issued on that day (February 15), I argued that the government no longer had any excuses to prevent it from thoroughly investigating the property. The government had previously told to me that drilling was not possible as the site was private property. But since Lot 21 returned to the Crown, I called upon government to undertake drilling to ensure residents, local and provincial governments and First Nations knew what, if anything, was buried on the site.

Doing so would have put an end to speculation circulating in a prevalence of anecdotal stories. It would also have allowed the following question I had previously been left with to be answered directly:

What, if anything, has been buried on Lot 21 that could produce the Thorium, Lead and other heavy metal enrichment in the sediments?

To my disappointment, the government failed to show the initiative to seek an answer to this question. As such, in order to address the concerns of my constituents who have property on Shawnigan Lake, I was forced to collect samples myself. And so, at 09:00 on February 19, my legislative assistant Aldous Sperl and I set off to the area to collect five soil samples.

Upon our arrival at Stebbings Road we were greeted by a small group of local volunteers who were keen to help us out. Armed only with shovels, we set off on a several hundred metre hike to Lot 21.

This must have been the fourth or fifth time that I have now hiked along the boundary of Lot 23 (containing the contaminated soil facility). On this particular journey, while fondly remembering my first and rather more difficult hike, I remarked how there was now a well worn path that had been created on the CVRD parkland. It seems that the route has now become oft travelled path.

Prior to setting out on our journey my legislature office checked with the Ministry of Forests Lands and Natural Resource Operations (FLNRO) to ensure that there were no regulations prohibiting us from collecting soil samples. The Ministry directed us to FLNRO policy on Crown Land Use Policy that specifically stated, under section 6.2.3.3 Investigative Activities on Crown Land that:

Given the green light that we were given by FLNRO, Aldous, CVRD Director Sonia Furstenau and I set out to collect a total of fives samples from five separate locations on Lot 21 (see image above left for precise locations). Since automated drilling instruments were not allowed under FLNRO policy, we used shovels to dig the five samples at depths of 28″, 14″, 15″, 22″ and 0″, respectively,

Early on in our sampling we discovered a rather odd metallic cylinder with a plastic tube emerging from it (above left). As we felt that it was important to clean any debris off crown land, one of the local volunteers picked the cylinder up to examine and dispose of it at a later date. All holes that I dug were carefully refilled to ensure no disruption to “natural habitat” in the area.

Today I dropped off my soil samples at Maxxam Analytics for Volatile Organic, Total Hydrocarbon and Elemental Metal analyses. I expect results on Wednesday next week and I will report back immediately upon their receipt.