Planned B.C. highway threatens rare ecosystem : WC Mediawire

The cover story in this month's edition of Canadian Geographic magazine features Vancouver as possibly becoming the ideal sustainable city. However, amidst this picture of sustainability, a battle is being waged to protect an endangered ecosystem from becoming a highway.

As a British Columbian now living in southern Ontario, I am often asked why I moved east. Is B.C. not the mecca for outdoor activity and unadulterated wild spaces, a place where people recognize the value in protecting the environment, respect First Nation land claims, and champion sustainable, environmentally conscious communities? After all, this is the pitch that Vancouver and Whistler used to secure their bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics: "We have carefully selected the sites for Games venues to avoid environmentally sensitive and undisturbed natural areas, and we will continue to safeguard our environment ...."

The potential to uphold a sustainable image of Vancouver and British Columbia is real, but this potential is not being realized, and the truth about beautiful B.C. is that its natural beauty is dwindling fast. Not all British Columbians, however, are willing to let this happen, at least not without a fight.

Concerned citizens in Vancouver, and throughout Canada and the international community, have launched a campaign to protect the threatened Eagleridge Bluffs, a rare wetland ecosystem that towers high above Horseshoe Bay in west Vancouver. The provincial government plans to cut a highway through the bluffs in order to shave three minutes of driving time for people travelling between Vancouver and Whistler, primarily to accommodate the increased traffic during the 2010 Winter Games.

In doing so, the government will be destroying what is classified as a "red-listed ecosystem," or an ecosystem that is in danger of extinction. In fact, the government cannot find any other ecosystem comparable to the loss that will be incurred if the bluffs are destroyed.

There is an alternative solution that would protect the bluffs and appease the government's desire for a more expedient route to Whistler: a tunnel under the Eagleridge Bluffs and Larson Creek Watershed. A tunnel would protect the endangered ecosystem, prevent future costs associated with rock slides and shorten the distance to travel. The government claims that a tunnel costs too much; professional engineers disagree.

The firm awarded the government contract for the overland highway route has obtained a court injunction ordering protestors to move out to allow its crews to begin work clear-cutting and dynamiting the bluffs. Police have already arrested 23 people who chose to defy the injunction.

It is at a time like this that one would expect an elected representative to intervene and agree to assess the situation using the best possible information available to them. Unfortunately, this has not been the case in British Columbia, and the government instead works to dismiss opposition to the planned overland route as simply a small protest led by a few citizens concerned about their property values. Nothing could be further from the truth.

This is not just a case of environmentally spawned passion against a government development plan; rather, it is an example of how a poorly informed decision could lead to the destruction of an endangered ecosystem and the end of what is to be a sustainable, environmentally friendly Winter Olympics, leaving a negative blemish on the environmental stewardship of Vancouver, British Columbia and on all of Canada.

Tristan Pearce is an associate researcher with the Global Environmental Change Group at the University of Guelph.

Western Canada Wilderness Committee

Western Canada Wilderness Committee