Squamish RCMP were called to the scene of a weekend incident involving 4X4 vehicles ripping through a Brackendale-area wetland that’s part of a fish-bearing stream.
Federal officials have been made aware of the incident, which occurred late Saturday (May24) on Hop Ranch Creek, said Thomas Dithurbide, a B.C. Hydro line technician who responded to a report about a party in the area under the power line along Hop Ranch Creek. B.C. Hydro and other local agencies have carried out extensive habitat-restoration work on the creek over the past few years, he said.
Dithurbide said he attended and found about 50 people partying in the area, as well as about 10 vehicles engaging in what he called “bog racing” through the wetland.
RCMP Sgt. Wayne Pride said police attended at the request of B.C. Hydro. Vehicles and other equipment being set up in the area were moved, and all involved were cooperative.
“B.C. Hydro was satisfied that the vehicles and equipment were moved, but there was no mention of the environmental side,” he said. “We had no more calls with regard to that throughout the night.”
Rob Bell-Irving, community relations officer with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), said the wetland under the power lines is “a really, really prolific natural area” that serves as habitat for birds.
Hop Ranch Creek is a spawning site for salmon, especially coho, Bell-Irving said. While it doesn’t appear there was any damage to spawning areas, the wetland is "part of the creek’s overall hydrology,” he said.
He couldn’t say whether any DFO enforcement action is anticipated. “I can say DFO is looking into it,” Bell-Irving said.
Bob Cunneyworth, enforcement and compliance officer with the B.C. Ministry of Forests, Range and Natural Resource Operations, said no one had contacted him about the incident. If it occurred on Crown land, mud bogging through a wetland would be an offence under the Forests and Range Practices Act. However, the act doesn’t apply on private land.
“I know in that general area there certainly are 4X4 issues under the power line, but the majority of it is private property,” Cunneyworth said. “Definitely, the whole ecosystem is joined and related, and doing something like that would cause siltation that could cause problems downstream.”
