A piece of the Squamish Estuary touted as highly valuable conservation land may still be bisected by new roadways despite its recent purchase by the Nature Trust of British Columbia.
Last February, local environmentalists celebrated the purchase of 13 acres in the estuary after the property owner, BC Rail, put it on the market attached with a commercial/industrial zoning designation.
Some estuary advocates believed it meant the property would be protected not only from industry, but also from the long-proposed Seventh Avenue connector transportation corridor, which would see the construction of a roadway next to a railway spurline and a connection from the new roadway to Main Street.
But a recently acquired letter from District of Squamish director of community development Mick Gottardi, written in a response to the Nature Trust's request for support, tells a possibly different story.
Gottardi stated the district is "generally supportive" of the preservation of the land, on "the understanding" that Nature Trust recognize the district's future plans for the expansion of existing sewer infrastructure on the property, as well as plans for the transportation corridor.
"We support these lands becoming - other than the commercial and industrial that's designated in the Squamish Estuary Management Plan - we support them becoming more protected areas and used for interpretive purposes and enhanced. But not to the point of precluding the district from its infrastructure needs," said Gottardi.
"This is a huge win for our community, for these lands to become - although they're not protected areas yet - for them to be going in that direction. So if you take the huge win and you sort of knock a little bit off of it, I think that's still a huge win."
The property's ownership could potentially pose a problem, said Gottardi, but he remains optimistic.
"It is something that could see a difference of opinion, but I hope, given the kind of support that we gave - and they asked for our support - that they wouldn't take that kind of a view."
Nature Trust spokesperson Doug Walker said the organization requested letters of support while seeking funds from Squamish Savings, and have not agreed to any particular use for the land, pointing out "the town did not put any funds into the acquisition."
"The conservation of the estuary and the habitat is our primary goal and objective," said Walker. "The plan that the town is looking at is a 30-year transportation plan, but there are no immediate decisions on when that would be put in place. So a lot of the things that are put on paper never happen.
"We want to take [the community's] interests at heart, but keeping in mind that it has very high conservation values, which is why so many people came forward to help purchase it."
Gottardi said there are measures to be taken to protect the area from a roadway's impacts, which have been discussed with the nature Trust. However, he added, these can't add up to having no development at all.
"A road has run-off concerns, has noise concerns, has air quality concerns. They can be mitigated to some extent but there's certainly an impact the road will have over and above no development at all that cannot be mitigated," said Gottardi. "So I think the idea that I've heard Doug express in working together is we do things in a very green way. We take runoff and make sure that it's properly biofiltered or some approach like that that takes into account the sensitive surroundings."
However local environmental advocate John Buchanan said he can't reconcile the idea of preserving an area while considering building a road through it.
"Nature Trust cannot ring the bell that 'We are conserving an area for all time' when at the same time the district is saying 'We want to put a road through these lands,'" said Buchanan. "I mean it just doesn't make any sense to me."
Buchanan calls the idea of a roadway disastrous.
"People are not allowed to walk along that rail line, so it serves they're transportation needs, but at the same time it keeps people away from the wildlife sanctuary. Vehicle access, you'll have people pulling over to the side of the road, dogs running amuck out there, garbage, pollution coming off of the roadway. The rail access seems to work just fine down there. But to build a roadway to allow vehicles -it's just a disaster."
However Walker said accessibility in the form of current trail networks actually add value to the land. He said it creates a "working classroom" for Capilano University and local school children learning about the environment. There have already been two tours of the property for students and in conjunction with Earth Day.
"This is a very valuable learning area," said Walker. "It's great to watch the birds. It's a great area to get out into nature and see what's there. Just realize that you live in a beautiful place in the world. It's right at your front door."
He added despite some reports that the district would manage the land, no decision has been made in that regard, although the Nature Trust has approached the province to consider adding it to the existing Squamish Estuary Wildlife Management Area, which was announced last summer.
"We'll be working with the community and the town to address the management plan and the access issues."
