The Intensifying Push to Build a Fraser Delta Superport

Critics warn of harm to vital biodiversity. But the backer is making new promises and deals, winning over First Nations.

At Roberts Bank, a vital zone for western sandpipers and other wildlife, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority wants to create a new industrial island. Photo by Jason Puddifoot.

Margaret Munro 11 Nov 2022 TheTyee.ca

As Canada prepares to host a global summit on biodiversity, a proposed $3.5 billion superport just south of Vancouver is testing the Trudeau government’s bold environmental commitments.

Critics say approving the superport, which would be built in the Fraser estuary, one of Canada’s most endangered biodiversity hotspots, would run counter to several of the Liberals’ pronouncements about the need to better protect nature.

But the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is pushing hard for approval of the project that a federal assessment panel concluded would have “significant” impacts on endangered killer whales, famed salmon runs and the beleaguered Fraser estuary, which supports close to 100 species at risk.

The port, a federal agency, is targeting politicians and policy makers in Ottawa with an advertising and social media campaign promoting approval of the new port. It is building support among First Nations with confidential benefits agreements and promises of financial payments if the project goes ahead. . . continue reading . . .

Delta in danger: The beleaguered ecological hot spot on Vancouver’s doorstep

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The Fraser River in Chilliwack, B.C., as seen on May 16, 2018, is the largest and most important estuary on Canada’s west coast. DARRYL DYCK/THE CANADIAN PRESS

MARGARET MUNRO

SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL

The hawk spied a vole scurrying through the marsh grass and swooped down for the kill, steps from the busy dike trail. People stopped and marvelled. Then most carried on. But not all. Several photographers were soon heading out into the marsh with their long-lensed cameras, some getting within metres from the raptor with the rodent in its talons. The light from the west was perfect, so why not close in for the perfect shot?

Wildlife photographers who think a camera gives them licence to go anywhere have long been a problem, and there is mounting concern over their brazen behaviour at the Roberts Bank Wildlife Management Area. A half-hour drive from downtown Vancouver, the sweeping marshland at the mouth of the Fraser River is a globally important refuge for upward of a million birds – and a magnet for nature photographers . . . Continue reading

When the mind gives out before the machine

MARGARET MUNRO

SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL

A pacemaker has kept my father’s heart beating into his 90s, but dementia prevents him from remembering or fully enjoying his long life. Would he have made different choices, knowing what longevity would look like this?        CONTINUE READING …

 

Guilt over my environmental hypocrisy rose with the temperature this summer, and hit a record high on a sunny terrace in Old Montreal after flying in from Vancouver.

Air Canada, which carries close to 51 million of the world’s 4.3 billion passengers each year, had transported us from the West Coast, over the Rockies and across the Prairies in fewer than five hours. So convenient, except for all that carbon dioxide the jet engines blew into the atmosphere. How could I profess to care about the planet, yet still fly off on holiday as if I am not part of a very big problem?  . . .   CONTINUE READING 

One of the first things Steven Hodgson noticed was Jordan Carbery’s slippers lying side-by-side on the path, as if he’d just stepped out of them. Then he spotted a bloody chunk of his scalp, and half his right ear . . . CONTINUE READING

DELTA FORCES, featured in Best of Canadian Geographic 2018

 

The Fraser Estuary, a battered but critical ecological hotspot, on Vancouver’s doorstep.

Can nature and more than 2.5 million people coexist on the Fraser River Delta, home to ever-expanding Metro Vancouver?

See Delta Forces, page 46 to 55, in Best of_Canadian Geographic_2018

 

DELTA FORCES

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The fate of the Fraser River delta

A booming economy, a thriving community, a healthy environment — can Vancouver have it all?

 

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  A great blue heron skims across the water, with Vancouver’s Roberts Bank port in the background. (Photo: Ben Nelms/Canadian Geographic)

By Margaret Munro

With photography by Ben Nelms

June 27, 2018

In the July/August 2018 issue of Canadian Geographic, Margaret Munro explores the challenge of protecting the species-rich Fraser River delta in the face of Vancouver’s ongoing economic boom and asks whether nature and development can coexist. Read an excerpt and see more of photographer Ben Nelms’ images …

 

Birds packing high-tech gear help scientists understand the migratory mysteries and dangerous life of the red knot

MARGARET MUNRO

REEDS BEACH, NEW JERSEY

Photo by Yves Aubry ECCC

SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL

PUBLISHED APRIL 22, 2018

From Arctic breeding grounds to the farthest tip of South America, this bird has one of the longest voyages in the animal kingdom. Now, decline of habitat and a key food source on the trip are making the endangered species’ travels even more hazardous. Canadian-U.S. researchers are going along for the virtual ride to learn how to help.

Continue reading . . .

 

What’s killing the world’s shorebirds?

NATURE | NEWS FEATURE 

In chilly summer conditions, Paul Smith surveys the Arctic landscape for shorebirds. (Malkolm Boothroyd photo)

Researchers brave polar bears, mosquitoes and gull attacks in the Canadian Arctic to investigate an alarming die off.

Continue reading in Nature or Scientific American.

B.C. port project could have ‘adverse effects’ on birds headed to Alaska

Western Sandpiper slurping up biofilm that appears critical for their migration to Alaska. Photo by Tomohiro Kuwae

By MARGARET MUNRO — Special to The Globe and Mail

A proposed port expansion south of Vancouver has the “potential for significant adverse effects” on migratory birds that stream north from South and Central America en route to their breeding grounds in Alaska, according to the federal environment department.

Western sandpipers, which touch down on the Fraser River delta in the spring to feed on energy-rich “biofilm” on the tidal mudflats, are most at risk and could suffer “species-level consequences,” says a submission from Environment and Climate Change Canada to the panel reviewing the $2-billion Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project.  Continue reading . ..