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Top: Ducks Unlimited Canada with financial support from Port Metro Vancouver recently completed a project to enhance and improve intertidal habitat for fish and wildlife along the Fraser River. Bottom: At low tide, looking out from Rose-Kirkland Island towards the Fraser River at one of the intertidal passages for fish.
Conservation project improves Fraser River fish and
intertidal habitat
Delta, B.C., February 4, 2009 — Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) and Port Metro Vancouver (PMV) are pleased to announce completion of an intertidal enhancement project increasing fish habitat at Rose-Kirkland Island, located in the South Arm of the Fraser River. PMV contributed $1.5 million as part of a multi-year plan to offset loss of wildlife habitat from the development of the Deltaport Third Berth Project (DP3).
“Through this innovative partnership, the Rose-Kirkland Island project has created ecologically significant habitat that benefits the Lower Fraser River ecosystem,” said Captain Gordon Houston, president and CEO of Port Metro Vancouver. “This project is the off-site component of the DP3 habitat compensation program which also includes numerous on-site mitigation projects that will benefit the Roberts Bank ecosystem.”
“Ducks Unlimited Canada thanks PMV for contributing to the enhancement of fish and wildlife habitat at Rose-Kirkland,” commented Les Bogdan, manager of provincial operations in B.C. for Ducks Unlimited Canada. “Using $900,000 of the contribution, we were able to breach the dikes along the Fraser River to change the existing freshwater wetland to a more natural tidal environment. The remaining funding from PMV will be directed towards wildlife habitat improvements at other offsite locations.”
In the fall and winter months, the islands of the South Arm Marsh Wildlife Management Area provide valuable sources of food and migratory habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife. Prior to construction of the intertidal environment, there were few fish present within the freshwater pools. The development of the new intertidal channel provides passage for salmon and other species of fish and will help reduce the amount of purple loosestrife, an invasive plant species, which was growing in the wetland.
Ducks’ also raised the elevation of a kilometre of dike to mitigate flooding of the fields on the island; excavated the pool area to facilitate tidal flushing and upgraded 250 metres of rock along the foreshore to protect against erosion due to waves caused by Fraser River boat traffic.
Rose-Kirkland Island falls within the Agricultural Land Reserve and is part of the South Arm Marshes Wildlife Management Area. The sources of food and habitat provided by these islands and others located at the mouth of the Fraser River help to reduce the impact of waterfowl grazing on nearby agriculture lands in Delta and Richmond.
Port Metro Vancouver is Canada’s largest and most diversified port, trading more than $53 billion in goods with more than 100 trading economies annually. Port activities generate 69,000 jobs across Canada with $4 billion in Gross Domestic Product and $8.9 billion in economic output.
For more information contact:
Wendy Fister, w_fister@ducks.ca
Marketing & Communications Specialist
Ducks Unlimited Canada
Phone: (604) 312-4632
Anne McMullin, anne.mcmullin@portmetrovancouver.com
Director, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs
Port Metro Vancouver
Phone: (604) 665-9069
