17 km of streams mapped on Gabriola for Riparian Area protection
Gabriola, and many areas of the Islands Trust, remain the only local government left in British Columbia to implement updated Riparian Area Regulations (RAR), according to Trustee Sheila Malcolmson.
To move towards implementation of RAR, Madrone Environmental Services from Duncan were hired to do a watershed mapping of the areas on Gabriola believed to have RAR potential.
The results of that mapping were turned in at the latest Gabriola Local Trust Committee (LTC) meeting last Tuesday.
Beyond the two known RAR watersheds flowing into Hoggan Lake and Sandwell Provincial Park, two other potential RAR areas were identified in the study. They flow north from the central part of Gabriola into the Elder Cedar and Dragon’s Lodge areas.
RAR regulations were required by the province to protect fish-supporting habitat. The regulations include any areas where fish might inhabit, either permanently or seasonally, as well as the areas upstream including ditches and wetlands.
Trystan Willmott from Madrone presented the report to the trustees saying, “Basically we found fish habitat is generally lacking on the island. I don’t know if that’s a surprise.”
In the Hoggan Lake area, anything connected either up or downstream of the lake is considered to be RAR-potential. The Hoggan watershed alone has 14 creeks/streams which flow into it according to the mapping.
The lower section of the creek, which flows into Sandwell Provincial Park also has the potential during high water times to support fish spawning, so it will qualify under the regulations.
Once the Trust passes bylaws updating the Riparian Area Regulations, the requirements will be to have setbacks from water bodies based on the width of the body of water, with a minimum of 10 metres for the smaller bodies.
Any development within 30 m of an RAR water body triggers the regulations.
Trystan said the regulation doesn’t say a landowner can’t develop within that 30 m, but it will mean hiring a Qualified Environmental Professional (QEP) to do an assessment of the area to meet RAR.
Overall, 17 km of streams were mapped on Gabriola.
Finding that amount of water flow “surprised us,” said Trystan.
“Most were poorly defined, such as ditches, but they still qualify as streams. We kept coming back to Gabriola and finding streams; it never seemed to end.”
Seasonal wetlands that do not connect to the surface flow of a stream that support fish were not mapped or considered part of the scope of his company’s report.
Many of the names used in the Madrone report were ones made up by the Madrone team based on the area’s road names (Dragon Creek for the creek running down past Dragon Lane to the Dragon’s Lodge).
Gabriolan John Peirce was present at the meeting and asked Trystan why Madrone did not use a 1994 report from the Ministry of Environment, which had names on it for many of the streams.
Trystan said it wasn’t in the references he was provided with.
Trustee Sheila Malcolmson asked Gabriola Planner Chloe Fox what the next steps were.
Chloe said the report from Madrone had come in just before the meeting and she hadn’t had time to go through it in any depth more than the trustees had.
She suggested she could work with Madrone to clear up the naming issues and bring a more detailed report to the next LTC meeting (scheduled for March 22).
She added that since the Trust staff are in the process of updating the Development Permit Area fact sheets, the new RAR information could also be used within that work.
A full collection of maps of the RAR areas is available for viewing at the Trust Northern Office. A scan of the map released at the Trust meeting is available here.