Comprehensive Site Development Plan ... - City of Kelowna

Avocets at Glenmore Landfill
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to be used for mitigation, nesting islands would need to be constructed and trees cleared to
provide open space around the wetland.
Sexsmith Wetlands are open, privately-owned fields bounded by Sexsmith Road to the north,
Longhill Road to the west and Campion Road industrial area to the east. The field is devoid of
trees and appears to be a suitable location for creation of compensation habitat for avocets. A
relatively small 7-10 ha wetland would take up only a fraction of the total area. The site is gently
sloping and cattail marshes presently occur along a drainage, which suggests natural potential for
a wetland. The site would need to be assessed to see if an alkali evaporation pan could be built
there, and how much earth works might be required. Alterations to the present surrounding
habitat would be unnecessary because it is presently very open and likely suitable (in general) for
avocets. Soil substrates appear to be clay but would have to be assessed. A natural gas pipeline
occurs to one side of the field and would have to be avoided (Weir and Gyug 1999).
Fields south of Duck Lake may have potential for compensation habitat but further assessment
is warranted. The large open meadows and hayfields occur to the south and south east of Duck
Lake.
2.5 Potential compensation habitat elsewhere in British Columbia
One other nesting colony of avocets has been discovered in British Columbia, at Little White
Lake near Clinton. Habitat enhancement work could be conducted at this site, mainly related to
exclusion of cattle (Weir and Gyug 1999). Other colonies potentially occur in the southern
Cariboo as there is a very high concentration of alkali lakes in the vicinity of Clinton and 70-Mile
House (Renaut 1993). Funding of surveys for possible colonies could be viewed as partial
mitigation for the eventual loss of the Glenmore Landfill site.
3. Conservation Plan
3.1 The future of the American Avocet in the Kelowna area.
Because the risk of extirpation is so high (one catastrophic event or cumulative smaller effects,
from continued expansion and operation of the landfill, could easily result in extirpation of the
colony), I believe the best approach is to implement a conservative conservation plan. The main
initiatives of the plan would be to:
1. Immediately attempt to establish a breeding colony at Robert Lake (see 3.2).
2. At the same time, provide alternative breeding habitat (nesting platforms) at other sites near
Glenmore Landfill, such as Slough No. 2 and Bubna Slough (see 3.3).
3. Maintain existing wetland habitat at the Glenmore Landfill for breeding avocets while
assessing the success of providing alternative offsite habitats (see 3.4).
4. If attempts to encourage avocets to breed elsewhere fail, engineer an onsite wetland to
provide breeding habitat for breeding American Avocets that will also serve landfill water
management purposes (see 3.5).
Manning, Cooper and Associates