New Westminster Environmental Almanac (2917 ... - Douglas College

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Waterway Profiles Brunette River In New Westminster, we see only a small portion of the Brunette River, which acts as the City’s eastern boundary and empties into the Fraser River at Sapperton Landing. North of Hume Park, the river extends into Burnaby, to Burnaby Lake. The entire watershed is 76 km 2 and comprises land in Vancouver, Burnaby, Port Moody, Coquitlam and New Westminster. Although it lies in the middle of an urban area, 20% of the watershed currently remains as protected parks, undeveloped green spaces, water bodies and wetlands. The Brunette River is an important link between fish rearing tributaries of the Brunette River watershed and the Fraser River. In New Westminster, Brunette River has been subjected to varying degrees of development. Starting from Hume Park, the River is relatively undisturbed with a wide band of vegetation along both banks. This portion of the river is considered to have relatively valuable habitat. The overhanging vegetation provides cover for fish and shade, which helps to maintain cool water temperature. Deep pools and boulders provide rearing habitat to steelhead trout, chinook and coho salmon. There is also relatively little human access to this part of the River, which is beneficial to the wildlife that call the River and riparian (stream banks) area their home. West of Braid Street the value of the River as fish and wildlife habitat decreases. Riparian vegetation thins out and the River channel has been purposely straightened as a flood control measure. These factors along with poor water quality from commercial and industrial run off limit the value this section has for fish and wildlife habitat. Besides steelhead trout and Chinook and coho salmon, carp, northern squawfish, catfish, goldfish, threespine stickleback, longnose dace, brassy minnow, sculpin, cutthroat trout, chum and sockeye salmon have all been seen in the Lower Brunette River (not all species are native to this region). Water quality is a major concern in the Brunette watershed. Copper, lead, zinc, organics (eg oil from urban run-off), fecal coliforms and excess sediment are all a problem. Most of these problems come from storm water runoff, sewage cross-connections and industrial spills. Burnaby Lake acts as a contaminant sink for some of these substances but does not remove all of them before the water reaches New Westminster. Within the New Westminster section of the Brunette there are 6 City and 42
one GVRD storm outfalls that add additional contaminants to the Brunette River. Brunette River Things are looking up for Brunette Creek though. During a study conducted by UBC in 2000, a vertical sediment core was taken from Burnaby. This allows the examination of many sediment layers that have been deposited continuously over long periods of time. The study found that sediment deposited on the bottom of Burnaby Lake between 1940 and 1970 had higher concentrations of toxic contaminants such as DDE (metabolite of DDT) and PCB’s than recently deposited sediment. This is a reflection of tighter regulations on many contaminants. The Sapperton Fish and Game Club have been and continue to be heavily involved in the rehabilitation of the Bruntte River (see Sapperton Fish and Game Club, page 53). 43 Waterway Profiles Institute of Urban Ecology
Page 2 and 3: New Westminster Environmental Alman
Page 4 and 5: Table of Contents Foreword 1 Introd
Page 6 and 7: Introduction & Overview Introductio
Page 8 and 9: History of New Westminster created
Page 10 and 11: Status of Original Ecosystems Wetla
Page 12 and 13: Status of Original Ecosystems Frase
Page 14 and 15: Historical Land Use Historical Land
Page 16 and 17: Historical Land Use manufacturers,
Page 18 and 19: Weather in New Westminster: tempera
Page 20 and 21: Land Use Today Housing Downtown (In
Page 22 and 23: Land Use Today Sapperton (Including
Page 24 and 25: Land Use Today Uptown (Including th
Page 26 and 27: Land Use Today Education New Westmi
Page 28 and 29: Parks and Greenspaces Parks and Gre
Page 30 and 31: Parks and Greenspaces Parks, green
Page 32 and 33: Parks and Greenspaces Queens Park (
Page 34 and 35: Parks and Greenspaces Moody Park (9
Page 36 and 37: Parks and Greenspaces Sapperton Lan
Page 38 and 39: Parks and Greenspaces Brunette - Fr
Page 40 and 41: Parks and Greenspaces Other Natural
Page 42 and 43: Parks and Greenspaces Cemeteries 38
Page 44 and 45: Waterway Profiles Fraser River Disc
Page 48 and 49: Waterway Profiles Glenbrook Creek G
Page 50 and 51: Other Environmental Concerns The fi
Page 52 and 53: Other Environmental Concerns Danger
Page 54 and 55: Stewardship Groups Fraser River Dis
Page 56 and 57: Stewardship Groups Residents’ Ass
Page 58 and 59: City of New Westminster Initiatives
Page 64 and 65: Community & Industry Initiatives En
Page 66 and 67: Community & Industry Initiatives In
Page 68 and 69: Environmental Citizenship Environme
Page 70 and 71: Environmental Citizenship Items acc
Page 72 and 73: Environmental Citizenship Choose dr
Page 74 and 75: Environmental Citizenship Set your
Page 76 and 77: Environmental Citizenship Transport
Page 78 and 79: Websites Ministry of Water, Land an
Page 80 and 81: Bibliography Coast Forest and Lumbe

New Westminster Environmental Almanac (2917 ... - Douglas College

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