UNB Woodlot: Costco Poll

A poll that appears to have been informally organized by the city of Fredericton is circulating on Facebook.

A Facebook group called Costco for Fredericton is inviting feedback on its wall and forum and asks that people take time to vote here. It would appear that they're encouraging readers to vote yes to Costco.

We encourage you to vote no.
And, to do so as many times as you like.

Woodlot: Court Appearance and Opposition Deadline

On Monday morning, activist Mark D'arcy appeared in the Fredericton provincial courthouse filing private charges against RAR Properties for allegedly filling a regent street wetland, located on the UNB woodlot.

The case was delayed until March 23 because, according to reports, the lawyer for RAR properties argued that documents filed stated that the alleged events took place in Fredericton, but not Fredericton, New Brunswick. Patrick Hurley, RAR's representative, effectively objected on grounds that the charges stemmed from allegations that may have taken place in another Fredericton. Or, by extension, the other Fredericton: a rural Prince Edward Island community.

--The deadline for public objection to the encroachment of a gas bar on the Corbett Brook marsh looms at February 26. Contact Jaques Whitford at mary.murdoch@jaqueswhitford.com.

--The deadline for public objection to the development of a Costco on the UNB woodlot approaches at March 9. Send objections to cityclerk@fredericton.ca

UNB Woodlot: Developments

'On Monday, February 16th at 9:30 AM, a concerned Fredericton citizen will be continuing his private prosecution in Fredericton Provincial Court against RAR Properties Inc. for the infilling of Regent Street Bog last summer. A total of four (4) charges are expected to be read by Judge Graydon Nicholas to RAR Properties Inc.

Mark D'Arcy of Fredericton, New Brunswick, says that he had no option but to go to Provincial Court.

"After considerable media attention last summer, and after personal pleas to Attorney General T.J. Burke of New Brunswick, and Environment Minister Roland Haché to intervene and enforce the Order in Council and our environmental legislation that protect this wetland, the infilling of Regent Street Bog went unchallenged by the Province of New Brunswick."

"Too many groups and government departments have worked to protect and preserve this beautiful ecosystem", says Mark D'Arcy. "The special legal protection afforded this Provincially Significant Wetland was the result of numerous studies by botany and wildlife scientists and organizations, Environment Canada, NB Department of Environment, and NB Department of Natural Resources."

Wetlands comprise only 4% of the land coverage in New Brunswick. They are very critical pieces of our environment, our wildlife habitat, and our flood control. The Regent Street Bog is the headwater to the large Corbett Brook Marsh, part of Fredericton's watershed that covers the huge forested wetlands of the UNB Woodlot Forest.

"All homeowners in downtown valley of southside Fredericton should be very concerned what happens to these wetlands at the top of the hill," says D'Arcy. "These wetlands are our insurance policy against the severe rain events and increased winter runoff due to climate change. Without forested wetlands working as natural sponges, rainwater capture and run-off control will be seriously compromised. Taxpayers should not have to pay for any attempt to replace the natural function of these wetlands with manmade pipe and retention pond infrastructure. And since an acre of forested wetland can absorb a million to a million-and-a-half gallons of rainwater, no amount of tax dollars can replace what nature is now doing for free."

"If we lose Regent Street Bog, officially designated a Provincially Significant Wetland, the other wetlands in the UNB Woodlot Forest don't stand a chance.", concludes D'Arcy.'

Courtesy of Woodlot Watch

"Caribou Hunting in New Brunswick -- 'In at the Death,'" Anonymous, 1863. Published in the Illustrated London News, January 18, 1863.

Last Thursday night the Fredericton city council held and irregular meeting to correct elements of a bylaw debuted one week ago. It would allow parts of the UNB woodlot to be rezoned for development.

The reason for the emergency meeting was clear: there were errors on the woodlot map that required correction. The revised version, however, made some notable omissions.

According to an observer, the revised map does not include the Corbett brook area of the woodlot marsh that may be staked for development. Additionally a second wetland along Regent street is now coloured in. The map makes no allusion to buffer zones that would prevent the sedimentation and poisoning of these ecosystems.

Conservation efforts remain what they are, attempts to reverse the corrosion of natural spaces and their destruction for the sake of profit. A greater struggle, however, is against those that before signing the papers and turning the keys in bulldozer ignitions, cease to believe that these places exist.

UNB Woodlot: Developments

Fredericton has 30 days to voice opposition to construction of a Costco on the University of New Brunswick Woodlot.

In order to build on the site, the city must issue a bylaw rezoning UNB endowment conservation land to make it endowment development land. It must then be rezoned a second time to allow box store development.

The Daily Gleaner wrote that "the purpose of debuting the bylaw at a formal council meeting is to advise the public that it's now available at the city clerk's office at city hall for examination and written objections may be submitted within the next 30 days."

To voice your opposition to UNB Woodlot development write to the
Office of the City Clerk
City Hall
397 Queen Street
Fredericton, NB E3B 4Y7
Phone: (506) 460-2127
Or email by following this link.

--

Corbett Brook. [here] magazine. December 7, 2006

On the paths around Corbett brook one can see the marsh hills through dry poplar branches and discern in the water the long reflection of the trees. Short hills lay low in the water, turning yellowed grasses to the wind, a pair of ducks bathing and calling in between. Leaves in puddle bottoms have assumed the tones of the wet clay path, broken cattails waver under a sudden drizzle. A mist loosens all definition. The grey shapes of the tree line are interrupted by an orange growth on a long dead birch, alike in colour to the department store signs that peer garishly upon the wetland.

Corbett brook, at the point nearest to the department store, reaches about the length of a soccer pitch. Both the store and brook stand on the University of New Brunswick woodlot, spreading east from the place upper Regent Street rounds out to highway 101. 50 percent of the woodlot’s 1,500-hectare surface has been marked for development since to the university decided to capitalize on the asset, and by 2050 the lot will abound with shops and restaurants. But the plan corresponds with the environmental assessment made in preparation for development, and the other 50 percent, comprised of waterways and old growth forests, will remain untouched.

The separation is a delicate one. A stone’s throw from Corbett brook is a catch pool, ringed with a wire fence, that divides the wetland from the parking lot. A paved lot is not environmentally innocuous; the parked cars it hosts leave patches of motor oil that are washed out with the rain.

“And it’s right up against the buffer,” said Geoff Harding, Development Manager of the local Ducks Unlimited branch. He was surprised by the proximity when he saw Corbett brook on a recent errand.

“There isn’t much space left between the parking lot and the brook. I know that the store and the university went through the processes to get the zoning permits. But in a situation like this there is going to be run-off from the parking lot, and it might not be easy to control the consequences.”

Corbett brook, once a fairly isolated waterway, is an essential part of an ecosystem, feeding forest growth and wildlife. 15 years ago, before the development began, Ducks Unlimited built a water control structure leading into the marsh, stabilizing and enabling changes to the amount of water it contained. The goal was to create a permanent wetland.

Harding said that with run-off the risk of pollution is paired with the potential impact of sedimentation, the distribution of earth and organic matter throughout waterways. If one tosses a stone into the catch-pool, the water that courses up in reply is a pale brown.

“With a paved lot you get a lot of quick runoff, with oil and stuff like that. It hits the buffer before it reaches the brook, but can eventually spill over,” he said.

“Sedimentation happens everywhere, because of forestry and agriculture and the disappearance of trees. When enough of this takes place you have the disappearance of wetlands, and the loss of natural habitats.”

Harding said that Wetlands are critical to wildlife survival and to the overall health of the watershed. Marshes like Corbett brook filter contaminants from our water systems that can detrimentally impact water quality over time. Sedimentation and pollution from run-off could eventually reduce the brook’s cleansing properties. Although New Brunswick has some of the strictest environmental protection laws in Atlantic Canada, the buffer required may not be enough to preserve the integrity of the brook. The proximity of the parking lot could be the first step toward its demise. As the rain continues over the parking lot and ripples the trees mirrored in the brook’s surface, one wonders what image the water will project 15 or 20 years from now.

“This is somewhat typical of how wetland loss happens,” said Harding.

“Not in big huge losses, by being drained, but in small pieces, one at a time. They get chipped away.”