Colourful floatation devices, signs and streamers are part of a rally to save Fredericton’s wetlands and the UNB Woodlot on April 7, 2011. Photo: Kevin Matthews. 

Over 50 people gathered over the noon hour on Thursday, April 7 to protest the University of New Brunswick’s development of its woodlot. Participants lined up along the New Maryland highway in front of the future Costco site and made up impromptu chants in favour of saving wetlands and the UNB Woodlot. They donned floatation devices, scuba gear and blue streamers to make the point that wetlands are essential for water retention and flood control, especially in a time of climate change.

Read more at nbmediacoop.org

Beside the future Costco site (at the lights in front of Home Depot, Corbett Place, along new Maryland Hwy).

A group of concerned citizens in Fredericton, N.B. is calling on the University of New Brunswick to stop the development of its teaching forest and to conduct a flood risk study and economic study of its forested wetlands.

Contact: woodlowatch@gmail.com

About 20 people holding signs in support of saving Fredericton’s UNB Woodlot lined Regent Street in front of the future site of a Costco store over the noon hour today. The action, organized by the Friends of the UNB Woodlot, was meant to draw attention to the infringement of the 80-metre buffer zone of a wetland for the Costco store. Similar to two previous actions at the Woodlot last fall, they used pink flagging tape to demarcate the area that they say should be protected as part of that buffer zone. Over 40 students, professors, alumni and concerned citizens attended the first flagging event in October 2009. Read more at the NB Media Co-op.

DATE:  Monday, April 26, 2010
TIME:  12:15 – 12:45
LOCATION:   Corbett Place, with parking in front of Home Depot
DIRECTIONS:  At top of Regent Street just past Regent Mall.  Corbett Place is directly across the highway from the RCMP building and the City of Fredericton maintenance depot.
CITY:  Fredericton, New Brunswick

The timing is important because of growing pressure on UNB Administration to stop the destruction of wetlands in the UNB Woodlot.   Also significant is the April 14, 2010 news release by Environment Minister Rick Miles in which he states, “The mistreatment of wetlands will not be tolerated.” “They provide flood control, ground water re-charge, shore line stabilization, storm protection, and some wetlands store carbon, helping to offset the effects of climate change.”  (http://www.gnb.ca/cnb/news/env/2010e0532ev.htm)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ATTENTION: NEWS EDITORS

UNB MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR WETLAND PROTECTION ON ITS LANDS

Fredericton Citizens Continue to Measure off the 80-metre Buffers Approved by the University’s Board of Governors

Fredericton, N.B., Canada October 30, 2009

On Monday, April 26th, at 12:15 p.m. noon, the Friends of the UNB Woodlot invite the public to stand together for wetland protection at their taping-off event to be held at the site of the Corbett Brook Marsh and Larch Swale in the UNB Woodlot. Over 40 students, professors, alumni, and concerned citizens turned out at the first flagging event in October 2009 and the publicity led UNB’s Barbara Nicholson (Associate Vice-President, Capital Planning & Property Development) to admit on CBC Radio the existence of the document that details the 80metre buffer for Corbett Brook Marsh and Larch Swale.

Costco must be 80 metres from Corbett Brook Marsh and Larch Swale; this buffer will be measured and marked off with flagging tape for the public to see. Costco must also stop plans for its gas bar.  Citizens will gather at the new intersection to Home Depot (beside the New Maryland Highway and directly across the street from the City of Fredericton maintenance depot).  The flagging and sign waving will be in clear view of the cars passing by on the highway.  The Friends of the UNB Woodlot will bring lots of signs but also encourage citizens to bring their own.

The UNB Land Management Strategy for development of the UNB Woodlot stated there would be 80-metre buffer zones around their Ecologically Sensitive areas, including Corbett Brook Marsh, Larch Swale, and Regent Bog.

see UNB website - http://www.unb.ca/lms/woodlot/3a.pdf

The recent cutting of every tree by heavy equipment on the proposed Costco site is unacceptable.  This razing of the entire development site included both the 80metre buffers for Larch Swale and Corbett Brook Marsh, as well as the two (2) additional wetlands discovered during our first 80metre flagging event back in October 2009.  These two wetlands were not surveyed by consultants during the original EIA process for these UNB lands.  Confirmation of these wetlands was provided to us by the Minister of Environment Rick Miles in a letter received in January 2010.

How is it possible to miss wetlands when doing an environmental inventory for such a well-documented land as the East side of the UNB Woodlot?  UNB Forestry, the Forest Ranger School, and even the Fredericton Foxes have geographic information system files with full attribution for features such as wetlands.  Yet, in 2006, Jacques-Whitford consultants (now Stantec) claimed that a huge wetland was beside the proposed Knowledge Park Drive when in fact it crossed directly through it.  In 2007, Jacques-Whitford missed two (2) significant wetlands in the proposed Southside rink property of the UNB Woodlot. And now in 2009, the Friends of the UNB Woodlot discovered at least two (2) wetlands in the south end of the UNB property where the proposed Costco is to be built.

In light of the recent statement (April 14, 2010) made by Minister of Environment Rick Miles, Mark D’Arcy asks: “What does Minister Rick Miles intend to do, if the destruction of wetlands will not be tolerated in our province?  To date, a total of seven (7) wetlands have been completely or significantly destroyed for Corbett Place and Knowledge Park Drive.  And now Costco is being allowed to destroy two (2) more wetlands.”

UNB must take responsibility for wetland protection on its lands.  The destruction and degradation of wetlands by piecemeal development must stop.  The Friends of the UNB Woodlot call upon the University of New Brunswick administration (and Costco) to take the following steps in order to be the environmental stewards that they claim to be:

1.  UNB start a water quality monitoring program for wetlands that could be potentially affected by the Costco development.  This would include Corbett Brook Marsh which could be most significantly impacted by the huge loss in catchment area that will occur once the Costco store and parking lot is built.

2.  UNB faculty take over the responsibility of wetland and habitat mapping in the UNB Woodlot.  The wetland surveys done by outside consulting firms have been unsatisfactory to date for Knowledge Park Drive, the proposed Southside Rink, and Corbett Place big box stores..

3. UNB submit one development proposal for its Phase 1 development.  This is necessary to allow for a comprehensive review of the development with respect to its environmental impacts to wetlands and biodiversity, which has been requested on several occasions by the Department of Environment.  This development proposal is not a complex engineering drawing, but instead can be as simple as a land use plan with the general shape and location of proposed residential, retail, and commercial development outlined in colour on the map.

4.  Both Costco and UNB stop the proposed construction of a Costco Gas Bar, the location of which is within the 80metre buffer of Larch Swale and is directly overtop groundwater which has a direct communication with the Fredericton aquifer in the valley below (+25 year transit time).

FRIENDS OF THE UNB WOODLOT

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:   Caroline Lubbe-D’Arcy or Mark D’Arcy, spokespersons, The Friends of the UNB Woodlot
Tel: 1-506-454-1230 (work)
Tel: 1-506-454-5119 (home)
E-mail:  friendsoftheunbwoodlot [at] gmail.com

References:

Environment Minister’s message: importance of wetland protection (10/04/14)
http://www.gnb.ca/cnb/news/env/2010e0532ev.htm

University of New Brunswick Land Management Strategy (2004)
http://web.archive.org/web/20041227081914/http://www.unb.ca/lms/woodlot/3a.pdf

(Note:  The 80m buffers are critical, since this conservation strategy was used as a key argument, back in 2004, in order to win the approval of the UNB Board of Governors for the Woodlot development. The 80metre buffers would (1) create wildlife corridors between the larger conservation areas, and (2) raise the level of conservation to 50% of the Woodlot. This was stressed at the UNB Board of Governors’s meeting, and in the presentation given, before the final decision was made.)

The Value of Wetlands (from Ducks Unlimited Canada)
http://www.ducks.ca/conserve/wetland_values/index.html

The Value of Urban Wetlands – Priceless
http://www.elements.nb.ca/theme/filters08/Mark/Mark.htm

Additional information on the UNB Woodlot:

Website maintained by Friends of the UNB Woodlot:  http://www.smartgrowthUNB.ca
Website maintained by Fredericton Chapter of the Conservation Council:  http://www.unbwoodlot.org
Facebook: “I don’t want the UNB woodlot turned into Big-Box Strip Malls”
YouTube: search for “UNB Woodlot”
E-mail: friendsoftheUNBwoodlot [at] gmail.com
Telephone: 1-506-454-5119

Photos: Charles LeBlanc.

Note from a participant: It turned out that 80 metres from ‘wetland 2′ on the side of Corbett Place, put us on the entrance to Home Depot! We also measured an 80 m buffer from Corbett Brook. I had to wade through a wetland to mark this buffer off (cat tails, sphagnum moss, bull rushes, sedges, willows were all visible in there!

http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/cityregion/article/834635

On Monday, October 26 at noon about thirty people gathered at the Corbett Brook Marsh in the UNB Woodlot to participate in a taping-off event called “Taking a Stand for the UNB Woodlot Wetland.” Friends of the UNB Woodlot members measured 80 metres from Corbett Brook Marsh and marked the area with pink ribbon. Read more…

Fredericton Chapter

For Immediate Release

April 29, 2009

Fredericton – The Fredericton Chapter of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick is joining those concerned with the way that Fredericton City Council handled the approvals needed to build a Costco in the UNB Woodlot.

“We are concerned with the lack of transparency and the piecemeal process involved in approving the Costco and other developments in the UNB Woodlot,” stated Tracy Glynn, the Conservation Council’s Acadian Forest Campaigner and Fredericton Chapter member.

At Monday’s City Council meeting, it was announced that the City Council would only be voting on expanding the parking lot area for Costco. The gas bar had already been discussed and approved during a closed committee meeting earlier.

“We only take small comfort with the decision of City Council to move the gas bar outside the buffer zone. During our ecological crisis, we should not be considering Costco’s profits ahead of our own needs and the planet’s needs. The city does not need more gas bars and big box stores but it does need forest and wetlands. Lessons should be learned from cities across Canada that are now footing huge bills to restore natural areas and wetlands because of past unwise development,” stated Glynn.

“The UNB Woodlot is home to herons, frogs, blue bead lilies, old-growth red spruce stands, mature forest and wetlands,” stated Megan de Graaf, the Conservation Council’s Forest and Watersheds Project Coordinator and Fredericton Chapter member. “The expansion of big box stores and housing developments into forest and wetlands deprives wildlife of their habitat and threatens our city’s biodiversity. Today, the primary threat to forest and wetlands that remain near Canada’s cities is urban sprawl. We encourage the city of Fredericton to join other cities such as Edmonton in taking measures to halt biodiversity loss.”

The Fredericton Chapter of the Conservation Council reaffirms its calls for a moratorium on development in the UNB Woodlot until a proper public participation process has been done.

-30-

Tracy Glynn, 458-8747, forest@conservationcouncil.ca

Megan de Graaf, 458-8747, water@conservationcouncil.ca

The addition of a gas bar and a parking lot expansion on the proposed Costco site caused close to 100 people to turn out to a Fredericton city council meeting on Tuesday night.

Eleven people spoke against the proposed expansion at the Costco site at the Corbett Centre on the city’s south side. Many used the opportunity to voice their opposition to the entire project.

But Fredericton Mayor Brad Woodside made it clear that the Costco development was not up for debate.

“That was approved, went through the entire process we’re going through now. So that part is behind us,” Woodside said.

If the bylaw amendment is passed, a wetland will be filled in to make room for the parking lot expansion and a gas bar.

Claire Gibson was one of people who told the council that it’s a bad idea to put a gas bar in that area.

“I’m not a scientist but it doesn’t make common sense to put a gas bar near a wetland,” Gibson said.

Rick Cunjak, a professor at the University of New Brunswick and the Canada research chair in river ecosystem science, also spoke against the motion on Tuesday night.

“The likelihood, my suggestion would be, that something could go wrong at a gas bar is there, is potentially high. Are we willing to take that risk? I would suggest not,” he said.
Developer says safety precautions being taken

Scott Fash, a planner with the Terrain Group, the project developer said precautions are being taken to avoid any potential harmful environmental impacts.

“Not only the underground storage tanks but the above ground fuel pumps had to be outside the buffer of the existing wetland,” he said.

Council has asked for a report on the possible effects the project could have on surface water and the city’s drinking water supply. The amendment will go to third and final reading on April 27.