Information is now coming to light that the Saint John River is home to one of Canada’s largest aquifers. This comes on the heels of a study out this month by the National Ground Water Association in the US pointing out that the potential deterioration of rock formations by hydraulic fracturing fluids can allow fracking chemicals and other toxins to flow to ground surface rapidly and migrate to aquifers well within the period of a decade.

“Complete aquifer mapping has not been conducted to-date but we understand that one continuous aquifer under the Saint John River Basin extends east-west from two kilometers below Woodstock to two kilometers above Wellsford and extends north-south to the headwaters of the Nashwaak River and the headwaters of the Oromocto River,” says Mark D’Arcy, spokesperson for Friends of the UNB Woodlot. “The significance of this is very simple. Any water contamination by shale gas development that happens on the outskirts of Wellsford will affect the water that people in Fredericton drink. “Proper aquifer mapping and groundwater flow monitoring are crucial to establish the interconnections of our groundwater system before the government can even consider promoting this industry anywhere in the province.” SWN Resources has a license to explore 1.2 million hectares that cuts across the aquifer upon which communities like Fredericton and Woodstock draw their water.

“This public debate is important for citizens to hear both sides of this important issue, especially with exploration imminent in the province”, says event moderator Dr. Jean-Louis Deveau. “We are waiting for a response from Government as to who will represent their position. We can assure the public that the government position will be represented as clearly and as fairly as possible.”If necessary, one or two panelists will read the public position taken by the David Alward government, industry, and business groups like the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce.

The following advocates for shale gas development in the province have each received an invitation to debate this issue: Premier David Alward, the Minister of Energy Margaret-Ann Blaney, the Minister of Natural Resources Bruce Northrup, the Minister of the Environment Bruce Fitch, the Province of New Brunswick Natural Gas Group (Marc Belliveau, Communications); MLA for Fredericton-Lincoln Craig Leonard, MLA for Fredericton-Silverwood Brian Macdonald, MLA for Fredericton-Nashwaaksis Troy Lifford, MLA for Fredericton-Fort Nashwaak Pam Lynch; Fredericton Chamber of Commerce (CEO Krista Ross), Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), Enterprise Central NB (John Flynn, Executive Director), SWN Resources Canada (Tom Alexander, General Manager, NB), and Windsor Energy (CEO Khalid Amin). No advocates had accepted prior to this notice having been released to the press.

Mark Connell, Maxime Daigle, Mark D’Arcy, Peter DeMarsh, Jim Emberger, Corinne Hersey, Stephanie Merrill, Hazel Richardson have agreed to represent the viewpoint concerned with groundwater and air protection.

In addition to the topics of groundwater and air protection, organizers hope to hear questions from the public on such issues as job creation, industrialization of rural New Brunswick, human and environmental health concerns, as well as municipal and provincial obligations and regulations.

Former President John McLaughlin proudly announced in a News Release on Oct. 4, 2004: “First and foremost we will seek to conserve and preserve UNB’s ecologically, educationally and environmentally valuable land holdings.”

Unfortunately this is not what is happening.  Phase 1 development is unfolding in a destructive and disappointing fashion, and contrary to the vision of current President Eddy Campbell, does not demonstrate adherence to the “best of current practices anywhere in the world”

But…what was promised?

The UNB Board of Governors, Faculty, Alumni, and the general public were guaranteed 80m buffers for “Ecologically Sensitive areas”. For example, on October 04, 2004, UNB President John McLaughlin held the UNB Open House on the Woodlot Implementation Plan.  A professionally-produced document was presented as ‘Display Panel 3’ (from the Internet Archive, page 1 and page 2) which explicitly detailed the 80m buffer guarantee for Ecologically Sensitive areas including … “Regent Bog, Larch Swale, Corbett Brook Marsh, Corbett Brook Caves, and various areas of known rare or uncommon plants and animals”.

The 80 m buffer consists of:

“1. Baseline Buffer located 30m from watercourses and wetlands as required by provincial legislation.

2. 30m wide Conservation Buffer, that will allow for the protection of ecologically sensitive areas.

3. 20m wide Limited Access Area to provide opportunities for ‘low impact’ public uses.”

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 Implementation Plan. Prior to their vote on the Plan, the UNB Board of Governors were told that the 80metre buffers would allow the following: (1) create wildlife corridors between the larger conservation areas; and (2) raise the total area of conservation lands to 50% of the Woodlot.

Furthermore, UNB’s environmental consultant Jacques Whitford (now Stantec) confirmed this fact March 12, 2009: “Please note that UNB committed to 80m buffers for wetlands and watercourses for its Conservation Lands…” but added …” with the exception of this first retail space [the Corbett Centre] where a 30-m buffer was applied.”

Why and how was this ‘exception’ made?  Why don’t we see 80-metre buffers applied to the current Costco development?

We outlined our concerns in a letter to President Campbell and although we received a reply dated April 06, 2011, it did not address any of the specific issues raised.

Again we ask, what happened to the guaranteed 80m buffers for Ecologically Sensitive areas like Corbett Brook Marsh and Larch Swale?  Was the Board of Governors involved in this ‘exception’ to the initial guarantee?  The public deserves an explanation.

Perhaps the following documents could shed light on what happened, and therefore, we request their release:

1.     Meeting minutes of the UNB Board of Governors pertaining to all decisions for the approval of the Woodlot Implementation Plan;

2.     Recommendations submitted by the UNB Properties Committee, especially alterations, regarding the Woodlot Implementation Plan;

3.     Minutes of the UNB Board of Governors meeting discussing the exception for Corbett Brook Marsh and Larch Swale;

4.     Comprehensive Study preceding the Woodlot Implementation Plan, entitled “Valued Environmental Component Identification Study, University of New Brunswick Woodlot” (Jacques Whitford, 2002);

5.     Woodlot Implementation Plan;

6.     Water quality testing results as outlined in the Terms and Conditions of the EIA Approval for Corbett Place (Feb. 28, 2007), and additional monitoring requirements (April 14, 2009), of the NB Department of Environment;

7.     Compliance with Sections 35 and 37 of the Fisheries Act (Canada) to protect the brook trout in Corbett Brook Marsh and Corbett Brook;

8.     Surveys of rare and endangered plants and animals in the UNB Woodlot;

9.     UNB’s annual balance sheet from the UNB Woodlot, now that it pays taxation as a property developer, including gross annual revenue, projected revenue, annual income tax bill, annual property tax bill, and the annual cost for the construction of retention ponds and stormwater pipes; and

10.  Policies of the UNB Board of Governors.

Dr. Campbell states he is “committed to gradual, thoughtful and responsible management of these lands”. For this statement to hold any credibility he should insist on transparency and accountability for UNB as a public institution.

Respectfully,

Jennifer Abbott
Mark D’Arcy
Dr. Caroline Lubbe-D’Arcy
Carla Gunn
Greg Leblanc
Charlene Mayes
Janet Phillipps
Dr. Monika Stelzl

on behalf of

The Friends of the UNB Woodlot
Fredericton, New Brunswick
E-mail: friendsoftheUNBwoodlot@gmail.com

We have lots of extra signs for everyone. We want to make it clear to the UNB Board of Governors that the Costco development plan violates the guarantee of 80m buffers that was made to the Board of Governors. As documented by UNB, Corbett Brook Marsh and Larch Swale are “Ecologically Sensitive areas”, and the Costco building and parking lot must be built outside this 80m buffer.

If the UNB Woodlot continues to be developed as planned, we are going to see the loss of this valuable teaching and research resource, increased taxes, increased insurance costs, increased flood risk, and decreased quality of life for our community and children.

Don’t pave over our woodlot. Don’t pave over our future.

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

Learn about the history, ecology and threats facing the UNB Woodlot. Present will be Friends of the UNB Woodlot and the UNB Environmental Law Society. Meet at 4pm in the back of Home Depot. If taking the bus from campus, meet at the SUB to grab the 3:22pm bus to Regent Mall, across from the Woodlot.

Contact: stusustainability@gmail.com

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

March 1, 2011

The Conservation Council of New Brunswick and the Friends of the UNB Woodlot urged city council to apply the brakes to any more development of the University of New Brunswick’s woodlot.

But city council voted unanimously to support a proposal by UNB to subdivide and rezone eight highway-commercial building lots on university property at 75 Knowledge Park Dr.

Monday night’s vote with nine councillors in attendance gave second reading to the zoning changes. Third and final reading of the bylaw comes in two weeks time.

The university hasn’t signed leases with prospective developers yet, but the lots are intended for everything from restaurants to a hotel.

The university is asking for the zoning change to try to attract a variety of developers to the area across from the Grant*Harvey Centre.

Mark D’Arcy, speaking on behalf of the Friends of the UNB Woodlot, said the university should have sent representatives to the planning advisory committee and to Monday night’s city council meeting to answer questions about why it needs to develop more land and the consequences of doing so.

“If UNB continues to develop as planned, we are going to see increased taxes, increased flood risk and decreased quality of life for our community and our children,” D’Arcy told city council Monday night. “Our group’s focus right now is on an intact UNB woodlot (and it’s) our insurance policy against catastrophic rain events of climate change.”

D’Arcy said southside Fredericton residents are protected by the forested wetlands atop Regent Street that are owned by the university.

Kevin Matthews, speaking on behalf of the conservation council, said his group opposes any further development of the UNB woodlot.

“To take any more of the capacity out of the UNB woodlot in terms of its retention of water will head us down the road to further disaster,” he said.

For reasons of wildlife protection, biodiversity and public safety, there should be a halt to development, he said.

“We call upon the university to stand up and take its responsibilities as an institute of higher learning … They’ve got a lot of people up there who should know better than to be developing those lands.

“And, in fact, I’m willing to bet if you polled the faculty up there, they will tell you that most of them object to what is going on. We would like the city to take a leadership role in developing something other than paving over the UNB woodlot. You could turn it into a community forest.”

Ward 11 Coun. Jordan Graham wanted to know if UNB has undertaken a flood risk study of its property.

Richard Smith, a consultant with ADI Ltd., representing UNB, said the project is in its early stages.

“A flood risk analysis will be undertaken with the particular development only. It’s not for the entire UNB woodlot. That question should be asked to the (UNB) administration,” Smith said.

Sheldon Lee, the city’s manager of engineering services, said the city has adopted guidelines that require no net peak increase in storm water generation. When development occurs, he said, the developer has to take steps to mitigate for displaced lands.

That’s why the city is building a storm water attenuation pond to be jointly funded by taxpayers and by UNB to handle surface water collection in the vicinity of Grant*Harvey Centre.

“If a development goes in above stream of an existing development, the downstream properties cannot be adversely affected by that development,” Lee said.

The city is planning a 20 per cent increase in pipe sizes as it develops storm water systems to compensate for global warming and changes in the weather that the city is seeing.

Major drains are intended to be able to handle one-in-100-year events, but as pipes are changed, they’ll have an additional 20 per cent capacity for drainage built in, he said.

Not all of the city’s street drainage pipes can handle huge flows. Some are designed for one-in-10-year floods.

Heavy rain in December also caused some city water drains to become overwhelmed as they experienced an unexpected one in 25-year-flood, Lee said.