WHISTLER QUESTION (British Columbia) 04 August 05 A croaking good fight in West Van (Dave Burke)
Whistler and Pemberton could safely be described as “a difference of opinion surrounded by mountains,” but there’s one issue on which we can pretty much all agree: The Sea to Sky Highway is our lifeline. It’s our primary link to the outside world.
Businesses — from world-class ski resorts to canoe rental operators to seed-potato farmers — depend on it for their livelihood. During the October 2003 flood, Whistler’s link to the outside world was briefly severed on both ends. Pemberton faced eight days of almost total (save for aircraft and the Duffey Lake Road) isolation.
So anything that affects Highway 99 is news here. And that’s true even for interlopers of the four-legged, amphibian variety.
Yes, the object of the latest controversy involving our beloved highway doesn’t wash out bridges or pavement, doesn’t put motorists at risk, doesn’t even talk. It croaks.
The latest weapon in the District of West Vancouver’s attempt to stop the four-lane, ove rland route past Horseshoe Bay is the red-legged frog, or rana aurora in Latin.
The red-legged frog is nationally listed as “special concern: vulnerable” by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) and is protected under B.C.’s Wildlife Act. On the government’s “B.C. Frogwatch Program” website, the reasons for the declines in the frog’s population are listed as “habitat degradation and loss from agriculture, urban development and forestry.”
Until recently, officials apparently did not know the red-legged frog existed in areas that will potentially be affected by the Ministry of Transportation’s (MOT) planned overland highway routing.
But in June, a resident discovered the frog while hiking east of Larson Creek in the Eagleridge Bluffs area. According to the North Shore Outlook, District biologist Liz Kovicks spotted the critter three days later.
Government officials are proposing to open “wildlife corridors” using small culverts under the highway, and have also suggested relocating individual frogs to a new home, where presumably they’ll live croakingly ever after.
Some may say they think the District and the Coalition to Save Eagleridge Bluffs — which propose a four-lane tunnel instead of the overland route — are grasping at straws.
I say it’s just the opposite.
To me, the Coalition and District had already made a convincing enough argument for the tunnel before the frog issue arose. There’s no question the tunnel option is 1 kilometre shorter and will save on fuel, emissions and travel times over the long haul.
The Province argues that the overland route would be cheaper. To that, tunnel backers retort that MOT has underestimated the cost of acquiring land needed for the overland route, by perhaps $50 million.
The overland route, they argue, would not only destroy the Larson Creek wetlands, it would displace two popular recreational trails.
Now, I could never hope to verify the cost estimates tunnel backers use in their arguments. But on all the other issues, I agree with them.
Remember, this is no group of environmental wing nuts. This is the District of West Vancouver, one of the richest, most conservative communities in the Lower Mainland. If its Council has seriously misread the wishes of constituents, Council members can expect pink slips en masse from voters this November.
Relocate the frogs? Preposterous. Scientists say amphibians are “indicator species,” the canaries in the mine when it comes to environmental health. The primary reason for their decline is habitat loss. There’s every reason to believe that, after they are relocated, their numbers will continue to decline.
Frogs are only one reason to do the tunnel. But in the big Eagleridge Bluffs chess match, tunnel backers are moving their Frog Queen into position directly in front of the almighty MOT King.
Did I hear someone say, “Checkmate”?
A croaking good fight in West Van