Blueberry River First Nations
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SITE C CLEAN ENERGY PROJECT BLUEBERRY RIVER FIRST NATIONS COMMUNITY BASELINE AMENDMENT REPORT Prepared for: BC Hydro Power and Authority 333 Dunsmuir Street Vancouver, BC V6B 5R3 Prepared by: Golder Associates 500 - 4260 Still Creek Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5C 6C6 Tel: +1 (604) 296 4200 Fax: +1 (604) 298 5253 and BC Hydro Power and Authority 600, Four Bentall Centre 1055 Dunsmuir Street PO Box 49260 Vancouver, B.C. V7X 1V5 May 2013 Site C Clean Energy Project - Aboriginal Group Amendment Report Community Baseline Amendment Report – Blueberry River First Nations 1 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 3 2 2. Consideration of New Information by VC ......................................................... 5 3 12. Fish and Fish Habitat .......................................................................................... 6 4 13. Vegetation and Ecological Plant Communities ................................................ 7 5 14. Wildlife Resources .............................................................................................. 9 6 15. Greenhouse Gases ............................................................................................ 12 7 16. Local Government Revenue ............................................................................. 13 8 17. Labour Market .................................................................................................... 14 9 18. Regional Economic Development ................................................................... 15 10 19. Current Use of Lands and Resources for Traditional Purposes .................. 16 11 20. Agriculture ......................................................................................................... 20 12 21. Forestry .............................................................................................................. 21 13 22. Oil, Gas, and Energy ......................................................................................... 22 14 23. Minerals and Aggregates .................................................................................. 23 15 24. Harvest of Fish and Wildlife Resources .......................................................... 24 16 25. Outdoor Recreation and Tourism .................................................................... 26 17 26. Navigation .......................................................................................................... 28 18 27. Visual Resources .............................................................................................. 30 19 28. Population and Demographics ........................................................................ 31 20 29. Housing .............................................................................................................. 32 21 30. Community Infrastructure and Services ......................................................... 33 22 31. Transportation ................................................................................................... 34 23 32. Heritage Resources ........................................................................................... 35 24 33. Human Health .................................................................................................... 36 25 34. Asserted or Established Aboriginal Rights and Treaty Rights, Aboriginal 26 Interests and Information Requirements .................................................................... 37 27 May 2013 2 Site C Clean Energy Project - Aboriginal Group Amendment Report Community Baseline Amendment Report – Blueberry River First Nations 1 1. INTRODUCTION 2 1.1 Consideration of New Information 3 The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) presented Aboriginal issues, interests, 4 concerns and baseline information received prior to the finalization of the EIS including 5 information submitted by Blueberry River First Nations. The information was presented in 6 the relevant EIS valued component (VC) sections and in Volume 1 Appendix H: 7 Aboriginal Issues, Concerns, and Interests Tracking Table in accordance with the EIS 8 Guidelines. 9 Blueberry River First Nations prepared the “Blueberry River First Nations Community 10 Baseline Profile” (BRFN Community Baseline Profile) for consideration in the Site C 11 Clean Energy Project (the Project) environmental assessment. The report was submitted 12 to BC Hydro on January 4, 2013, after BC Hydro had completed integrating new 13 information into the EIS prior to submission to the British Columbia Environmental 14 Assessment Office and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. 15 Because the report was received later than anticipated, a placeholder was included in 16 EIS Volume 3 Appendix B Part 2 stating that, “the Blueberry River First Nations 17 Community Baseline Report and EIS Integration Summary Table will be submitted at a 18 later date in the environmental assessment process. The information received from the 19 report will be reviewed against applicable sections of the Environmental Impact 20 Statement and additional information will be provided as needed.” 21 The BRFN Community Baseline Profile is presented in its entirety in the Aboriginal 22 Group Amendment Report: Blueberry River First Nations Community Baseline Profile 23 Amendment Report. 24 BC Hydro prepared the following two documents as part of the review and consideration 25 of the BRFN Community Baseline Profile: 26 Blueberry River First Nations EIS Integration Summary Amendment Table (BRFN EIS 27 Integration Table) which presents a table which cross-references the BRFN Community 28 Baseline Profile information with baseline information categories and the related section 29 of the EIS, and, 30 Blueberry River First Nations Community Baseline Profile EIS Integration Amendment 31 Report (BRFN EIS Integration Report) which presents new key issues and concerns or 32 new baseline information by VC 33 The BRFN EIS Integration Table and the BRFN Community Baseline Profile were 34 provided to the Technical Leads for all Project valued components (VCs) for review and 35 consideration. Issues and concerns presented in the BRFN Community Baseline Profile 36 that were also raised during the pre-Application phase are addressed in the EIS 37 (January 25, 2013) and are not repeated in this report. New issues and concerns or new 38 baseline information identified in the BRFN Community Baseline Profile that was not 39 raised during the pre-Application phase is presented in this report by VC. VCs for which 40 new baseline information was identified were carried through the VC effects assessment 41 in accordance with the EIS Guidelines and the methodology described in EIS (Volume 2 42 Assessment Methodology and Environmental Effects Assessment Section 10 43 Environmental Assessment Methodology) to determine if changes were required to the 44 results described in the EIS VC sections. 3 May 2013 Site C Clean Energy Project - Aboriginal Group Amendment Report Community Baseline Amendment Report – Blueberry River First Nations 1 For additional information on BC Hydro’s approach to integrating First Nations 2 information into the EIS, see EIS Volume 3 Economic and Land and Resource Use 3 Effects Assessment Appendix B First Nations Community Baseline Reports Part 1 4 Approach to Gathering and Integrating Community Baseline Information. 5 1.2 Summary of Results 6 The consideration of the BRFN Community Baseline Profile resulted in the following 7 updates to the information provided in the EIS. Sections not listed did not include new 8 information or changes. 9 New key issues or concerns were identified for the following VCs: 10 o 13 Vegetation and Ecological Communities 11 o 14 Wildlife Resources 12 o 19 Current Use of Lands and Resources for Traditional Purposes 13 o 20 Agriculture 14 o 24 Harvest of Fish and Wildlife Resources 15 o 25 Outdoor Recreation and Tourism 16 o 26 Navigation 17 o 27 Visual Resources 18 o 31 Transportation 19 New baseline information was identified for the following VCs: 20 o 13 Vegetation and Ecological Communities 21 o 19 Current Use of Lands and Resources for Traditional Purposes 22 No updates were required to the effects assessment, mitigation, residual or 23 cumulative effects as described in the EIS for any VC. 24 May 2013 4 Site C Clean Energy Project - Aboriginal Group Amendment Report Community Baseline Amendment Report – Blueberry River First Nations 1 2. CONSIDERATION OF NEW INFORMATION BY VC 2 The VCs are presented below using EIS section order and numbering for consistency. 3 Each VC section identifies any new issues and concerns or new baseline information 4 identified in the BRFN Community Baseline Profile for that section. Each section also 5 identifies if changes are required to the results of the assessment as described in the 6 EIS based on the new information if any, provided for the VC. 5 May 2013 Site C Clean Energy Project - Aboriginal Group Amendment Report Community Baseline Amendment Report – Blueberry River First Nations 1 12. FISH AND FISH HABITAT 2 12.1 Key Issues 3 The BRFN Community Baseline Profile does not raise any new issues or concerns 4 related to the fish and fish habitat VC. 5 12.2 Baseline Conditions 6 Information provided in the Blueberry River First Nations Traditional Land Use Study 7 was summarized in Table 12.6 of EIS section 12.3. All of the fish species identified in the 8 BRFN Community Baseline Profile have been accounted for in the Fish