FORM 1 Riparian Areas Regulation - Qualified Environmental Professional - Assessment Report Riparian Areas Regulation: Assessment Report Date 24-MAR-2008 I. Primary QEP Information First Name Josh Middle Name L. Last Name Taylor Designation R.P.Bio. Company Jacques Whitford AXYS Ltd. Registration # 1396 Email [email protected] Address 4370 Dominion Street, 5th Floor City Burnaby Postal/Zip V5G 4L7 Phone # 604-436-3014 Prov/state BC Country CANADA Ext. 224 II. Secondary QEP Information (use Form 2 for other QEPs) First Name Jace Middle Name Last Name Standish Designation R.P.F. Company J.T. Standish Registration # 1242 Email [email protected] Address 2760 – 210th Street, R.R. #14 City Langley Postal V2Z 2A9 Phone # 604-533-3755 Prov/state BC Country CANADA III. Developer Information First Name Stan Middle Name Last Name Rogers Company Trackside Holdings Ltd. Phone # 604-824-8733 Email: [email protected] Address 120 - 44488 South Sumas Road City Chilliwack Postal/Zip V2R 5M3 Prov/state BC Country CANADA IV. Development Information Development Type Subdivision: Industrial Construction: Light Industrial Area of Development (ha) 30.5 Riparian Length (m) 1682 Lot Area (ha) 31.9 Nature of Development Redevelopment Proposed Start Date 01 FEB 2008 Proposed End Date 01 Mar 2011 V. Location of Proposed Development Street Address (or nearest town) 8205/8290/8340/8418/8500 Chilliwack Mountain Road and 8180 Aitken Road Local Government City of Chilliwack City Chilliwack Stream Name McDermott Ditch and four tributary ditches Legal Description 009-391-061, 008-924-015, 009-391-011, Region Region 2 (PID) 009-609-849, 011-038-071, 015-094-847 Stream/River Type Stream and Ditches DFO Area Lower Fraser Watershed Code 100-071800-16300-32600 Latitude 49 09 8.2 Longitude 122 0 5.1 Page 1 of 32 FORM 1 Riparian Areas Regulation - Qualified Environmental Professional - Assessment Report II. Additional QEP Information First Name Collin Middle Name Last Name Johnson Designation P. Eng. Company Wedler Engineering Registration # 28938 Email [email protected] Address 201 – 9300 Nowell Street City Chilliwack Postal V2P 4V7 Phone # 604-792-0651 Prov/state BC Country CANADA Page 2 of 32 FORM 1 Riparian Areas Regulation - Qualified Environmental Professional - Assessment Report Table of Contents for Assessment Report Page Number 1. Description of Fisheries Resources Values …………………………..…….4 2. Results of Riparian Assessment (SPEA width) ……………………..……..6 3. Site Plan ………………………………………………………………………16 4. Measures to Protect and Maintain the SPEA ………………………….….23 (detailed methodology only). 1. Danger Trees……………………………………………………....…24 2. Windthrow………………………………………………………...…..24 3. Protection of Trees………………………………………………..….24 4. Slope Stability………………………………………………………...25 5. Encroachment …………………………………………………….....25 6. Sediment and Erosion Control…………………………………...…25 7. Floodplain……………………………………………………….…....26 8. Stormwater Management…………………………….………….….26 5. Environmental Monitoring ………………………………………………….27 6. Photos ………………………………………………………………………..29 7. Assessment Report Professional Opinion …………………………………..32 Page 3 of 32 FORM 1 Riparian Areas Regulation - Qualified Environmental Professional - Assessment Report Section 1. Description of Fisheries Resources Values and a Description of the Development proposal Proposed Development Activities and Timeline The proposed development will combine the 6 existing properties, previously used for a combination of farming, residential and light industrial purposes, into a new 16 lot subdivision to be used entirely for light industrial purposes. An extension of Progress Way, between Lickman and Aitken Roads, will divide the development approximately in half. Progress Way will cross McDermott Ditch over a clearspan arched culvert. The 16 new lots will include 7 to the north of Progress Way and 9 to the south. Activities associated with the proposed development will include vegetation clearing; soil preloading; site grading; road and building construction; and landscaping. Vegetation clearing and soil preloading has already begun on the site. During 2008, construction of Progress Way will be completed and construction on individual lots will begin. Fish and Fish Habitat A total of five ditches were determined to have Riparian Assessment Area’s (RAA’s) that overlap with the project area including McDermott Ditch, which originates at the north edge of the project area and flows south down the centre of the property, and four smaller tributary ditches to McDermott Ditch, located around the perimeter of the project area. These four previously unnamed tributary ditches are the: 1. West Railway Ditch - the west portions of the unnamed ditch which runs along the north side of the CN rail line and drain east into McDermott Ditch; 2. East Railway Ditch - the east portions of the unnamed ditch which runs along the north side of the CN rail line and drain west into McDermott Ditch; 3. Chilliwack Mountain Road Ditch - the unnamed ditch on the north side of Chilliwack Mountain Road which intersects with, and drains into, the upstream limit of McDermott Ditch; and 4. Entrance Ditch - located adjacent to Lickman Road which drains north into the west end of the Chilliwack Mountain Road Ditch. As McDermott Ditch flows into Atchelitz Creek, which is a fish bearing tributary of Chilliwack Creek, all five of these watercourses are defined as streams under RAR and require a SPEA determination. The two railway ditches are true ditches under RAR because they were constructed to drain property and have no significant headwaters or springs. All five subject ditches had similar channel and riparian habitat characteristics. Their channels were all characterized by straight banks, small bankfull widths (1.6 to 4.4 m), low gradients (<1%), a lack of large woody debris, and substrates composed of fines and detritus. Each channel was contained within a narrow corridor of riparian shrub and tree vegetation (averaging ≤14 m in total width) that was dominated by Himalayan blackberry (Rubus discolor) followed by red alder (Alnus rubra). Although most of the project area’s riparian forest was at the pole sampling stage of maturity, one large (27 m tall) black cottonwood (Populus balsamifera ssp. trichocarpa) occurred adjacent to McDermott Ditch. The Atchelitz Creek watershed, of which McDermott Ditch is a component, is known to support Page 4 of 32 FORM 1 Riparian Areas Regulation - Qualified Environmental Professional - Assessment Report several fish species including common carp (Cyprinus carpio), chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta), coho salmon (O. kisutch), cutthroat trout (O. clarki), lamprey (Lampetra spp.), prickly sculpin (Cottus asper), rainbow trout (O. mykiss), Salish sucker (Catostomus sp.) and threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus)1. A fish sampling survey2 conducted in the subject portion of McDermott Ditch and its four tributaries, during winter of 2007, determined that these five watercourses provide overwintering habitat to several non-salmonid fish species: predominantly (>90%) threespine stickleback but also northern pike minnow (Ptychocheilus oregonensis), redsided shiner (Richardsonius balteatus) and Salish sucker. Salish sucker were only caught in McDermott Ditch. The subject section of McDermott Ditch is unlikely to provide direct fish habitat during summer when its dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations can drop to levels below those that normally support fish populations (<1 mg/L) 3,4. The marginal value of this stream section as summer fish habitat is further demonstrated by the lack of fish caught during minnow trap sampling during August 2004 (when DO concentration was 4.1 mg/L)4 and the observation of dead sticklebacks in 2006 (when DO concentration was 0.9 mg/L)3. For more information regarding the fish bearing status of the subject watercourses please refer to the attached fish sampling memo2. An additional manmade ditch, located on the north side of 8180 Aitken Road, has been previously assessed (see attached report5) and determined to not constitute fish habitat due to its lack of fish presence, poor water quality and lack of a direct connection to fish habitat. Based on this assessment, Fisheries and Oceans Canada provided its opinion that infilling this Aitken Road ditch would not result in loss of fish habitat (see attached e-mail6). A proposal to replace this ditch with a dry biofiltration swale is being worked out between Trackside Holdings Ltd. and the adjacent land owner. As this ditch is not fish habitat, and will soon be infilled, it is not further addressed in this report. 1FISS. 2008. Fisheries Information Summary System. BC Ministry of the Environment. Victoria, BC. Available http://srmapps.gov.bc.ca/apps/fidq/ (Accessed Dec 2008). 2 Jacques Whitford AXYS Ltd. 2008. Fish Sampling for Trackside Industrial Park, Chilliwack, BC. Report Prepared for Trackside Holdings Limited. 3 Nova Pacific Environmental. 2006. Assessment of Trackside Holdings Property in Chilliwack, BC for Development. Report Prepared for Trackside Holdings Ltd. 4 Personal Communication, David Blair, Senior Fisheries Technician, Nova Pacific Environmental, December 2007. 5 Enkon environmental. 2005. Aitken Road – Watercourse Classification. Report to Fisheries and Oceans Canada Prepared for Trackside Holdings Ltd. 6 Fisheries and Oceans Canada. 2006. 8180 Aitken Road Ditch Removal Options. E-mail sent by Lisa McDonald at DFO to Enkon Environmental. Page 5 of 32 FORM 1 Riparian Areas Regulation - Qualified Environmental Professional - Assessment