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David Mayhood

Another chapter in what I believe is the deliberate subversion of Canada's Species at Risk Act (SARA) by Fisheries & Oceans Canada (DFO).

This destruction of "protected" critical habitat for threatened trout is going on NOW in the Rock Cr watershed, Crowsnest R drainage, AB.

This pipeline work is being done under SARA & Fisheries Act permits from DFO. I believe these permits were issued unlawfully: they breach section 73(2)(a-c) of SARA.

Rough access road parallels, & gas pipeline right-of-way of bulldozed dirt slopes steeply into and crosses, a small tributary mountain stream. A large backhoe works on the pipeline route. Riparian vegetation has been bulldozed. The sky is smoky. In the far distance, a large area of recently exposed dirt & rock shows on the skyline along the route. Site x1, showing destruction of the riparian zone at the crossing site, the pipeline right-of-way, the access roadbed and bridge, no control of sediment input on the right bank side, and active work ongoing on the right-of-way. We were told that this crossing would be open-cut, the worksite being isolated, fish recovered from the stream before construction. This crossing is a few hundred metres upstream of the upstream boundary of designated habitat at p1. Sedimentation and other issues occurring here will inevitably affect the critical habitat and protected fish downstream. Cutthroat trout in this stream are part of the protected Rock Creek population. Any redds (SARA: “residences”) in or below this area will be damaged or destroyed by the instream work. We were told that permits have been issued for this work under both SARA and the Fisheries Act. I have applied for copies. I would note, however, that I believe permits under SARA for this type of work would be unlawful: see section 73(2)(a-c). This project is not a conservation program, nor it it beneficial to the listed species, nor is the damage incidental: it is inevitable.
Rolling sparsely-treed country is crossed by a bulldozed and filled dirt road & gas pipeline right-of-way, with a bridge crossing a small foothills tributary right to left in the middle distance. A heavy equipment track descends from the road to, and into, the creek in the foreground. Silt fences of black landscape cloth extend like wings from the bridge abutments at both ends. The sky is smoky from forest fires in BC. The pipeline right-of-way passes over a Rock Creek tributary within designated critical habitat at x4. Riparian vegetation, part of designated critical habitat to an extent of 30 m on both sides of the watercourse, is destroyed at the bridge and at what appears to be a ford for heavy equipment downstream from the bridge.
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