The Lower Mainland Region's Environmental Stewardship Division
of the Ministry of Environment
is pleased to announce the following workshop:

Mitigating the Impacts of Channel Maintenance in the Lower Fraser Valley

Date: December 15, 2005

Location: : Fraser Valley Regional District Chilliwack Headquarters 45950 Cheam Avenue, 4th Floor Boardroom

Time: 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM Cost: FREE (Refreshments provided; Lunch catering details to be worked out)

Please register by: December 7, 2005

Please note that registrant information will be available to all participants.

Sorry, there are no seats left.

View Agenda

The recurring dredging of alluvium, vegetation and other debris from lowland channelized streams in the Lower Fraser Valley has been the source of considerable discussion and controversy for several years between the environmental agencies, local municipal engineering/drainage departments and the agricultural community. Much of this discussion centres on the apparent environmental impacts of these works and the most appropriate techniques to mitigate these impacts. The objective of this workshop is to further this discussion, at a technical level, in order to continue to improve relationships between proponents of works and the approving agents.

In recent years, the Ministry of Environment made some significant strategic shifts in our approach to environmental stewardship. This included the withdrawal of detailed review and approval services associated with most works in and about streams. Part of the new direction involved a focus on monitoring activities including field trials that would assess the effectiveness of our recommended best practices. This workshop will present the results of one such field trial that measured the effectiveness of mitigative techniques employed in conjunction with channel dredging in two small streams in Chilliwack. Along with field data analysis, we will present the results of an exhaustive review of related literature.

Other topics to be presented and/or discussed include:

• Hand versus machine maintenance

• Is doing nothing an option?

• What are the key lowland drainage issues and how are they measured?

• What is the role of riparian vegetation?

• Should we continue with further monitoring/ field trials? If so, where?

• Are there other solutions out there?

• Other in-the-field experiences employing best practices

The workshop will bring biologists, engineers and other drainage practitioners together to further understand the key environmental and drainage issues of the lowlands of the Fraser Valley.