Fraser Valley Regional District Habitat

As resource development and human populations increase in the Fraser Valley, pressures for all resources and services have accelerated. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection and municipal governments are under tremendous pressure to respond to land development demands. Many urban and smaller rural watercourses remain unknown, poorly understood, and suffer from many impacts of human development. Losing habitat to urban and agricultural development is a great threat to species at risk and sensitive habitats in British Columbia. Recent studies on the Brunette, Salmon and Sumas Rivers in the Fraser Valley, indicate that population growth is impacting water quality and stream habitat. The Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) Habitat Atlas was created to address the need for better resource information. This Habitat Atlas is a land-planning tool that identifies aquatic habitats and promotes awareness of these watercourses by mapping their location and describing their features. This awareness and commitment to local watercourses is an important process created through the co-operation of local communities, First Nations, municipalities, planners, and managers. The Atlas is intended to be used as a long-term planning resource and can be used to help protect fisheries, wildlife and aquatic habitat resources and contribute to planning sustainable communities. This Atlas is an overview of sensitive habitats and does not include all the information available on these habitats such as riparian vegetation. Metadata and more detailed information are available from local governments and over the internet. The FVRD Habitat Atlas is part of an ongoing project to compile resource information and will continue to grow as information on other habitats become available. The Habitat Atlas presents several map layers. The backdrop is current orthophotography, overlaid with property boundaries, municipal boundaries, watercourses, wetlands, and fish presence/absence data.