The Pitt Polder Preservation Society was formed in 1996 by a group of local citizens. The Society’s goal at that time was to prevent proposed changes to zoning bylaws that would have allowed Swan-e-Set Bay Golf Resort to build residential housing and a hotel on the uplands of the polder. The majority of Pitt Meadows council supported this development, but there was fierce opposition from the community. The Concerned Citizens of Pitt Meadows, an ad hoc group, and the Polder Society formed an alliance and gathered enough signatures to trigger a referendum. Shortly before the referendum was to be held, the developer, realizing that the community would not support the rezoning change, temporarily withdrew the application. Despite tremendous opposition by the community, Council repealed the referendum bylaw that would have allowed citizens a say on land use issues.
In October 1998, the developer submitted another rezoning application and after four days of public hearings, Council passed the rezoning application.
The only avenue left open for the Society to stop the development was through the courts. After careful research, the Polder Society took the District of Pitt Meadows to court on the grounds that it withheld pertinent information from the public. After losing the first court case the Society launched an appeal at the Supreme Court of BC. In June 2000, after a unanimous decision by four judges, the Supreme Court released its ruling in favour of the Society. The rezoning approval was overturned. The Society had saved this environmentally sensitive wetland.
Blaney Bog and its catchment area is located north of the 13600 block of 224th Street in Maple Ridge, only a few minutes from the centre of town.
Blaney Bog is a special kind of wetland. It is composed not only of a bog ecosystem, but also a woodland ecosystem, a riparian ecosystem (a shore line along a stream), a fen (a grassy wetland) and a tiny marsh. In addition to these five distinct ecosystems, the bog is also composed of transition zones between the ecosystems. Peatlands such as Blaney Bog help to alleviate some of the adverse effects of pollution, in addition to many other benefits.
An ecotone is an area where two ecological zones overlap. When flora and fauna are brought together within ecotones, this overlapping increases the uniqueness and biodiversity of an area. In short, Blaney Bog is more than the sum of its parts. With the recent loss of thousands of acres of wet meadows in the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows area to industrial cranberry farming, it was crucial that Blaney Bog be preserved in its wild state.
Annette LeBox spearheaded the Pitt Polder Preservation Society conservation effort to purchase Blaney Bog from private owners and set it aside as a conservation area. The initiative took three years of work, raising public awareness, lobbying Municipal government, the Greater Vancouver District and the Provincial government.
The Codd Wetlands are within the municipality of Pitt Meadows. This area encompasses approximately 250 acres and is one of the last remaining undyked floodplain wetlands within the entire Alouette River Watershed. Under the leadership of Annette LeBox, the Polder Society launched the initiative to preserve the Codd Wetlands. We consequently worked with the Land Conservancy and in June, 2004 the Codd Wetlands were purchased and protected from future development.
Farmland is disappearing at an alarming rate and during the five year period ending in March 2005 over 71% of all applications to remove land from the Agricultural Land Reserve were approved by the Agricultural Land Commission. Locally, Maple Ridge Council was deluged with applications to remove land. Maple Ridge council continually approved applications to be sent to the Agricultural Land Commission.
The Pitt Polder Preservation Society has supported efforts to preserve agricultural land outside our community. Amongst others, we have been involved with issues such as: use of terminator seeds, removing agricultural land from Barnston Island, Mission, Powell River, and Tsawwassen. We have worked to preserve parkland, rivers, fish and wildlife and supported global environmental issues.