Environmental Opinion Letter – 9 Erskine Lane – View Royal BC

Environmental Opinion Letter – 9 Erskine Lane – View Royal BC

To whom it may concern,

This letter report is confirmation that I, Thomas Roy, R.P. Bio. of Cascadia Biological Services has completed an overview watercourse assessment for a property located at 9 Erskine Lane in the Town of View Royal. An overview map of the property is presented in Attachment I. The purpose of this assessment was to determine if the roadside ditches that are mapped as watercourse segments by the Capitol Regional District (CRD) meet the definition of fish habitat under the Riparian Areas Protection Regulations (RAPR) legislation. The watercourse segments are presented on a map in Attachment II and are found adjacent to the western and southwestern flanks of the property. As a result, a watercourse assessment was completed by the author of this report to determine the status of these ditch segments. The assessment was completed on April 9th 2020. The focus of the assessment was to evaluate the ditches for characteristics that define fish habitat under the RAPR including the presence of mineral alluvium, bankfull scour and direct connectivity via overland flow to fish habitat downstream. In this case, fish and fish habitat was identified as Craigflower Creek which is located approximately 250m downstream. Typical photographs of the watercourse are presented in Attachment III. From our assessment of the property, Cascadia Biological has determined the following presented below in bullet form;

1. There are no watercourses found within the subject property that meet the definition of a watercourse under the RAPR legislation;
2. There are no watercourses meeting the RAPR legislation within 30m of the subject property that would project a 30m Riparian Assessment Area (RAA) onto the property;
3. The ditches assessed on site and presented in Attachment II (solid blue polyline) are non fish bearing;
4. The ditches assessed on site and presented in Attachment II (solid blue polyline) do not meet the definition of a watercourse under the RAPR as a result of the absence of overland flow connectivity, the absence of mineral alluvium as well as the absence of any signs of scour. The diches do not meet the RAPR criteria for fish habitat.

I trust that the above information will help in determining if the property is well suited for your proposed vision of the property. Please feel free to contact me via this email if you have any questions regarding this environmental assessment report.

Thanks for your time.

Thomas Roy, R.P. Bio., Cascadia Biological Services (250) 888-4864 cascadiabiological@shaw.ca