ADAMS RIVER: Development comes to legendary river

A development would run through it. It is difficult to stand at the mouth of North America's greatest salmon spawning habitat -- the Adams River, where it empties into the west end of Shuswap Lake -- and envision a 160-slip marina right next door along with 218 condos, townhouses, and residential houses.

On this sunny day, a warm breeze flows off the mountains, soothing waves massage the gravel shoreline, and fish-eating merganser ducks patrol the waters. A northern flicker weaves its way between the old cottonwoods and swallows fill the air like ticker tape.

The gravel-and-grass border separating the proposed 12-hectare development site and 1,076-hectare Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park is seamless except for a No Trespassing sign on one side and a provincial park boundary sign on the other.

It's beautiful," confirms Rhona Martin, a director of the Columbia Shuswap Regional District, casting an eye across the landscape. "The ideal is if all this could have been a provincial park."

The regional district is considering a rezoning application for the site by Kamloops-based New Future Building Group. The proposal has raised the ire of countless local residents as well as anglers and conservationists from around the province who fear the impact of the marina and development on the returning adult salmon as well as the juvenile offspring that later rear in Shuswap Lake.

"I'm not surprised," Martin said of the political storm. "There's been a lot of reaction to most development proposals on the lake in the past couple of years.

"The big concern [here] is the Adams River is so close."

The weathered-out jaw and skeleton of a salmon on the shoreline are all that remain of the millions of sockeye that can spawn in the Adams River during the peak four-year cycle, which next occurs in 2010. Lesser numbers spawn in the river annually.

The park attracts thousands of human visitors, too, to watch the natural spectacle along 11 kilometres of riverfront between Adams Lake and Shuswap Lake.

"When it was sold, I thought something was in the works, something big was coming," Little Shuswap Indian Band Chief Felix Arnouse says of the old Cottonwood Campsite acquired by developers in early 2007. "You don't sell property like that for nothing."

The 300-member band is not "totally against" the development, he insists, but is especially concerned about the impact of pollution from a busy marina on the juvenile salmon.

"A lot of people aren't looking at the big picture," he said from his office, just seven km to the west of the development. "Even a drop of oil can do damage to the environment."

Project manager Ken Ellerbeck stands at the entrance to the site and argues that opponents have blown environmental concerns way out of proportion.

He figures the $65-75-million development won't pollute the environment because it will include a modern land-based sewage-treatment system featuring zero discharge to the lake.

(New Recreations Ltd. bought the flood-prone Cottonwood Campsite property. New Future is the development entity.)

The developer argues the surrounding Lee Creek community, whose residents rely on old septic systems, would be in a position to link up with the modern water and sewer infrastructure that would accompany the development.

"What this area needs is stewardship and leadership and it has neither," Ellerbeck said.

As for the marina, he countered it will be situated 100 metres offshore beyond the key shoreline habitat frequented by juvenile salmon. And boats will be pulled from the marina for the season in mid-September, prior to the rush of returning adult sockeye in October

(The developer has asked for up to 160 slips, but expects the actual figure to be closer to 144.)

The developer further argues that boaters already heavily frequent the area, and the waters would benefit from "controlled, offshore, environmentally responsible moorage."

Others are not willing to take that chance. Frances Vyse is a Kamloops-based board member with the Nature Trust of B.C. who has worked with BC Parks over the years to preserve the Adams River. She argues the risk posed by boat traffic is simply too great. "The amount of traffic would create an impossible situation for the fry," she said, noting young salmon are moving right now from their spawning beds to the river mouth.

Mark Angelo, an Order of Canada recipient and rivers chair of the 100,000-member Outdoor Recreation Council of B.C., agrees that the marina and development "less that 400 metres from the mouth of the world-famous Adams River" pose an unacceptable risk to both the adult sockeye that gather in the area before swimming upstream and, later, the young offspring. "From an environmental perspective, there are few places as important, or more critical, than the entrance to the Adams River," Angelo said. "The river's mouth should be protected. It's not the right location for this kind of development."

A sign at the front of the property, about 70 kilometres east of Kamloops, gives the illusion the development is already a done deal. "West Beach Village," it reads. "Lakeside homes from the $300's. Lakefront, private lagoon, lakeview homes, townhouses, condominiums, just steps away from the beach and a private marina." The development's website also describes the project as a "masterplanned" waterfront community that is "coming soon."

More than 500 people turned out at a rally last weekend to oppose the development. And hundreds more are expected to pack a Monday public hearing for the proposal. The regional district has given second reading to the rezoning application.

Jim Cooperman of the Shuswap Environmental Action Society has been leading the opposition movement and argues that dozens of motorized boats using that part of the lake would literally chop up salmon fry by the thousands.

About two million sockeye salmon return to the area to spawn in peak years, the largest such run in North America. The fry rear in the lake before returning to the ocean.

The gravelly spawning grounds of the Adams and the Shuswap Lake waters have been called the world's most perfect salmon incubator.

"There are bigger developments proposed for the area, but this could have a huge impact on a world-renowned salmon run," said Cooperman, who spoke to several hundred students on the topic at Salmon Arm high school Thursday. "A fuel spill in that area would be devastating, but it's not just that, it's the boat traffic. The disturbance to these fish would be enormous. I spoke to a fisherman last night who said he's seen boats churn through salmon fry and just chop them up."

The public hearing is the last step before regional district directors vote on the rezoning. Directors will also consider comments from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The developer has submitted a study of the riparian (shoreline) area in support of the rezoning application.

Officials from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans met with the project's proponents as early as February 2007 to point out the area's ecological sensitivities, according to DFO habitat management biologist Bruce Runciman. The DFO has consulted with the regional district, local first nations and the property owners.

Boat traffic from the marina could affect spawning salmon in the autumn and spring out-migration of salmon fry. "Some activities on the lake are curtailed during sensitive periods, especially after Sept. 15," he said. But without a detailed plan it is difficult to tell if seasonal marina closures would be a way to accommodate both the builder and the fish.

Growth on Shuswap Lake has been explosive over the past three years. The regional district has 15 applications to develop about 1,000 housing units in the Scotch Creek/Lee Creek area, according to senior planner Scott Beeching, but none as contentious as this one. "We have had at least 300 e-mails and letters," he said. "The volume has been huge."

Environment Minister Barry Penner said he is aware of the environmental concerns about the West Beach development and has discussed with his staff the possibility of acquiring the land as a conservancy. The provincial government buys a handful of environmentally sensitive properties each year to protect unique ecosystems and threatened species.

Last year Penner's ministry bought 300 hectares of California bighorn sheep habitat on Skaha Bluffs with the federal government and corporate partners to establish a provincial park. Penner said the West Beach area passes the test of uniqueness and public interest. The area may be vital to accommodating peak spawning years as thousands of sockeye spawn on the beach at Shuswap Lake when competition for space in the river bed is intense, he said. "But we only have so much money to spend, so we have to choose carefully how to spend it," Penner said.

The decision on whether or not to allow the marina lies with the provincial ministry of agriculture and lands, which also takes advice from federal fisheries. But Cooperman is not content to let the province decide. "Once the developer gets a rezoning, he can start building and then argue that he needs the marina," he said. "We've got to stop this at the regional district."

Whether a groundswell of public opposition can stop the West Beach development remains to be seen, but the regional district will have more powerful tools to deal with contentious developments in the near future.

Beeching says the completion of an Official Community Plan (OCP) will give the regional district the power to issue development permits and that will allow district staff to consider environmental impacts of developments and have greater control over the form of development on the foreshore.

The province suspended all decisions on private and commercial moorage applications for Shuswap and Mara Lakes last year while it completes the Shuswap Lake Integrated Planning Process (SLIPP) in partnership with the Fraser Basin Council and the regional district. The plan would divide the lake into zones from low to high sensitivity based on the potential for impacts on fish habitat.

"The Adams River estuary is one of the most productive in Canada and the world and we want to make sure that is protected," said Ian McGregor, fish and wildlife section head for the B.C. environment ministry. Fourteen regulatory agencies have some authority over the Shuswap Lake area, but in the past few years development of the lakefront is largely unregulated, he said.

The district's liquid waste management plan is not complete and neither is the OCP. SLIPP was started in response to widespread degradation of salmonid habitat on Shuswap Lake resulting from accelerating development on the waterfront. All applications for moorage that were in play before Aug. 9, 2007, will continue to be processed, but no final approvals will be given until the SLIPP process is completed this summer.

Cooperman can hardly wait. "If an area is zoned as sensitive, then it will be really hard to do any foreshore development there and so builders won't even buy property in those zones," he said.

The public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the Scotch Creek firehall.

(prepared by Larry Pynn and Randy Shore/Vancouver Sun)