A Moodyville resident is raising concerns about the way the City of North Vancouver and Port Metro Vancouver have handled cutting down trees and working too close to an eagle's nest as part of the Low Level Road project.
Melanie Ptashynski did a walkabout of Moodyville Park with PMV and city staff on Jan. 24 to get an idea of how many trees would be cut in order to move the Spirit Trail. After learning it would be a two-metre swath for the trail plus a two-metre buffer, Ptashynski said she was pleased.
But since the work was done, Ptashynski says it is closer to five metres.
"I got my husband to put out measuring tape. Visually, you know it's not," she said.
Beyond that, Ptashynski was incensed to see the whole slope side "devegetated" and work being carried out next to an eagle's nest just south of Moody Avenue. The barrier placed around the eagle's tree only extends about 10 metres, when the port's wildlife habitat assessment recommends one-and-a-half tree lengths or up to 100 or 200 metres if it is during the breeding period. The report states that starts on Feb. 1. And despite almost daily trips to the park, Ptashynski said she has scarcely seen the environmental monitor the port has hired to keep an eye on the job site and stop work if the eagles become distressed.
"When I was there last week, they were cutting trees right by the eagles nest," she said. "There was pile driving going on. The eagle was obviously upset. There were no environmental monitors on site when I was there (Feb. 13) and they were cutting trees."
When the port cut down a tree with an eagles' nest in it to make way for the new Low Level Road last year, it prompted protests.
"Given they've already removed an eagles' nest that was part of this project and given the public response to that. .. they should be going above and beyond to make all efforts to minimize disturbance."
However, the trees removed for the trail were exactly in keeping with what the city informed the neighbourhood, said Peter Navratil, deputy city engineer. The only oversight
may have been the cutting done on the slope.
"It didn't come across in the site meeting but there was a piece of devegetation that had to happen to realign the Spirit Trail down toward Heywood where we're going to do the pedestrian overpass. I think that was missed," Navratil said.
As for the eagles' nest, protecting it has been a priority for the port, said Justin Pedley, PMV's
director of trade areas.
"At a high level, we designed the whole road around that eagle tree so we're fully aware of the need to protect that eagle tree. The road was pushed out and around to protect it," he said. "We're taking down the bare minimum of trees that is required to either build to the road or build the Spirit Trail. We have no intention, by any means, to take any additional trees than what are required for the build or required for safety."
And, while a wider date range work buffer around the nest is preferable, the port is in compliance with the federal and provincial regulations when it comes to eagles, Pedley said.
"One of the clear requirements of the (Wildlife and Migratory Birds Convention) acts is that we don't do any tree cutting or impact any nests in the bird nesting window, which is March 15 to Aug. 15, so we've done all of our tree cutting prior to that," he said.
Under the contract with the environmental monitor hired to keep an eye on the site, the monitor is expected to be there when work begins and then stay for least four hours per visit.
"If the birds are in duress, then we would stop work. In fact, it's happened once already," he said.
