The Environment Minister is chiding Burnaby's mayor about comments made regarding the endangered Western painted turtle.

Concerns about the turtles have halted a multimillion-dollar dredging project in Burnaby Lake, home to the largest known population of the species in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley.

Other media reported that Mayor Derek Corrigan said he had anecdotal reports that the Western painted turtle was not native to the area.

Waiting game: Dredging equipment sits near Burnaby Lake. The long-awaited, multimillion-dollar project to clear the lake is on hold while the city and the provincial Environment Ministry sort out what to do next. Larry Wright/BURNABY NOW

"They brought them down from the Interior, and their moms made them get rid of them, and so they'd take them down to Burnaby Lake or Deer Lake,"he was quoted as saying. When contacted by the NOW, Corrigan confirmed that he had heard these anecdotal reports but said he did not suggest the Western painted turtle was not native to the area.

"I'm not a biologist," he said, adding they were anecdotal stories only.

In an interview with the NOW, Environment Minister Barry Penner took issue with the statements.

"The mayor has made a number of irresponsible comments suggesting that Western painted turtles are not native to the Lower Mainland. That shows a rather profound ignorance, because, in fact, Western painted turtles are native to the Lower Mainland, and Burnaby Lake is known as one of the healthiest populations of this endangered species," Penner said. "It is the responsibility of the city to know what they are talking about."

According to the federal government's species at risk public registry, the Western painted turtle is found in the Lower Mainland as well as other parts of North America.

In B.C., there are two groups separated by the Cascade Mountains: the Pacific Coast population and the Intermountain-Rocky Mountain population. According to surveys done in 2005, there were six known sites of Western painted turtles in the Pacific Coast region, but the species was found at only one - Burnaby Lake. The registry also stated "introduced red-eared slider turtles and their associated diseases and parasites may pose a threat to Western painted turtle habitat."

Biologists Vanessa Kilburn works on the provincial and federal government's recovery team, charged with helping the Western painted turtle rebuild its numbers.

"One issue is a lot of people get the two species confused," Kilburn said, referring to the Western painted turtle and the red-eared slider. She said the Western painted turtle is native to Burnaby and that there have been cases where people have kept them as pets. The red-eared sliders are pet turtles that got introduced into wildlife habitat when abandoned.

She also said more recent surveys show there are up to 10 sites for the Western painted turtle, but Burnaby Lake still has the biggest, most viable population. The recovery team was hoping to hatch eggs from the Burnaby Lake population to rebuild numbers elsewhere.