City provides Environment Ministry with more info on how it can save turtles

The City of Burnaby is waiting for word from the Environment Ministry before it makes any sudden moves in the Burnaby Lake dredging project, which is on hold because of concerns about the endangered Western painted turtle.

When asked if the city had cancelled a $14-million dredging contract with Hazco, Burnaby's engineering director, Lambert Chu, said they were waiting to hear from the Environment Ministry first but continuing with some aspects of the work.

Chu said the city has provided the ministry with more technical information about the plan to protect the turtles while dredging. The plan includes measures to locate and move the turtles from dredging areas and involves using divers, netting and trapping.

The city was supposed to start dredging Sept. 23 but just two days earlier learned the Environment Ministry denied a remaining wildlife salvaging permit because there was not enough information on the turtles' locations. The concern is that dredging will kill the turtles or destroy their habitat, especially because they hibernate in the mud beneath the water.

No one knows for sure where the turtles will hibernate this year, and it may be too late to trap, tag and track them before they move towards their hibernating spots and bury themselves in the mud. The city was trying to tag and track the turtles with radio so their hibernating spots could be avoided while dredging.

The day before the ministry said no to the wildlife-salvaging permit, not a single turtle had been trapped and tagged, but Chu said they've since caught four. Chu also said they haven't located any turtles in the area where they want to first dredge.

The endangered Western painted turtle is protected by the Species at Risk Act, which means it's a criminal offence to kill, harm or harass the animal.

In an e-mailed statement to the NOW, the Environment Ministry confirmed that staff had received the additional information from the city and were reviewing it.

"Overwintering (hibernating) sites for the Western painted turtle need to be identified prior to dredging, otherwise there is limited confidence that any salvage operation will be successful at this time of year. Limited data has been presented to date," read the statement. "The ministry is working towards having a response back to the City of Burnaby regarding this package as soon as possible."

In an earlier interview with the NOW, Environment Minister Barry Penner said starting the dredging project before all of the permits were in place was like starting construction without building permits from the city.

"It's a mystery to me why the City of Burnaby would hire contractors to begin work on a project and have them go to the site before they had all their permits in place," he said.

Chu said it was too early to comment on how much money the city could lose because of the hold-up as they've yet to receive any documentation from Hazco. Mayor Derek Corrigan estimated it was $200,000 per day and said that the city was advised to wait till the contractor was ready before applying for the necessary permits.

The provincial government committed $10 million towards the project, while the city was prepared to do the same. The Hazco contract came in at $14 million, lower than expected. In all, the project will cost $16 million, Chu said.

The city wants to remove 200,000 cubic metres of sediment from the lake, enough to fill 80 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The dredging is for recreational and environmental purposes, mainly to re-establish a rowing course to international standards and to stop the lake from turning into a swamp. Chu estimated there would be very little surface water left in the lake in 30 years.