Upstream from the Port Mann Bridge, adjacent to Surrey Bend, is a strip of land in nearly pristine condition, looking much like Surrey did before people arrived.

Part bog, part thick forest on an undiked floodplain, it hosts an array of largely untouched flora and fauna.

A walk on a path through it reveals tiny bubbling streams glinting from whatever sunlight breaks through the thick canopy of moss-covered trees, a beaver dam under construction, and blankets of watercress on still puddles. A garter snake swiftly crosses the path. Above, a soft, musical “cheeriup” reveals a robin navigating its way through branches.

There’s only the barest glimpse of development: a railway storage yard to the east, and the roofs of houses at the top of a cliff on 168 Street north of 108 Avenue can be made out through the trees to the west.

“Pretty much where we’re standing right here is supposed to be four lanes of traffic,” says Tom Jaugelis.

A volunteer with Surrey Environmental Partners, Jaugelis spent several rainy weekends over the winter clearing out a narrow path, about three kilometres long (two as the crow flies) through the at-risk wetland.

It became the first leg of the South Fraser Witness Trail, a partnership of the Wilderness Committee (formerly bearing the Western Canada name) and Surrey Environmental Partners.

The urban wilderness – accessible on the C74 bus route – is what supporters hope is a bulwark against the Gateway project’s proposed South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR) route.

Construction has already begun in earnest in Delta, and is expected to begin encroaching on the edge of Surrey Bend at the end of this year.

The corridor would link Deltaport with the Golden Ears Bridge as a route for truck traffic.

“They won’t give you exact coordinates of where it’s going to go, but there is a range of space that’s mapped out,” says Ben West, communications coordinator and healthy communities campaigner for the Wilderness Committee.

“Regardless of whether (the highway) is a little closer to the water or a little closer to the homes – which will probably be debated when it goes forward – they’ll have to build staging grounds and clear all kinds of land to build it.”

West says the South Fraser Witness Trail’s neighbours first heard about the highway plans from volunteers during its construction.

“They had no idea that someone was about to build a freeway around their house.”

There are plans to expand the trail to the west, perhaps as far as the Port Mann Bridge. But time is running out.

“When you talk to the provincial government, they say (the road is) a done deal,” explains West. “This project is already happening.

“The way this project’s been sold, every time the word Gateway is used, they try to draw on people’s frustrations being stuck on the Port Mann Bridge. The reality is that this is all tied to the Asia-Pacific trade strategy.”

But West says there’s no guarantee that more infrastructure to support larger ports will increase international trade.

“It could be a whole bunch of money that’s spent on nothing.”

In the meantime, volunteers are still maintaining the South Fraser Witness Trail.

The name of it, explains West, is “bearing witness to the decisions that are being made. If somebody does come in here and start paving things, this gives us an opportunity to bear witness to what was here before and see the impact it had with their own eyes.”

He hopes to halt the project by politically linking it to Surrey Bend, which is protected land.

“Ecosystems don’t know these boundaries the same way as government maps do. The deer and the beavers really don’t recognize the distinction.”

Surrey used to have the motto “City of Parks,” West notes. Now it’s “The Future Lives Here.”

“What exactly does that future look like?”

Join the Wilderness Committee and Surrey Environmental Partners for an Earth Day Hike at the South Fraser Witness Trail tomorrow (April 22) at 2 p.m. Meet at the corner of 168 Street and 108 Avenue. The trailhead is about two blocks northeast, near 166a Street. For more information, visit http://wildernesscommittee.org/bend