The Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek Watershed, Campbell River, BC

The Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek project shows how stewardship and community planning can be combined to create a community built around Greenways.

In the Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek watershed, greenways are green corridors that link a newly planned community into an existing natural landscape. Through a unique collaboration between the landowner, community groups, and local, provincial and federal governments, an ambitious and innovative network of greenways will be protected and enhanced.

The following 3 step process led to successful planning and approval of the development plan and will guide implementation.

Step 1: The first phase of the project consisted of a series of regular monthly meetings where the landowner – and design team of biologists, engineers and landscape architects – met with a steering committee of local government, community groups and environmental agencies. Through these regular meetings, a concept design was created to meet the needs of each of the interested parties and the developer.

Step 2: During the second phase of the development, the landowner and the local government negotiated a comprehensive development plan. Their negotiations were based on preliminary work undertaken in Step 1 to incorporate concerns of the community groups and local government.

Step 3: The final phase of this project is implementation of the comprehensive development plan. Some aspects of the plan have already been implemented and are reported here. Other elements will be completed over a number of years as interest and market conditions dictate.

Approval of the development plan succeeded in part due to comprehensive consultations and integration of greenways into the project proposal. In reporting these successes, it is hoped that this case study may be used productively as a model for land development proposals elsewhere.

Planning for Greenways in the Haig-Brown Kingfisher Watershed

Beginning with logging operations in 1908, Kingfisher Creek was diverted and culverted so that by 1970 the majority of the lower creek was underground. By 1997 a single developer owned much of the 286 hectare watershed. With its excellent location close to Campbell River, its existing servicing, and dramatic natural features, the developer recognized the opportunity to create a new residential neighbourhood.

The District of Campbell River encourages greenway development in their new Official Community Plan (OCP) policies. The Kingfisher Creek site was designated as a ‘comprehensive development area’ in the OCP. The developer was encouraged to plan cooperatively with the District of Campbell River and senior government agencies to create a neighbourhood that is well adapted to the watershed and preserves existing fish habitat.

The resulting development plan incorporates a generous network of green edges, natural spaces and protects environmentally sensitive areas. These amenities provide long term benefits to neighbourhood residents, the people of Campbell River, and future generations. As a result property values are expected to increase. This legacy of protected land will create the Kingfisher Greenway System, protected by a combination of park dedication and proposed gift of land title and/or conservation covenant. The project intended to take advantage of changes in the Federal Income Tax Act in 1996 that encouraged gifts of environmentally sensitive land (see results section).

The Cultural Watershed

The Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek watershed is the former home of Ann and Roderick Haig-Brown, noted conservationists, community activists, writers and thinkers. Roderick Haig-Brown was pivotal in the preservation of salmon on the West Coast, and has influenced a generation of conservationists.

Roderick Haig-Brown was a practical philosopher and writer who sought to answer one of the great questions of our time: What is the place of humanity in nature? How are we to live with nature, without destroying its legacy?

He wrote: “I have been, all my life, what is known as a conservationist. I am not at all sure that this has done myself or anyone else any good, but I am quite sure that no intelligent man, least of all a countryman, has any alternative. It seems clear beyond possibility of argument that any given generation of men can have only a lease, not ownership, of the earth; and one essential term of the lease is that the earth be handed on to the next generation with unimpaired potentialities. This is the conservationist’s concern.”
Roderick Haig-Brown, Measure of the Year ©1950.

Even today Roderick Haig-Brown’s legacy is kept alive in the watershed. Haig-Brown House is an educational centre and a Bed & Breakfast located at the mouth of the creek. Haig-Brown House receives guests and visitors from around the world, who come to recognize the work of Roderick Haig-Brown and to enjoy the natural landscape he worked so hard to protect.

The Kingfisher Greenway

The Kingfisher Greenway is planned to encompass over 30% of the total area of the property and includes:

1. a ravine system along East Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek, linking an adjacent golf course and communities on both sides of the new Inland Island Highway to one another.

2. a linear greenway along West Kingfisher Creek, including wetlands, creek ravines and riparian zones, and a connection to the Haig-Brown Conservation Area.

3. a trail and environmental corridor which connects the two creek systems.

4. a wetland enhancement area, including a major portion of the creek’s floodplain. This will connect Haig-Brown Heritage Properties with the rest of the greenway through the Haig-Brown Conservation Area.

A Market for Greenways

A key goal of this development proposal is to create a ‘value added’ development that protects the natural assets of the watershed and provides an attractive and enjoyable community lifestyle for residents.

To achieve this objective, the development has been designed as three separate neighbourhoods linked by the Kingfisher Greenway. All three villages are enclosed and enhanced by the network of green provided by the Kingfisher Greenway. Each of these clusters creates a comfortable small-scale neighbourhood.

The villages are designed to provide maximum edge conditions next to the natural green space provided by the greenway system. All residents will be within easy reach of the greenway and trails system that connects the neighbourhoods to each other and to the larger community and schools.

The Kingfisher Community will create a high quality of life that respects community values – environmental, economic and social – that will add to the value of the Quinsam neighbourhood and Campbell River as a place to live, work and play.

Environmental Greenways

In the proposed development plan, 30% of the property will be left in its natural state to protect stream and wetland functions that are needed to provide healthy habitat. Fish and wildlife need space and enough good quality water to feed, reproduce, rear and rest. The proposed greenway will protect the existing creek and wetlands and help maintain the plants and animals they support.

Significant habitat enhancement opportunities will also be created in the Wetland Enhancement Area. Without this enhancement, the area is likely to trap fish during dry seasons. By creating new channel networks and pools for East and West Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek around the perimeter of the conserved wetland, major new habitat for coho salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout will be produced. At the same time, conservation of the interior of the wetland provides excellent habitat for birds and other wildlife. The combined creeks will drain via a new channel that crosses the homestead of Roderick Haig-Brown and flows into the Campbell River. The creek alignment will be designed to reduce the historic risk of flooding from the Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek system in the Campbellton area.West Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek will also be protected. The greenway dedication will allow spawning enhancements to be installed in a section near Quinsam Road.

Recreational Greenways

A greenway trail will link together the new development and adjacent neighbourhoods. The main trail will accommodate pedestrians, cyclists and golf carts. The objective for the trail is to provide access, without using a car, to schools, shopping and the adjacent golf course. This main trail has been designed as a connecting linkage to the Nunns Creek system and Quinsam River/Campbell River greenway systems in the future.

The main trail system will include a pedestrian/cycle/golf cart bridge over the new Vancouver Island Highway. A secondary trail system connected to the main trail will offer quiet strolls among the more natural areas of the Kingfisher Greenway.

An interpretive and educational program is planned, in cooperation with the Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek Society and senior governments, to provide education about the natural values and man-made habitat enhancements provided by the Kingfisher Community.

This case study has highlighted the complexity associated with securing favourable tax treatment in exchange for gifting of environmentally sensitive land. Potential benefits may provide an incentive for greenway planning, but vary according to local and individual circumstances. Each case must be evaluated separately to ensure that these opportunities are not missed.

The Kingfisher Creek channel before revegetation. In a number of years, residents will have a restored stream with fish and an abundance of wildlife.

Proposed Recreational Greenway Connection

Planning for this project included a review of recreational links throughout the new development and existing community. The new Vancouver Island Highway partitioned the watershed and created a barrier to pedestrian access across the highway. As a separate feasibility study, the developer and the District of Campbell River cooperated on the design and funding of this pedestrian link.

This pedestrian bridge will provide the connection between greenway trails on both sides of the highway and accomplish a goal that none of the parties could have achieved independently.

Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek Restoration ProjectRoderick Haig-Brown’s dream was to have Kingfisher Creek restored as productive salmon habitat.

In 1984 friends and neighbours of the Roderick and Ann Haig-Brown began work on habitat restoration. A new channel was created, and a water diversion structure built. The creek banks were stabilized with alder, and today the creek meanders peacefully through the property.

More recently, because of the opportunities provided by the proposed residential development, the Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek Society has been working with a team of biologists, landscape architects and engineers to create the restoration plan.

(photos)

Left: Careful planning and explanation of each phase of the work ensures that restoration works are installed with the least possible disturbance. Right: Rocks and boulders were placed to create a series of pools and riffles.

Left: Logs were keyed into stream banks to create habitat features. Right: An excavator places a rootward into the stream channel as part of restoration work undertaken during the summer.

Cooperative Action on Fish Habitat Restoration and Stream Stewardship

Major funding for the stream restoration has been provided in a partnership of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Sequioa Springs West Development Corporation, and the District of Campbell River.

Additional funding and support for these restoration activities has been organized by the Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek Society and includes:

– individuals and society members who volunteered time to help with restoration projects

– the Canada Trust Friends of the Environment Foundation, who helped fund planning and assessment

– the Vancouver Foundation, who provided support for project coordination and education programming

– the Urban Salmon Habitat Program and the BC Public Conservation Assistance Fund, who helped support assessment, planning and education program costs

– private firms and individuals, acting as consultants and suppliers, who generously contributed goods and services during the construction of habitat works. These contributions range from a few minutes of time to discuss the project , to free office space, provided by Finning Ltd., Campbell River.

All of these contributing organizations and individuals have been willing to provide funding and support for this habitat restoration project because of the clear benefits to the community and to habitat that the Kingfisher Greenway will provide.

Benefits to Fish

The Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek Restoration Project will provide significant new habitat for coho salmon and other species. A complex of new channels and pools will be ideal summer and winter rearing habitat for fry. Improvements to both spawning habitat and access to this habitat on both East and West Branches of the creek will gently increase access for mature spawning fish. The goodwill produced between project partners will also provide a starting point for discussions about improvement to habitat in the future.

Excellent salmon habitat at Roderick Haig-Brown’s backdoor – the mouth of Kingfisher Creek at Campbell River.

Benefits to the Community

The Kingfisher greenway will become an important link in a community wide greenway network and will provide recreational access to areas that were previously inaccessible. The cooperative approach that characterizes this project has secured land and funding for greenway improvements which could not be contemplated otherwise.

For example, the plan to construct a pedestrian overpass across the new Island Highway is a significant achievement. The 4.0 metre wide pedestrian crossing will be cost shared among the developer, the District of Campbell River, and potentially the BC Transportation Finance Authority under its Cycling Program. It would not be possible for any of these partners to fund this million dollar project independently.

(photos)

This multi-use trail at Whistler, BC provides an example of what is proposed for the main trail connections in the Kingfisher Greenway.

This trail illustrates how the minor trail connections proposed as part of the recreational greenway network might look.

Benefits to the Development

In exchange for the cooperative approach and substantial gift of land, the developer benefits from the actions of the other greenway partners, including:

– A development plan that adds value by creating desirable residential properties set in a natural setting.

– A secure development plan.

– Adoption of this plan as a Comprehensive Development Plan under the Official Community Plan.

– Agreement by DFO and MELP to a proposed greenway and fish habitat improvements that are a net gain to offset environmental impacts associated with the development of the Kingfisher Community.

– A cooperative funding agreement that has all partners sharing in the cost of fisheries habitat enhancements, trail systems, flood control, and interpretive programs.
– Agreement by the District of Campbell River to accept responsibility for maintenance and operation of the bridge and trails system, through a linear park dedication.

Amendments of Federal Income Tax Act of Canada

In 1996, they created provisions for donations of Ecological Gifts. Donation of “ecologically sensitive land” by private landowners is available as a tool to help conserve sensitive ecosystems and biodiversity. To date, 90 ecological gifts in eight provinces have been completed. The advantage that can be gained under the program varies with individual and local circumstances. This project was not able to trigger a tax advantage through a gift of environmental sensitive land.

This project illustrates a remarkable degree of success through a close collaboration between the land developer and those interested in protecting the natural qualities of the watershed. To advance these achievements the following actions will still be required: – The care and attention that has been applied to the creation of the plan will also be required during the detailed design and implementation of the project. Innovative treatments for housing near wetland areas, for example, must be carefully reviewed during and after the development to ensure that the objectives of the community and greenway plan are met. – This project will continue to unfold over several more years. As with all land development projects, the timing of the development will correspond to changes in the real estate market, and the acceptance of the buying public will become the absolute measure of the success of this innovative development. The excitement and support that this project has already generated, suggests that a bright future lays ahead for greenway developments like the Kingfisher Community.

Lanarc Consultants Limited
http://www.lanarc.ca
Doug Backhouse
Landscape Architect
375 Franklyn Street
Nanaimo, British Columbia Canada
V9R 2X5
Phone: 250-754-5651
Fax: 250-754-1990
Email: backhouse@lanarc.ca