Surrey Bend is a large, untouched peninsula with a high level of biodiversity.
The 354 ha (875 acre) site is characterized by birch and cottonwood floodplain forests, wet meadows, tidal freshwater marshes, bogs and shrub thickets.
Currently the lands are split between Surrey and Metro Vancouver. Under a new Memorandum of Understanding, the City will lease its lands to Metro Vancouver, which will allow the regional district to consolidate the lands and begin developing and managing Surrey Bend as an accessible regional park, similar to Tynehead, Campbell Valley, and Burnaby Lake.
Under this new MoU, we could see planning begin in late Winter ’08, and park trails and other facilities on the site by this time next year.
I am highly against the publicizing of this beautiful area. Call the parks board, do not let them spend 20 million dollars to destroy an amazing ecosystem.
I wholeheartedly agree with your comment Jon. As an executive member of Surrey Environmental Partners I can tell you we would like to see conservation and minimizing human impact as the top management priority. With the South Fraser Perimeter Road (truck freeway) proposed to be built along the southern border of the Bend there will be significant negative impacts on the long term viability of this precious ecologically rich area. It is wilderness in the city. It is the only major wildlife transition region between Surrey and the north side of the Fraser River and it needs to be given as much protection as possible. The SFPR will be a significant barrier to wildlife movement into other parts of Surrey. Any trails, viewing tower or human impacts should be restricted to the portion east of 176 St.