Editor:
Nearly 10 years later, it still bothers me that dog owners were bullied off a little patch of grass in the Blackie Spit area on the grounds of the city’s great dedication to the protection of migrating wildfowl; everything else the city does says otherwise.
It is just a fluke that I took a bunch of pictures in Southmere Park on Feb. 9 of this year. Bad pictures, as it turns out, so I didn’t share them. I try to take my camera and a notepad whenever possible, because the name of the game in Surrey is “deny, deny, deny.” I was moved by the large and varied populations of ducks and geese in the park and took some photos.
Imagine my surprise when a month later I see the city has drained what has now changed from “wildlife habitat” signage to being referred to as a drainage pond.
I’m not taking issue with work being done on the pond – but rather the choice of prime nesting season as the timing for doing it.
It has been about eight years since the Fraser Valley Conservation Coalition asked the City of Surrey to create meaningful, effective wildlife corridors worthy of a city that currently boasts the biodiversity that it does.
The city has refused to engage in such discussions with the community at large, and has allowed development to take place within the “natural” corridors – significantly diminishing the opportunities to create effective habitat corridors.
Clearly, the City of Surrey doesn’t give this urban park the same importance I do. But I believe the voters and taxpayers of South Surrey were drawn to this area by its rich natural features and will share my concerns – even if I’m the only weirdo who takes pictures of duck poop.
Donna Passmore, White Rock
