Editor, The News:
Re: Destruction of Pitt Polder (Letters, June 5).
While George Clarke may have “extensively toured in the southern U.S. in the past couple of years,” he is either a relative newcomer to our area or has simply chosen to ignore its history.
The Pitt Polder was a lowland area reclaimed by Dutch immigrants several decades ago. Being submerged in water a majority of the time, there was not a lot of existing vegetation of any significance to “have been virtually stripped of all vegetation by greedy, uncaring developers.”
Subsequent to that, many of the new immigrants settled on dairy farms they built in the reclaimed area. At that time, the land was cultivated to grow hay and other feed crops for the herds or just used as pasture land.
Skipping forward to present time, these fields have been planted in higher value berry crops.
I’m not sure of which “drainage sloughs have been filled in” he is referring to, but having lived here all my life, I see all the major sloughs in place as they have been since I can remember.
Perhaps when next Mr. Clarke enjoys his blueberry smoothie, pie or just fresh fruit with ice cream, or digs into his holiday feast accompanied by cranberry sauce after wetting his appetite with a cranberry martini, he might want to consider the tremendous risk, investment and effort involved to buy the land, prepare, plant, care for, then harvest, process and distribute the goodness he is enjoying. Granted, he may be one of those consumers who balks at paying a fair price for local produce and would rather save a few pennies to support imported products. In that case, it’s easier to enjoy the savings in blissful ignorance of how those products are produced.
Farmland is meant for farming. Nature and wetland reserves are meant for wildlife and limited use by hikers, photographers and other outdoor enthusiasts.
Both have their place, and both have their price.
Mr. Clarke might want to consider putting his money where his mouth is next time he wishes to confuse misguided emotions with fact.
John Blok
Maple Ridge
