Endnotes

1.        West Coast Environmental Law has an interactive online guide to selecting legal tools for protecting private land, available on the West Coast Environmental Law web site. Called Info for Conservation, it explains how to obtain ownership information about privately owned land. You can visit WCEL’s web site at http://vcn.bc.ca/wcel and click on “Interactive Guides” to use Info for Conservation.

2.        W.T. Munro, “Wetland Management in British Columbia,” in Wetlands, A Trans-Boundary Agenda Conference Proceedings, Fraser for Life Communications Society & Washington Wetlands Network, 1993, at 106.

3.        Wetlands of the Fraser Lowland: Ownership, Management and Protection Status 1992, Michael McFee and Peggy Ward Technical Report Series no. 200, Pacific and Yukon Region 1994, Canadian Wildlife Service.

4.        barbara findlay and Ann Hillyer, Here Today, Here Tomorrow: Legal Tools for the Voluntary Protection of Private Land in British Columbia, West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation, Vancouver, January 1994, at pages 33-34. A detailed discussion of land law is beyond the scope of this publication. Here Today provides an excellent overview of the subject of land law. It also provides a detailed discussion of legal tools available to protect privately owned land, including wetlands. This publication will be referred to repeatedly throughout the section on protection of privately owned wetlands, with the permission of the authors of Here Today.

5.        More information about the different roles of these government departments and agencies can be found in Stream Stewardship: A Guide for Planners and Developers, Government of Canada, Province of British Columbia at pages 45-47.

6.        Here Today, Here Tomorrow, page 16.

7.        Here Today, Here Tomorrow, page 49.

8.        Here Today, Here Tomorrow, pages 48-49.

9.        The West Coast Environmental Law Association provides free legal advice to environmental groups and individuals in BC on environmental legal issues: 1 800 330-WCEL. The Lawyer Referral Service at 1 604 687-3221 can also put you in touch with an environmental law specialist for a small initial fee.

10.        For a more detailed explanation of constitutional division of authority over the environment see Chris Rolfe and Linda Nowlan, Economic Instruments and the Environment: Selected Legal Issues. West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation, Vancouver, 1993, Chapter 1, The Constitutional Context.

11.        The Constitutional division of powers is found in the Constitution Act, 1867 (U.K.) 30 and 31 Vict. C.3, sections 91 and 92 of the Act concern division of powers. For the powers listed above, authority is found in respectively: Fisheries 91(12); Land Reserved for Indians 91(24); Criminal Law 91(27); Federal Undertakings 91(29) and 92(10) and Federal Public Land 91(1).

12.        Environment Canada, The Federal Policy on Wetland Conservation, (Ottawa: the Ministry, 1991).

13.        Sections 92(13) and (16) of the Constitution Act.

14.        See W.T. Munro, “Wetland Management in British Columbia,” in Wetlands, A Trans-Boundary Agenda Conference Proceedings, Fraser for Life Communications Society & Washington Wetlands Network, 1993, at 30.

15.        This decision is reported at (1993) 2 Digest of Environmental Law and Environmental Assessment 48 (O.M.B.). It is a decision of the Ontario Municipal Board.

16.        Dovetail Consulting, Assessment of Mechanisms for Protecting Aquatic and Riparian Habitat in Urban Areas, DFO, Draft, 1996.

17.        John Clark, Dept. of Justice, “Environmental Prosecutions under the Fisheries Act,” Minutes of Canadian Bar Association Environmental Law Section Meeting, Vancouver, June 20, 1996.

18.        For more information on private prosecutions, see also Linda Duncan, “Enforcing Environmental Law — A Guide to Private Prosecution,” Environmental Law Centre, 1989.

19.        The Inclusion List Regulations, SOR/94-637, the Comprehensive Study List Regulations SOR/94-638, and The Exclusion List Regulations, SOR/94-639 all define wetlands.

20.        Section 7.1, Water Act, RSBC 1994, Ch. 429.

21.        Stewardship of the Water, Volume 3.

22.        Water Act regulation, s. 41 and 42.

23.        Water Act regulation, s. 41(2).

24.        Section 3, Wildlife Act, RSBC 1979, Ch. 433.

25.        Kenneth Morrison and Anthony Turner, “Protected Areas in British Columbia: Maintaining Natural Diversity” in Biodiversity in British Columbia, 1993, at 360.

26.        Pacific Estuary Conservation Program, July 1995 at 24-27. For more information on this program, see the section on Estuaries.

27.        The province prepares Red and Blue Lists of terrestrial vertebrates to help decide on priorities for conservation. The Blue List is for species that are vulnerable or “at risk” and contained 87 taxa as of April 1993. The Red List species are endangered or threatened, or, are under consideration for that status. As of April 1993, the Wildlife Branch had listed 64 taxa on the Red List.

28.        Hans Roemer, “Rare and Endangered Vascular Plants in British Columbia” in Biodiversity in British Columbia, Ministry of the Environment, 1993, at 98. Some plants are controlled through the Dogwood, Rhododendron and Trillium Protection Act, RSBC 1979, c. 96, which restricts harvesting these plants.

29.        State of the Environment Report for British Columbia, at 55.

30.        W.T. Munro, “Wetland Management in British Columbia,” in Wetlands, A Trans-Boundary Agenda Conference Proceedings, Fraser for Life Communications Society & Washington Wetlands Network, 1993, at 106.

31.        Personal Communication, Dr. G.G.E. Scudder, Department of Zoology, UBC, April 3, 1996.

32.        Forest Practices Code Act, part 8, s.176.

33.        RSBC 1979, c.290.

34.        Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Fraser River Action Plan, Protection of Aquatic and Riparian Habitat by Local Governments, A-6, 1995, Quadra Consultants.

35.        All references are to the Municipal Act.

36.        Calvin Sandborn, Green Space and Growth: Conserving Natural Areas in BC, CORE et al., March 1996, at 71-82.

37.        Municipal Act, Section 942.11(2)(d) and (j).

38.        The publications are:

• Leaving a Living Legacy — The Use of Conservation Covenants in BC: 1995, William J. Andrews and David Loukidelis
• Here Today, Here Tomorrow — Legal Tools for the Voluntary Protection of Private Land in BC: 1993, barbara findlay and Ann Hillyer
• Using Conservation Covenants to Protect Privately Owned Land in BC: 1992, David Loukidelis

        The reports are all available from West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation. This section is based on these reports.

39.        The federal Fisheries Act prohibits the destruction of fish habitat, but federal fisheries policy allows such destruction if mitigation is such that there is “no net loss” of habitat.

40.        See Michael Ryklo et al., US Environmental Protection Agency, “How Much Wetland Mitigation Are We Requiring? Or Is No Net Loss A Reality?,” and Otto Langer, Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans, “Evaluating an Application of the Concept of No Net Loss to Fraser River Estuary Wetlands” in Wetlands, A Trans-Boundary Agenda Conference Proceedings, Fraser for Life Communications Society & Washington Wetlands Network, 1993, at 99-105 and 23-29.