Petition: Save fish-bearing Maple Creek from being moved for a monster home

Patricia Creek (refered to in the application as Tributary #3) is a small fish bearing stream with documented populations of cutthroat trout (a provincially blue listed species), and coho salmon. It flows through a patch of forest that includes Western red cedar, Douglas fir, and Western hemlock, many of which are estimated to be a hundred years old. The impacted section is a natural floodplain wetlands, habitat to many animals and also important natural flood control, both for houses along Patricia Creek and for those downstream along Maple Creek.

The application proposes to dig a new channel and re-direct the creek to make room for a 10,000 square foot, single family home. Many of the trees will be cut down. The wetlands will not be replaced. Most of the riparian corridor will be destroyed.

When the home was purchased, it was strongly emphasized by the seller, the realtor, and Port Coquiltam City Hall, that they could not build inside of the riparian corridor. They bought at a price that reflected the covenant.

Patricia Creek is small, but it is part of the larger watershed of Maple Creek, the Coquitlam River and ultimately the Fraser River. The federal and provincial government state that decline in cutthroat trout populations is linked to the destruction of small streams that they depend on for rearing and spawning because small streams are easily altered and destroyed, and their protection is often overlooked in planing residential, agricultural and industrial developments.

Please add your name to our petition and help protect Patricia Creek. Do not let this important little place be overlooked.