2013 to 2014

Work has continued on long term planning and the development of critical relationships with various levels of government, private donors and volunteers.

In April 2014 a milestone of support was delivered in with an announcement of funding to provide further enhancement of the MacDonald Creek outlet and adjacent shoreline by the Pacific Salmon Commission and the Federal Dept of Fisheries and Oceans. This project will further enhance the recovery of the shoreline and habitats for salmonids, forage fish and seabirds not to mention for humans walking the alongshore pathway.

The project delivery emphasis of the 2012-2013 Shoreline Protection Plan with the available $100,000 approved budget   comprised pilot projects at Dundarave Pier (the Marr Creek Outlet) together with minor works at Lawson Park and along the seawall immediately west of Lawson Creek.

Working within tidal and budgetary contraints, the Lawson Creek estuary and beach areas was tweaked to enhance features originally implemented in 2006. The original pilot works have been more than satisfactory over the past few years in moulding the shoreline with the sediment and energy supplied by natural processed.  To recap, the estuary has become attractive to returning salmon populations, the beach against Lawson Pier has become wider, flatter and sandier for enjoyment by the public, protection to the aging pier while providing enhanced spawning conditions for key forage fish such as surf smelt. This has been verified by assessments done by high school students who have documented the spawning as part of a the school outreach programs. A log pedestrian bridge over the creek continues to enhance the shoreline pedestrian pathway. The soft gravel pathway along the upper shore from Lawson Park to 15th Ave has fulfilled the longstanding goal (as well as personal financial legacy) of past Mayor Don Lanskail, to provide a contiguous seafront walkway.   The work done in 2013 reinforces and builds further upon the lessons learned.

Throughout 2013 the District’s has placed renewed emphasis on communicating details of each Shoreline Protection Plan project with descriptive site signage which was well received by thousands of members of the public walking the seawalk.  The construction access ramp created at the foot of 24th Street has been left in place to enable further opportunistic stockpiling and subsequent placements of “free” field boulders from construction excavation projects within the District.  In particular, the support and collaboration of the British Properties provided large volumes of “field” boulders.  The access ramp itself is itself now evolving into a small pocket beach.

Marr Creek is an urbanized mountain to ocean stream that ignominously is squeezed through a culvert pipe at its moutth as it discharges through the concrete lock block seawall just east of the Dundarave Pier. The vertical face concrete seawall combined with the groin effects of the Dundarave Pier configuration has lead to substantial erosional losses of beach substrate over the years all the way down to Navvy Jack Point.  While large volumes of beach replenishing sediment are provided naturally by Marr Creek these sediments have mostly been lost offshore to deeper water.   The boulder garden and reef placements are intended to not only encourage retention of the intertidal areas but also to allow these beach materials to migrate down drift towards Navvy Jack Point rather than being deflected to offshore depths.   Just as the modifications at MacDonald Creek and Lawson Creek have been visibly building beaches down drift to Ambleside since 2006, over the coming decades, this training and retention should encourage a stable and productive shoreline from Dundarave to Navvy Jack Point.  An immediate side benefit of these works is also the visible retention of an enhanced sandy beach area immediately adjacent to the pier.

This project also provides another working example engaging the natural shoreline processes and letting Nature do the most significant work over time.  Just as the works at MacDonald Creek and Lawson Creeks have resulted in a much wider and flatter shoreline all the way down to the Ambleside Pier so should the work at Marr Creek induce similar long term down drift benefits. The Marr Creek discharge culvert itself is one of the most challenging of sites given the adjacent vertical concrete seawall.  As this project demonstrates early success it will validate similar works along the shoreline that will, in time, benefit from the newly retained alongshore cobble/sand supply, including the premier project,  that is… the task item to develop a substantial reef and tombolo feature at Navvy Jack Point to accumulate a wider and crenellated shoreline beach over the decades and centuries.

To be effective in fostering development of a large intertidal tombolo and a long term accreting intertidal beach fronting the seawalk, the development of a Navvy Jack reef feature will require a significant volume of reef building material. Now that the cobble and sands from Marr Creek are being retained and are more available to moving alongshore, the focus should be renewed on retaining an accreting intertidal shore over the coming decades to reverse erosional losses that might otherwise impact the seawalk and the underlying sewer main. . If initial successes continue to be realized, it should be possible, to not only reverse ongoing erosion, but to proactively adapt to the predicted impacts of sea level rise and increased storm events as well as providing a highly productive and potentially enjoyable walkable shoreline for future generations.

West Vancouver continues to demonstrate a proactive working and learning example of municipal shoreline stewardship as a working template for other British Columbia coastal communities.

It is also notable that the Marr Creek component of the District’s Shoreline Protection Plan is one of three case studies reviewed by the Stewardship Centre at SFU, with funding from the National Research Council of Canada, as a working demonstration of “soft shore” adaption and mitigation of the future impacts of sea level rise on urban shorelines.