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Conservation group works to protect estuary lands at French Creek

FFCCS has had the goal of securing the estuary lands for almost 15 years
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French Creek flows into the Strait of Georgia through an estuary that supports an abundance of wildlife. - FFCCS.ca

A conservation group continues to be confident despite a lengthy process preserving estuary lands in French Creek.

They’ve been doing it for the last 15 years.

The Friends of French Creek Conservation Society (FFCCS) is strongly focused on saving sensitive land near the estuary from development.

The society has been made aware that less than half of the 23 acres located between Highway 19A, Columbia Drive, Viking way and French Creek has been contracted to be sold to a developing company.

Society chair Robin Robinson, in her update to the Regional District of Nanaimo Regional Parks and Trails Select Committee, said, however, the more sensitive areas adjacent to the estuary will continue to be owned by French Creek Estates Ltd., which she added “is presently being proposed by them as a protected estuary park.”

The FFCCS Estuary Lands Committee is acting as the facilitator for this prospect, she said. With a development permit for the area issued by the Regional District of Nanaimo in 1994 outdated, there is no longer threat of a multi-storey condominiums being built on the land, said Robinson.

The committee, Robinson pointed out, has established a productive working relationships with the owner of French Creek Estates Ltd. which verbally agreed to facilitate the transfer of more than 60 per cent of the 23 acres into preserved parkland. There is now a process of developing a memorandum of understanding with the French Creek Estates Ltd said Robinson.

“FFCCS has had the goal of securing the estuary lands for almost 15 years,” said Robinson.

“In obtaining a verbal agreement with the landowner to protect more than 60 per cent of the 23 acres, we are pleased with the progress that has been made to date. We look forward to succeeding in having this land protected.”



Michael Briones

About the Author: Michael Briones

I rejoined the PQB News team in April 2017 from the Comox Valley Echo, having previously covered sports for The NEWS in 1997.
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