The City of Campbell River and Fisheries and Oceans Canada have agreed to a faster method for restoring the community’s eroded shoreline (click here to read more about the MOU-DFO agreement . The agreement is based on Marine Foreshore Habitat Assessment and Restoration Plan, which outlines the method to restore natural beach slopes to allow natural movement of wood and gravel and to protect the shoreline and foreshore amenities such as roads, sewer and water lines and the seawalk from erosion during storms and flooding. Also, the restored beaches provide better fish habitat than shorelines that have been hardened with rip-rap and sea walls. In particular, the plan recognizes the importance of protecting the habitat of two important small forage fish Pacific Sand Lance and Surf Smelt.
This innovative long-term approach to foreshore management allows the City to make the best use of gravel and driftwood cleared from public boat launches from May through September each year. Soft shore restorations are also essential in view of anticipated rise is sea/tidal levels linked to climate change.
Video posted on the City’s YouTube channel demonstrates how restored shorelines at Ellis Park along Hwy 19A weathered the powerful waves during November 2011 storms. The City of Campbell River has also restored marine shore habitat at Dick Murphy Park and at other locations along the Island Highway (Click here to read more about the Green Shores Repairs ). Beaches in these locations were re-contoured using native materials. Campbell River’s soft-shore restoration work at Dick Murphy Park received a gold level rating from the Green Shores Technical Working Group, a project of the Stewardship Centre for BC.