CrescentRockBeach_ENVIRONMENT

SUN has assumed a stewardship role in the protection of the environment at Crescent Rock Beach.

We believe that the BNSF trains with their tanker cars of dangerous goods, toxic chemicals and petroleum products are a serious threat to the marine ecology of Boundary Bay. The Ocean Park bluffs are geologically unstable and prone to landslides during winter rains. There have already been 9 derailments from mudslides across the shores of the peninsula and we are afraid that a future accident will pollute a large portion of this cross-border waterway.

BNSF tanker cars rolling above Crescent Rock Beach

It's for this reason that we endorse SmartRail's call to have these rails moved to a safer inland rail corridor away from the beach. SUN would like to see this railway placed in the same corridor with the planned high-speed rail between Vancouver and Seattle. The bluff lands could then become a Metro Vancouver park (Kwomais Point Park) with the existing rail bed turned into a nature path (Boundary Bay Nature Trail) connecting onto the Delta dike trail and running from the Peace Arch to Tsawwassen.

Nav Canada has seen fit to move the approach path for the Vancouver Airport to above the waters of Boundary Bay and Crescent Rock Beach. SUN believes that environmental consideration should have been part of their decision, especially since the waters of the bay are part of the Pacific Flyway for migratory ducks and shore birds. SUN is lobbying Nav Canada and all levels of government to have the new flight vector rerouted away from Crescent Rock Beach, removing this constant source of noise pollution.

Metro Vancouver has applied to ship Lower Mainland garbage via rail into the U.S., most probably on the BNSF rail line along Crescent Rock Beach. If this plan is implemented it will result in the shipment of 600,000 tons of solid waste by rail on a yearly basis amounting to an additional 48,000 rail garbage cars rolling along the shores of Boundary Bay and the beaches of the peninsula. SUN opposes these "trash trains" and has made our position known to the Metro Vancouver Board, area politicians and various media organizations throughout the region. We hope that a made-in-B.C. solution can be found for Metro Vancouver's waste problems instead of dumping it onto our neighbours to the south and have lobbied B.C.'s Environment Minister not to agree to Met-Van's proposal.

Litter and floating debris are a continuing problem along this remote shoreline. We ask all visitors to this area to take their garbage with them along with any other man-made item they may find. Please do not bring glass containers to the beach for obvious reasons and if you smoke cigarettes, realize that the filters are not biodegradable.

Campfires consume the driftwood and leave black chunks of charcoal on the sand that the tides move across the shore. Please observe the beach fire ban not only for aesthetics but to reduce the fire risk to the inaccessible bluff hillside.

Because of fecal coliform concerns, it is not advisable to bring dogs to this beach in summer. Take them instead to the Blackie Spit off-leash dog park at Crescent Beach. Please do not use the beach as your own private outhouse. There are public washrooms located at the Beecher St. Community Centre at Crescent Beach and at the change room building at White Rock's West beach. If you must answer the call of nature, find a spot in the woods of the bluff and bury it so that it may decompose naturally without contaminating the ocean water with bacteria.

SUN asks that you not disturb any flora or fauna in this environmentally sensitive area and leave only footprints in the sand to mark your time spent at Crescent Rock Beach.