The Rock Report - March 2007

The provincial government has jurisdiction over the shore at Crescent Rock Beach and is now being approached by SUN to have official signage posted at its two shoreline entrances and three staircases. In order to limit conflicts between naturists and those who might object to the sight of the normal human form, SUN wants to have naturist beach boundary plus etiquette signs posted for this year's sun tan season.

The Skinny-dippers Swim Club has announced they will file legal action against the City of Surrey to have their nude swim reinstated at the Newton Wave Pool. SUN hopes that Surrey Council will reverse the decision which concluded that swimmers were not wearing "appropriate bathing attire". The proper swimsuit for a nude swim is the one you were born in.

 

Slide Debris by BNSF Tracks
Picture by Don Pitcairn

The bluffs above Crescent Rock Beach continued to slide in the recent heavy rains. There were eight mudslides that occurred on the BNSF tracks this month (see photos). A freight train hit one of these near Crescent Beach forcing the cancellation of Amtrak service for 24 hours, and then the hillside next to the Coldicutt trail collapsed burying the rails in 4-5 feet of mud curtailing Amtrak for yet another 48 hours. While too unsafe for passenger trains, freight trains with dangerous goods and inhalation hazard chemicals such as chlorine gas and ammonia were allowed to roll through this rail corridor during the Amtrak closures. SUN's opinion is if it's unsafe for train passengers to cross this area, it's too dangerous to be shipping volatile and lethal chemicals across a known landslide threat that has already produced 9 previous derailments from mudslides.

We believe BNSF is playing "railway roulette" with the lives of peninsula residents and the marine environment of Boundary Bay by continuing this highly questionable practice. SUN is working with SmartRail to put an end to this, hoping to have these rails closed to all train traffic in the event of slide activity until the soils of the bluff has been given ample time to drain.