Provincial regulators are seeking input from the public on a proposed shoreline stabilization project on Salt Spring, meant to protect a row of island properties above Baker Beach from erosion without using “hard” shore armouring.
A comment period will run until Nov. 13, according to a licence of occupation application filed with the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, who are considering the application for a 560-metre strip of provincial Crown land fronting six Booth Bay waterfront parcels between Quarry Drive and Baker Road.
Several property owners have applied together to install the erosion protection, using principles from the Stewardship Centre for B.C.’s pilot Green Shores program, according to submitted documents, a “nature-based” climate adaptation design standard encouraged by Salt Spring’s Official Community Plan that minimizes hard armour seawalls in favour of non-uniform rock clusters, vegetation enhancement and “beach nourishment” –– sand and gravel placed at the toe of the eroding slope.
Unlike hard armouring –– such as bulkheads and seawalls –– Green Shores design allows for the continuation of natural ecological processes, according to program literature, such as littoral drift and the establishment of coastline vegetation, while not completely altering beach or backshore areas.
The application estimates some 85 loads of material to be either trucked or barged in, with irrigation for new native vegetation planted on the shoreline to come from each homeowner’s water supply, according to the application, which notes no plans to encroach into riparian areas –– and intends to remove invasives during the project.
“The design basis is based on coastal sediment processes and protection of the natural environment,” according to the application, adding planting would be “done by hand, and on a plant-by-plant basis to avoid sedimentation into the marine environment.”
Baker Beach is used by residents and visitors alike; there are two Capital Regional District-maintained staircases nearby for public access –– currently armoured with boulders –– and while the application notes access will be “unimpeded,” it points out there may be areas where pedestrians find themselves “walking over increased thickness of beach sediment (gravels) placed during beach nourishment.”
For information about the application or to comment, visit comment.nrs.gov.bc.ca/applications?clidDtid=1415573. To learn more about the Green Shores standards, visit stewardshipcentrebc.ca/green-shores-home.