Webinar - Growing Pains: re-using dredged sediment for coastal marsh resilience and flood protection in the Fraser River Delta, British Columbia

Growing Pains: re-using dredged sediment for coastal marsh resilience and flood protection in the Fraser River Delta, British Columbia

Eric Balke, MSc

Ducks Unlimited Canada

The Fraser River Delta is a Ramsar wetland of international importance and contains the largest estuary meeting the west coast of Canada. European settlement has extensively modified this low-lying delta, including the construction of a vast network of riverine and coastal dikes to protect communities and livelihoods from flooding. While local governments are making plans to protect their communities from sea-level rise, there is no plan to support ecological resilience of tidal ecosystems outside the dike. Each year approximately 2 million cubic metres of sediment are dredged from the river and disposed at sea – more than anywhere else in Canada - however two projects seek to demonstrate cost-effective approaches to locally re-use dredged sediment to support ecological and flood projection objectives. Through the Sturgeon Bank Sediment Enhancement Pilot Project and the Boundary Bay Living Dike Project, ENGOs, First Nations, and all levels of government are working together to test and evaluate two locally-designed, innovative, nature-based solutions to support tidal marsh ecological resilience and coastal flood protection. Eric Balke will describe and provide a progress update for these two innovative pilot projects in progress, and frame these initiatives within the broader context of the need for a paradigm shift with our relationship with sediment and begin working toward a roadmap for beneficial reuse of dredge in the Fraser River Delta.

SPEAKER