Let’s celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Burns Bog Ecological Conservancy Area, the BBECA!
The Burns Bog Conservation Society is planning to partner with other organizations to expand habitat restoration for re-establishing species diversity and resiliency in Burns Bog. Your kind support is necessary for us to accomplish this. Please consider giving the Burns Bog Conservation Society a donation to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the ‘rescue’ of the Burns Bog Ecological Conservancy Area.
On March 24, 2004, Delta, the Greater Vancouver Regional District, the Province of British Columbia, and Environment Canada collaborated to purchase 2,042 hectares (5,045 acres) at the core of Burns Bog from land speculators, so this ecological jewel could be managed to ensure its functioning as a raised peat bog ecosystem.
The largest raised peat bog on the west coast of North America, Burns Bog is a rare ecosystem hosting a variety of unique wetland vegetation communities that support rare and endangered plant and wildlife species. As “The “Lungs of the Lower Mainland”, Burns Bog performs vital ecological functions including water purification and storage, flood reduction and control, and slowing the rate of climate change by scrubbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converting it into plants that get permanently stored as peat when the plants die.
Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, several development proposals for the Bog were floated, including housing, industry, a port, a racetrack, a golf course, a shopping centre, and a theme/amusement park. In 1988 the Burns Bog Conservation Society was formed to raise community awareness about the natural values of the Bog through education. The Delta community and others effectively insisted that the Bog should be protected. Scientific studies, including an ecosystem review of Burns Bog in the 1990’s, found it had high potential as a protected area and determined the factors crucial to preserving the Bog as a functioning ecosystem. Public pressure and this scientific work led to the acquisition of the Bog lands and are reflected in a Conservation Covenant and a Management Plan for the BBECA. Despite these efforts, land development at the periphery of the Bog continues to threaten the ecological integrity of this fragile ecosystem. Your help is needed to protect Burns Bog.
