Fate of the Fraser

December 1995 - January 1996

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.

River cleanup a test of our resolve

by David Suzuki

Human beings have always survived by their wits. Even with simple technologies, prehistoric people overexploited resources and extinguished species. But in diverse ecosystems around the world, people developed sophisticated knowledge bases that enabled them to exploit their surroundings without exceeding the local "carrying capacity."

Only recently has the explosive growth in human numbers, technological power and consumption given our species the power to alter the biophysical makeup of the Earth. Nothing illustrates the modern dilemma better than the Fraser River in British Columbia.

The Fraser is one of the truly great rivers of the world, draining more than one-quarter of BC's total land mass. The lower Fraser supports more than 300 species of birds, 45 mammals, 11 amphibians, and five reptiles. (Already 132 of the plant and 10 bird species are rare or extremely rare.)

Twenty-one million hectares of forest surround the Fraser basin and provide a livelihood for more than 44,000 people. But a very conservative estimate is that the annual allowable cut of timber exceeds the sustainable level by at least 14 per cent.

The Fraser is famous for fish. The river supports six salmon species and 57 other fish species including the giant sturgeon. Eleven fish species are considered rare, imperiled or critically imperiled. Of BC's total salmon catch, the Fraser contributes 66 per cent of the sockeye and 60 per cent of the pink, supplying work for 15,000 people.

For millennia, this great waterway was a corridor for movement of wildlife and aboriginal people, a habitat for fish, birds and mammals, and the watershed serving vast forests. So it has been a magnet for human beings. Today, 2.4 million people, over two-thirds of BC's population, use the waters of the Fraser daily.

Greater Vancouver is Canada's fastest growing urban centre. The human population is expected to reach 3 million by 2021, a 70 per cent increase in 30 years, while the number of automobiles has grown by 30 per cent between 1986 and 1992 to nearly a million cars.

Human activity has transformed the river. Since 1990, 82 per cent of the salt marshes of the Fraser estuary and 95 per cent of the wetlands of the north arm have disappeared. Only two of the 50 original free-flowing streams in Vancouver still exist. Since 1967, more than 36,000 hectares of farmland have been converted to urban use.

Today there are few clues to tell us Vancouver rests on the delta of a mighty river. The great flood plain east of Vancouver that was drained to create rich farmland is being converted to immense housing developments, garish shopping malls and industrial parks.

On May 1, 1995, the Outdoor Recreation Council of BC, representing more than 50 recreation and conservation organizations, listed the Fraser as the province's most endangered river.

On May 29, the Fraser Basin Management Board released its study which sounded a major alarm and cited a litany of the causes of the river's demise: logging operations that stir up sediment; pulp mills that release toxic effluent; dams and diversions of tributaries; and landfills that leak into watersheds.

It listed gravel pits, industries, farm and golf courses (leaking manure, insecticides, herbicides and fertilizers), steel plants, paint factories, rafts of logs treated with chemical preservatives, emissions of vehicles, and 1 million cubic metres of untreated sewage (93 per cent from the lower Fraser) that are pumped daily into the estuary.

The report states that salvaging the river will require a major shift in attitude: "As our population grows and we continue to consume at unsustainable rates, we use up our natural capital and our range of choices diminishes. We will never 'catch up' by repairing our previous mistakes and reacting to today's demands. We need to look further into the system to make fundamental changes in how we choose to live in the basin."

The Fraser River is a symbol for ecosystems everywhere. Its fate will tell us whether we can change our attitude and behaviour to live in harmony with a natural world that supports us.