NV DISTRICT COUNCIL DECISION Eagle nest issue to be considered further NORTH VANCOUVER District Council received in a re- cent meeting further recommendations from staff on ways to preserve an old eagle nesting tree near the end of Dollar Road in Dollarton. Council also voted to hear another delegation from Mary Huntington, the leader of the girl guides in Second Seymour Com- pany, Huntington and her guides have led the fight to preserve the huge eagle nest, which is located in an ancient Douglas fir. District staff recently met with environment ministry wildlife biologist Dave Dunbar and with naturalist, parks and forestry rep- resentatives. District council has already set aside three lots to create a 40-metre buffer zone around the nesting tree in the Roche Point Land Development housing project. ; North Vancouver District staff has recommended that trees be transplanted to the 40-metre buffer to help screen the nesting spot from human activity. As well, staff has recommended land clearing and house construc- tion on the adjacent lots take place between Aug. | and Feb. 1. to en- sure a minimum disruption during the mid-January through late July eagle nesting. It also recommended restrictive convenants be placed on the iots slated for house construction in an attempt to control the number of trees that will be removed. ‘The staff recommendations are based largely on advice from Dun- _ bar, who is a Lower Mainland wildlife biologist. He and other of- ficials met with district staff at the eagle nesting site last month. The staff. recommendations may not sit -well with Huntington and her guides, who had been calling for a further nine lots to be withheld from development to provide a full !00-metre buffer zone. The} recommendations | Thieves | ‘jransack | rf THE OWNER of a house ran- By PAUL HOU! Contributing Writer uphold council’s previous decision to only withhold 40° metres as a buffer. Council defeated a motion put forward by Ald. Joan Gadsby that would have denied Huntington's request 10 make a further ap- pearance before council. But in voting against her own motion, Gadsby said, ‘‘The intent of my motion when I made it at the time was to obtain the reports (of staff and the wildlife biologist) that we now have received...now with this report publicly available | am prepared to hear a delegation from Miss Huntington and the Seymour Guide Company.” - Ald. Mary Segal, as: the only alderman to support Gadsby’s ‘original motion, said, ‘‘I feel that allowing a delegation to appear on the same topic a second time is set- ting an unfortunate precedent. Furthermore, this council has the responsibility for making a deci- sion on the matter...and to delay things further by having the same group come as an additional dele- gation | think ‘is not going to help us to deal with the problem.” Commenting on Huntington’s request for another delegation, Mayor Marilyn Baker said, ‘‘I ful- ly appreciate that it will be an emotional plea and an emotional response that could be put forward equally as well in writing.” Ald. Bill Rodgers felt that Hun- tington ‘‘could assist council and we ought to hear her. The question that’s before council now is the degree of thinning of trees and that’s a completely new issue from that which Miss Huntington ad- dressed on the first occasion.”’ sacked by thieves Dec. 17 is offer- . ; ing a reward for information ‘leading to the return of stolen property and the arrest of those responsible for the break, enter and theft. Thieves entered the 4200-block Capilano Road home through a window ‘and took approximately $7,000 worth of goods including: jewelry, camera equipment and wrapped Christmas presents, The culprits went on to clean out the refrigerator, removing the 15- pound Christmas turkey, and even absconded with the family cat's food. ‘ “J don’t care that they stole the turkey, but they took my grand- mother’s’. wedding ring and girlfriend’s charm bracelet — sen- timental'stuff like that,”’ said theft victim Steve Austin: ° . Austin said the intruders had left a baseball bat by the front door in case they | were disturbed during the pillaging spree. He said the home of a neighbor tiving two doors down from his home was broken into and ran- sacked Dec. 22. This time thieves left- behind a fire poker by the front door. :"- 4 ' For more information on the Dec. 17 theft turn to the Informa- tion’ Wanted section of the classifieds in this issue of the News. Call 980-5534 with any in- formation on the incident... | AS FAST +10 10 VISIT PACKAGES A All extra wide SUPER- B BEDS for fast, safe, tanning . B with single or double face tanners. , @ * Super clean, private, air B conditioned rooms wath RB stereo. Dunbar commended district council for the action they have already taken in protecting the eagle nesting site. One of Dunbar’s. major recom- mendations to district staff was that council, ‘‘retain as many trees as possible, in particular conifers, 5 - Sunday, December 27, 1987 ~ North Shore News f in adjacent lots within a 100-metre | radius of the eagle nest to provide a screening cover.” Dunbar said eagles prefer to nest in areas where there is little or no human activity, but that they have been known tu adapt to nearby highways and houses. He suggested a platform could be constructed in a tree away from human activity and could serve as an alternative nesting site if the eagles reject the Roche Point site. The huge cagle nest, which is estimated to be about 12 feet in diameter and six feet deep. More eagle delegations heard DELEGATIONS FROM citizens concerned over the fate of an eagle nesting tree located in a Deep Cove housing development site pleaded with North Vancouver District Council recently to establish a minimum 100-metre buffer zone to protect the nest. Girl guide leader Mary Hun- tington, in her third appearance before council, came armed with a slide presentation and_ statistics about how other provinces and states protect eagle nesting sites. Huntington said, ‘‘Unless the nest site is protected with a habitat zone of a 100-metre radius, this nest is condemned to extinction.’ The nesting tree is located on municipally-owned Jands at the end of Dollar Road in Dollarton, and lots around the tree are slated to have housing built on them as part of the Roche Point Land . Development Project. Huntington said the states of Washington and Oregon both set 100-metre limits on any develop- ments around nesting trees and re- quire that no disruptive activity be allowed within 200 metres of the nesting site. Ontario has similar legislation, according to Huntington, and New Brunswick is the most restrictive of all with a 400-metre no activity zone around eagle nesting trees. Huntington used slides to show how exposed the Roche Point tree is to human activity in areas where there are no trees to act as a cover. Here’s wishing you and your family the very best over the holiday By PAUL HOULE Contributing Writer Council has already set aside three lots to create a 40-metre buf- fer zone and is considering a staff report that recommends restric- tions on building activity during the eagle nesting season and the planting of more trees in strategic / areas tO act as a camouflage to | human disruption. i Also appearing before district/ council was Allan Burgesse of the Vancouver Natural History Socie- ly. Burgesse supported Huntington in calling for a minimum 100- metre buffer. Said Burgesse, ‘‘We feel that, the Roche Point area should be; set aside until such time as that nest is } i proven without a doubt longer be inhabited.’’ Burgesse questioned whether restrictive convenants could be ef- fectively enforced to prevent trees being removed on lots slated for development. Huntington said, ‘‘Our plea to- night to you is to abandon the present stage two plans of the Roche Point Development and in its place to establish an ecological reserve encompassing the area of phase two, or to.instate a mini- /mum of a 100-metre radius buffer around the nesting site.’’ Council will not make a decision on the nesting site until the new year. -The nest is located high atop a 400-year-old Douglas fir and can be seen from the Second Narrows Bridge. B.C.’s environment ministry does not have clear guidelines for protecting eagle nesting grounds - although other provinces and the United States do. to no Personal injury] Ardagh ‘Hunter Turner Barristers & Solicitors #300- 1401 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver 986-4366 Free Initial Consultation Washington ¢ Large Fancy Red/Golden . Delicious, Red season, fromthe management. and staff at 1st Class Produce. “THE FINEST QUALITY AT THE LOWEST PRICE.” PRICES. EFFECTIVE DEC. 28-JAN. 3 CALIFORNIA ° LARGE. 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