Real Estate Foundation Funds Hazard Land Study

"I was sitting in my vehicle talking to Ministry of Transportation and Highways officials at Tête Jaune about a small debris torrent at Goslin Creek. While we were talking, trees above us started to snap at the top and a wall of mud, debris, rock, and trees came sliding out of the mountain. I joke now that a Department of Highways truck can go backwards faster than forwards. The result of that debris torrent was that the provincial government ended up buying out 90 percent of the lots at the Goslin Creek subdivision." Gord Simmons, Planning Department, Regional District of Fraser - Fort George.

Simmons’ story illustrates the suddenness and unpredictability of slides, in this case a debris torrent. Debris torrents are liquid landslides. They occur frequently in British Columbia as do many other hazards such as avalanches, flooding and landslides. This torrent happened in the Robson Valley, a beautiful area situated in the Rocky Mountain Trench between Prince George and Jasper, Alberta. Approximately 240 kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide, the Valley contains the Villages of McBride, and Valemount, populations 740 and 1303 respectively, and four rural communities: Dome Creek, Dunster, Crescent Spur-Loos, and Tête Jaune, total population approximately 2038. Forestry, agriculture, service and tourism, primarily ecotourism—snowmobiling, heli-skiing, mountain climbing, wilderness hiking—are the economic mainstays.

“Communities in the Robson Valley are looking to the future, planning for growth in industry, tourism, and housing. It’s a beautiful place to live, an attractive place for retirement,” says Terry McEachen, Director of Development Services, Regional District of Fraser-Fort George. “And because it’s such a scenic site, more people will want either to visit or to move here. More people means more development will be needed, whether its residential or commercial. Growth here won’t be as rapid as it has been in places like the Okanagan or the Kootenays, but it will be steady.”

As populations increase in small towns and rural communities throughout the province, the problem of natural hazards becomes more important than ever. Many questions are raised. Where to build? Where not to build? What are the potential risks? Can they be mitigated? “We’ve known about potential hazards in the Valley for a long time,” says Gord Simmons. “Landslides, flooding, avalanches, torrents—we have them. Alluvial fans present one of the greatest challenges. They’re caused by debris that’s built up over time at the base of mountains where the streams comes out. An alluvial fan can cover a 100 acres. After a heavy rain or snow melt, the stream can change its channel and flow anywhere over the fan. There is no way to predict the course. The Valley is enclosed by mountains, so alluvial fans are a common problem. The Ministries of the Environment and Transportation and Highways know where some of them are. We’d like to know where most of them are.”

To this end, the District proposes to conduct a Hazard Land Study. Its purpose is two-fold: to identify land that is potentially hazardous for any number of reasons—avalanche, landslides, mud or debris torrents, and flooding—and to develop a methodology to determine what level of risk is acceptable to enable development to take place. The study will designate areas where building and land development should not be permitted. It will also identify those areas where some building and development could be permitted with remedial work and areas that would be considered safe for building and development.

“Historically, there have been two ways to identify hazardous areas,” says Gord Simmons. “For subdivision development, Ministry of Transportation and Highways personnel make an educated guess based on a lot of previous experience and decide whether further geotechnical expertise is needed to determine the nature and probability of the hazard. In the second approach, used for residential construction, the building inspector concludes that further geotechnical study should be done and makes this a condition of the building permit.”

“But at present, there is no consistent way to let purchasers know about potential hazards ahead of time,” adds McEachen. “Purchasers have to be sharp before they buy,” he stresses. “In other words, they have to come to us to ask about potential hazards before buying property. Asking a Realtor is often unproductive because Realtors don’t necessarily know about hazards so they don’t have the answers to their client’s questions. This study will produce a map that will designate the majority of hazardous areas and will become part of the Official Community Plan. Everyone will know beforehand what and where the majority of hazards are.”

Once completed the study will greatly benefit potential buyers of property, land developers, builder and Realtors. Buyers and Realtors will know in advance whether the property they are interested in is potentially hazardous. Developers will have some idea of where not to consider subdivision and where, with some remedial work, subdivision is possible. Builders will know ahead of time whether they can obtain a building permit, or whether they will be required to obtain a geotechnical engineer’s assessment.

“The Fraser Valley Regional District identified levels of risk in its region,” says McEachen.” We have to do the same for Robson Valley. We expect to put out a call to tender to engineering firms this spring. We’re also talking to people at the Northern Land Institute at the University of Northern British Columbia to partner for the Geographic Information Systems map-base part of the study. As well, the Ministry of the Environment and Ministry of Transportation and Highways have offered to review their data for us. We hope that our methodology will prove useful to other communities throughout the province.