By Kenneth Chan |
A massive new regional park in Metro Vancouver, about 20 years in the making, is set to open this weekend to provide the region’s residents with another protected natural area and breathing space.
By Kenneth Chan |
A massive new regional park in Metro Vancouver, about 20 years in the making, is set to open this weekend to provide the region’s residents with another protected natural area and breathing space.
The 860-acre Surrey Bend Regional Park is located on the northeastern corner of Surrey’s Guildford neighbourhood along the edge of the Fraser River, just across from Barnston Island. It is framed by the Fraser River to the north, Parson’s Channel to the east, and a diagonal CN railway line to the west and south.
Surrey Bend boasts one of the Lower Mainland’s largest bogs and one of the Lower Fraser’s last remaining large, non-dyked areas, with most of the park sitting less than five metres above sea level and subject to flooding. Its floodplain forests, marshes, and thickets – all dependent on tidal flows and seasonal flooding – are ecologically significant.