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Winter ice storms damage Metro Vancouver, Fraser Valley parks

Winter storms that covered the Fraser Valley in a thick layer of ice in December and February wreaked havoc in the region’s parks, causing thousands of dollars in damage.
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Metro Vancouver regional parks crews clear the main access road at Aldergrove Regional Park following ice storms that brought down trees and branches in the park.

Winter storms that covered the Fraser Valley in a thick layer of ice in December and February wreaked havoc in the region’s parks, causing thousands of dollars in damage.

Freezing rain, snow and ice left thousands of people without power and turned roads from Langley to Hope into sheets of ice on Dec. 30 and into the new year. Then, last month, snow, freezing rain and rain hit the Valley again, with the worst of it in Chilliwack and Abbotsford.

“It was just chaos from downed trees, and power lines were down, and telephone lines,” said Doug Petersen, Metro Vancouver’s supervisor of park operations for east-area regional parks, of the December ice storm. “Everything was down all around the area.”

Metro has five parks in Langley and Abbotsford, two of which were heavily damaged by the December storm.

Petersen said an extreme buildup of ice snapped branches, and twisted and broke trees, which blocked roads and trails, and damaged infrastructure, such as a building, fences and railings on bridges and boardwalks.

Aldergrove and Matsqui Trail regional parks were closed for about 12 days while staff from across the regional park system assessed the damage, came up with a plan, cleared parking lots and trail corridors, looked for hazards and dealt with fallen trees. At that point, it was safe to let the public back in, even though branches were still piled around the parks.

Derby Reach, Campbell Valley and Deas Island regional parks saw only rain and suffered no damage.

“The boundary of Langley was kind of the line,” said Petersen.

To date it has taken more than 1,250 person hours to deal with the damage, with at least another 250 hours required to finish clearing the debris. Tree removal and repairing damage to park facilities has cost a total of $12,000.

Petersen said park visitors may notice piles of branches and a thinner canopy. Come spring, it’ll likely be a different story.

“It’s hard to say how the forest is going to respond, but I do feel that the forest will heal and the trees will grow leaves and everything will sprout again,” said Petersen.

Following the December storm, Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) parks didn’t suffer damage that required money outside of the regular budget, though Thompson and Neilson regional parks in Electoral Area E and Mission, and Sumas Mountain Inter-Regional Park in Abbotsford, were closed due to storm damage. Neilson was closed for a week, Thompson was closed for two weeks and Sumas Mountain was closed for more than a month.

FVRD spokeswoman Jennifer Kinneman said the Sumas closure was longer than the others because neither regional district manages the road leading to the park and the provincial Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations and B.C. Hydro were needed to safely reopen the route.

The February storm caused significant damage to Island 22 and Hillkeep regional parks in Chilliwack. The cost for cleaning up the debris and looking after damaged trees was $50,000.