Iona Island Biophysical Baseline Data Collection Field Program

Client:

Worley Canada Services Ltd.

Location:

Richmond, British Columbia, Canada

Dates:

May 2023 to On-going

Background:

The Metro Vancouver board has endorsed a final conceptual design for the Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant (IIWWTP) Projects that includes a wastewater treatment plant upgrade and a suite of ecological restoration project for Iona Island and its foreshore. The primary objective of the Biophysical and Baseline Data Collection and Long-term Monitoring Plan project is to complete biophysical surveys to characterize the existing conditions across the upland areas of Iona Island and to inform detailed design of the park and ecological projects. The project will be completed at Iona Island in Richmond, BC between May 2023 and June 2025.

Services Provided:

Hatfield was retained by Worley to support execution of the Biophysical and Baseline Data Collection and Long-term Monitoring Plan project for Metro Vancouver, focusing on the terrestrial ecosystems, vegetation, and wildlife components. This included: 1) a desktop review of existing data, publicly available data sources, and other government literature sources to provide a summary of current baseline conditions and existing data gaps, 2) the development of workplans to structure baseline data collection surveys, and 3) the collection and summary of baseline data to provide a more comprehensive overview of existing conditions to inform detailed design of the park and associated ecological projects.

The following surveys were conducted in the terrestrial environment of Iona Island to further inform understanding of the temporal and spatial presence and distribution of vegetation and wildlife:

• Terrestrial ecosystem mapping, rare plant surveys, and invasive species inventory to assess presence and distribution of each vegetation sub-component.
• Bird surveys to assess the presence and distribution of land birds, water birds, and marsh birds.
• Mammal surveys to assess the presence and distribution of small and large terrestrial mammals.
• Herptile surveys to assess the presence and distribution of frogs, toads, salamanders, turtles, and snakes.
• Terrestrial invertebrate surveys to assess the presence and distribution of moths, butterflies, and dragonflies