Delta council started the process this week to protect more acreage in and around Burns Bog.
Civic politicians approved the transfer of 400 hectares (1,000 acres) of Delta-owned land, including the Delta Nature Reserve, into a joint ownership with Metro Vancouver. The parcels will also be added to the Burns Bog Ecological Conservancy Area and a federal conservation covenant, which protects the land from development or farming.
Delta's head of human resources and corporate planning, Sean McGill, said council had previously directed staff to add the Delta Nature Reserve, which is the only part of the bog that is accessible to the public, and other Delta-owned parcels that have bog ecological attributes to the conservancy area.
"It's very exciting," he said Monday night. "It's a positive step forward."
The Burns Bog Conservation Society also praised the move.
"Delta council deserves credit for keeping a promise made in 2004," said society president Eliza Olson. "It has taken a long time to happen. It's worth it when you realize that 400 hectares of bog stores 10 times more carbon than the same area of forest in nearby Whistler or Port Coquitlam."
In his report to council, McGill also said the conservation covenant will need to be amended to recognize and allow for continued public access to the Delta Nature Reserve portion of the bog.
Mayor Lois Jackson called the move "really heartwarming."
"This is something that will be here forever for everyone," she said. "We've got well over 6,000 acres and that's just fantastic."
The move will increase the total protected area by 20 per cent, to a total of just less than 2,500 hectares (6,177 acres).
In 2004, four partners -federal, provincial, regional and municipal governments - jointly purchased 2,042 hectares (5,045 acres) of Burns Bog to be protected as an ecological conservancy area.
Just last year, the bog finally received a Ramsar designation. The international recognition, created from the Convention on Wetlands held in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971, is an intergovernmental treaty meant to embody the commitment of member countries to maintain the ecological character of their Wetlands of International Importance.
The operating agreement between Delta and Metro Vancouver for the new parcels should be finalized later this year.
The David Suzuki Foundation congratulated Delta for adding the land to the conservancy area.
"This is great news for wetlands conservation and a model we hope other Lower Mainland municipalities will follow," said Michelle Molnar, an environmental economist with the foundation.
