THANK YOU JOE FOY AND WILDERNESS COMMITTEE

Joe Foy ,National Campaign Director of the Wildernesss Committe sent the following letter to Mayor and Council on Monday July 9,2012.

 

July 9,2012
To: Township of Langley Mayor and Councillors
Re: proposed sale of township lands located at NE corner 252nd Street and 84th Avenue approximately 21 acres in 3 titles

To: Mayor and Council, Langley Township

I am the National Campaign Director for the Wilderness Committee. We are a Canadian nature conservation organization, headquartered in Vancouver BC. We have about 60,000 members and supporters from coast to coast to coast.
I was born in 1954 in the township, and spent my youth in Langley and in Surrey along the border between the two municipalities. My parents and several of my siblings still live in the area.
Last week I received a phone call from concerned citizens, followed by several information packages about a proposed sale of township lands located at the North East corner of 252nd Street and 84th Avenue, approximately 21 acres in 3 titles. I am informed that many local people have only recently become informed of the Township’s intention, as there was no signage of the notice of intention to sell on any of these lands – and that people are generally opposed to the sale of these lands. People believe that the lands have a very high natural area value and they put a high value on the fact that these are publically-owned lands. There is some information that suggests people thought that these lands had been set aside as parkland.
I am informed that this site is covered in 80 to 100 year old conifer trees, but that because there are some deciduous trees as well, and that the forest has been designated as a mixed forest by the Township. I am told that the Township has had owned these lands since acquiring them for almost nothing in the 1930s and 40s. It may very well be that some of the facts that I have are wrong or inaccurate in some way. But, because the sale of these lands appears to be moving so fast, it is very hard to gather properly all the relevant information in such a short time. That’s why our organization asks that Mayor and Council cancel or at least defer the sale of these lands until a reasonable period of time is provided to seek greater public input and information from the residents of Langley regarding these old forested lands. I know that older forests such as this are rare in Langley and that further investigation may reveal that this is the only one remaining on lands that the Langley Township actually owns. I ask that Council take the time to review the unique value of this old forested property and the possible preservation of this property for all residents of Langley.
In closing I would say that the logging of old growth forest in Langley and Surrey did not start until the 1880s. Less than fifty years later, in 1929 there was a public debate about what to do with the last remaining significant stand of old growth forest, located at Surrey’s Green Timbers. Sadly it was cut down. Perhaps, if the right decisions are made, in another 100 or 150 years this Langley stand of old forest will once again approach it’s former old growth forest grandeur.

Sincerely,

Joe Foy
Wilderness Committee National Campaign Director

 Obviously things have changed a little since but I think it is fair to say that the Township has only really acted on the first sentence that is boldfaced.