Tuesday - May 13, 2025 - $6.3 million for climate resiliency in Fraser Valley

Author

Grace Kennedy
May 13, 2025

🌩 High 18C

Good morning!

I am not a wine person—except for one bottle. A decade ago, in my final months of university, I was introduced to Benjamin Bridge’s Nova 7. The wine marked the first time I realized that you didn’t have to mix wine with ginger ale to make it palatable.

My husband brought me back a bottle from his recent trip to Cape Breton, and I was concerned my memories wouldn’t hold up to my current, slightly more sophisticated palate. But I needn’t have worried. The sweet, slightly bubbly rosĂ© tasted just as good as it did a decade ago. The bouquet (which I think means smell in normal people terms) is described on the winery’s website as a “captivating medley of orange blossom and fresh lychee, interwoven with hints of white peach and rose.” I’m not sure I got all that from the glass, but it tasted so nice that I’m not going to disagree.

– Grace

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News

A future for Belmont Dairy Farm

John Walter Berry’s century-old Belmont Dairy Farm, located south of Langley’s Derek Doubleday Arboretum, could have a new future as a learning farm. đŸ“· Google Streetview; Google Maps

A historic Langley farm could become a space for community learning and agriculture, if council approves a new concept plan for the old dairy.

Related

A place to learn about food—and how to use a wheelbarrow

From 2021: The Langley Learning Farm helps local teens get more connected to their food

Need to Know

🏗 Abbotsford is looking to build a new arena under a private-public partnership [Abbotsford News]

🚔 Langley City says Langley Township’s takeover of a formerly shared police building is not related to the de-integration of the Langley RCMP [Langley Advance Times]

⛑ Harrison Hot Springs has received $40,000 for emergency preparedness projects, including first aid training and tech upgrades [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

🔧 About 20 Hope women got a free, hands-on course in car maintenance last month [Hope Standard]

🏕 Sweltzer Creek Campground in Cultus Lake will not open for camping this year [Fraser Valley Today]

đŸ©ș The number of applications from American nurses and doctors to work in BC has more than doubled since early April [CityNews]

✈ The number of Canadians taking trips to the United States is down for the fourth consecutive month [CTV]

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The Agenda

Chilliwack Creek, as seen from Schweyey Road near Chilliwack Mountain, will be the subject of a flood mitigation analysis by the City of Chilliwack thanks to provincial funding. đŸ“· Google Streetview

$6.3 million for climate resiliency in Fraser Valley

Half a dozen municipalities and First Nations will receive a combined $6.3 million to help prevent flooding and other disasters in the region—and nearly all the funding will be used on one bank erosion project near Hope.

The Peters First Nation has received $5 million from the provincial government’s Community Emergency Preparedness Fund to stabilize the shoreline on Peters Island. The nation is located off Highway 1 near Hope; its lands include a mainland reserve as well as an island in the Fraser River. The funding will protect and prevent erosion of the island's banks. The nation has been working on a variety of bank protection projects for years.

The remaining $1.3 million comes from the province’s Disaster Resilience and Innovation Funding program, which helps First Nations and municipalities better prepare for future disasters. Sq’ewqĂ©yl (Skowkale) First Nation, in partnership with the nearby Aitchelitz and Yakweakwioose nations, has received more than $486,000 to look at the specific risks of natural and climate disasters in their part of the Chilliwack region, and to develop community-based solutions.

The Fraser Valley Regional District has received more than $345,000 for a landslide hazard assessment of Boston Bar. A historic landslide was found above Boston Bar last year, and scientists were concerned about the potential impacts on the community in the future. (You can read The Current’s story on that here.) The funding will pay for much-needed assessments of the landslide, as well as the development of a new risk-management framework for landslides.

Also funded from the same pot is a regional resiliency plan focusing on drought, water scarcity, extreme temperatures, floods, and other geohazards, undertaken by the Leq'ĂĄ:mel First Nation and SemĂĄ:th First Nation for $200,000. The Aitchelitz First Nation will spend nearly $148,000 on a cost-benefit analysis of flood risk mitigation strategies for the nation, and the City of Chilliwack will spend $110,000 on a flood mitigation analysis of Chilliwack Creek near Chilliwack Mountain.

In the Fraser Canyon, Lytton will also be receiving $325,000 to enhance the climate resiliency of the new infrastructure in the community. (You can read our story on the energy-efficient homes being built here.)

A full list of funded projects is available online.

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Catch up

Bigger Than Me: How Aaron Pete is building community and connection

From 2022: Aaron Pete's youth had its challenges. But the Chawathil man is now building a community of role models with his podcast Bigger Than Me.

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