Situated on the shores of the Fraser River and nestled against the Coast Mountains, Maple Ridge is located 45 kilometers east of Vancouver, the population exceeds 75,000 on 33,000 acres of land.
For the past 5+ years ERA has been working with the District of Maple Ridge, the first municipality to join the CERP program. The program was launched in September 2005, on BC Rivers Day. Since that time, approximately 75,000 trees have been planted.
ERA has been working in conservation greenbelts, dedicated parklands, as well as municipal parks which are currently being restored. Greenbelts are parks, undeveloped land and open space near communities. They are set aside to reduce urban sprawl and help meet environmental goals for clean water, air quality, fish and wildlife habitat. However, just because greenbelts are "green" it does not mean they are fully functional nor will remain as "green" as we see them today. The greenbelts of Maple Ridge developed naturally, but most were logged for timber, while others were cleared for farmland.
A serious ecological problem, common to all Maple Ridge greenbelts, is the vast stands of red alder. Red alder is a native, pioneering tree that establishes on mineral soil, following disturbance. Once established, alder grows quickly forming dense stands. Alder is short lived. Up to 60% of the alder in some Maple Ridge greenbelts are dead or dying. It is expected that in 20-years the majority of alder we now see in the greenbelts will be dead, leaving behind leafless and decaying snags that pose risk to people and the watersheds they initially protected.
Conifer trees - the real giants of the coastal rain forest, and those responsible for maintaining and creating fish habitat, soil stability and water quality in perpetuity - do not regenerate well under alder.This is due to alder's fast growth and tendency to propagate in dense stands. Once alder dominates a site, it snatches all available light from understory trees and brush, slowing their growth or suppressing it entirely.
The CERP projects remove underlying brush and invasive species and replace them with conifer trees to mimic the natural second phase of a forest's seccession.