A wildlife permit was issued to Mountainside Quarries, which own rights to mine rock and gravel at “Quadling Quarry”, located at 40251 Quadling Road, Abbotsford. The permit will allow the company to remove a peregrine falcon nest on the property. The permit is being appealed. The appeal has the support of various nature clubs and organizations. Nature Vancouver has now signed on as an NGO in support of the appeal. Individuals can also support the appeal by emailing Environmental Appeal Board <eabinfo@gov.bc.ca> , or better yet, mailing the letter of support to the Environmental Appeal Board, PO Box 9425, Stn Prov Govt, Victoria, BC V8W 9V1 .

The supporting documents for the appeal are available from the following links:

Notice of Appeal of Christopher Shawn Kitt

Letter of Support — Chris Kitt Appeal

Response from Tom Plath

Tom Plath is a professional biologist and a long time member of Nature Vancouver.

I read with interest the item, in the March 8, 2021 issue of Nature Vancouver e-News, regarding the Peregrine Falcon nest at Quadling Quarry. Now for the rest of the story. I was retained by Mountainside to complete the mitigation for the Peregrines. Please see below, the photos of artificial boxes installed for the Peregrine Falcons. Three artificial nests have been installed on cliffs of Mt. Sumas and will be monitored for use. There is plentiful evidence that Peregrines readily take artificial nest boxes from sites in the UK, Germany and in several cities in Canada (Gahbauer et al 2015, Kettle et al 2018). A few studies actually show increased fledgling success with the use of artificial nest sites (Cade e al 1996). There are many cliff faces in the Lower Mainland but likely very few that have the micro-characteristics for nesting peregrines. Will keep NV updated on artificial box use. 

A status review of the Peregrine Falcon by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) in 2017 led to a designation of “Not at Risk” due to a significant rebound in populations across Canada the past few decades. The observed increase in the number of nesting territories over a 20-year period averaged 162% (+50% to +3233%) in southern Canada with subpopulations in southern Canada projected to continue to increase. Results of the 2015 BC nest inventory of Peregrines were the highest totals ever recorded for both peregrine subspecies in BC (Chutter 2016). 

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