Fraser Valley Checklist Boundaries, historical

[Larry Cowan]

I haven't visited the site in quite a long time so bare with me.

I am in the process of putting together my annual "BCFO Listers’ Corner" article and was asked for the boundaries for the Fraser Valley Checklist. In the past the checklist boundaries were spelled out quite succinctly and there was a map showing visually the boundary limits. These don’t seem to be available anymore.

The historic boundaries do not correspond to the eBird vision of the Fraser Valley checklist boundaries.

Have the boundaries been changed and if so what have they been changed too.
The eBird boundaries for checklist areas don’t mesh with historical checklist boundaries for most areas around the province including the Fraser Valley and the Okanagan checklists. Manning Park never used to be included in the Fraser Valley or the Okanagan as they do in eBird.

HELP !

[oldfulica]

Jan 17, 2021 12:59:24 GMT -8 Larry Cowan said:

I haven't visited the site in quite a long time so bare with me.

I am in the process of putting together my annual "BCFO Listers’ Corner" article and was asked for the boundaries for the Fraser Valley Checklist. In the past the checklist boundaries were spelled out quite succinctly and there was a map showing visually the boundary limits. These don’t seem to be available anymore.

The historic boundaries do not correspond to the eBird vision of the Fraser Valley checklist boundaries.

Have the boundaries been changed and if so what have they been changed too.
The eBird boundaries for checklist areas don’t mesh with historical checklist boundaries for most areas around the province including the Fraser Valley and the Okanagan checklists. Manning Park never used to be included in the Fraser Valley or the Okanagan as they do in eBird.

HELP !

You might want to email Gord direct Larry.

[Gord]

Larry, nice to hear from you; hope all's well.

I'll see how I can help but as I've pondered your question, I've realized I'm not certain. To share my conclusion first, I think boundaries were the result of different groups making decisions based on what made sense at the time? (at risk of putting words in others' mouths) I know some of the 'decisions' out here were as such.

When I started putting data together about 18 years ago I originally worked from the boundaries from the Vancouver Natural History Society checklist put together by several dedicated birders. These efforts certainly helped get a Fraser Valley version started to which I'm thankful.

The boundary at that time for Metro Vancouver at the east end was Bradner Road/288th Street. It also included all of Golden Ears Provincial Park. That made sense to include the park as if you look at the map of the FVRD Electoral Area F much of the park in in that Electoral Area. But it's quite a squiggly line and good luck figuring out where one is standing exactly. Well, not maybe now given all the technology we have available in our hands that I never dreamed of 20 years ago.

Here is a link to the FVRD WebMap. maps.fvrd.ca/portal/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=eae55e6da5f14e11a9a5e07a78f339c5

So when the Fraser Valley created their boundary eastwards, we likewise figured hey might as well include all of Manning Park for the same reasons I assume Golden Ears was included. It was like that for some time until eBird came along and brought to light a possible solution of following regions. Made sense and given that eBird looks to be here to stay and is leader in data collection efforts, it made even further sense to parallel those efforts. So, as it stands now, Fraser Valley Checklist area is the Fraser Valley Regional District boundaries.

Challenge comes in from when past lists or data was collected using older boundaries as Larry knows all too well. I'm not sure what to do about that, I'm sorry! And further to that, there's nothing to say that lines do not get redrawn again in the future to which even eBird will have to respond to. What happens when a township, say, gets amalgamated into a different Regional District (or County in eBird speak). It's something that does happen and will happen again somewhere in North America. Someone's list in County A might all of a sudden become part of County B.

Not sure this helps, but wanted to share what I could. Looking forward to further discussion. Good luck, Larry. Thanks for all your efforts over the years.

[Larry Cowan]

Hi Gord, Yes it has been a long time. Hope all is well with you also. My memory, with age, isn't what it used to be. I seem to recall the old boundaries were west from the Vancouver Checklist boundary, east to somewhere around, if not exactly, the Hope Slide. South to the US border and north up the Fraser Canyon to maybe Boston Bar.

The Fraser Valley Regional District boundary appears to end at the height of land at Allison Pass. Certainly makes for difficult record keeping where FVRD ends and Okanagan-Similkameen starts and doesn't include all of Manning Park.

I will have to make an executive decision before I finish my BCFO "Listers' Corner".

I'll email you a better representation of the official FVRD boundaries.

Thanks
Larry

[Larry Cowan]

Don't know where the imoji came from.

[Gord]

Thanks, Larry. Yes, it's a tough line to follow along the east side of the boundary. Allison Pass at Manning is where the boundary is crossed when on the highway. Strawberry Flats and the ski hill in Manning Park are however in the FVRD.

West in Abbotsford the FVRD boundary it's almost exactly in between Lefeuvre Road and 272nd Street. I think there are some interesting sightings that toe the line between boundaries. Many found by Glen Ryder including a Green-tailed Towhee which I think regardless of how the boundaries have been viewed, has always resided in Metro Vancouver.

I like the eBird model and perhaps moving forward it will provide some consistency. The Vancouver boundary included Point Roberts USA at one point and might still do so. I can see how that made sense at the time given that little bit of land was basically part of BC. If nothing more, I think all the examples we've mention shows the arbitrary nature of boundaries that were drawn up during different times and by different people.