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Contact Us
Fraser Valley Regional Office
Regional Manager: Marion Robinson
PO Box 3006
Mission, BC V2V 4J3
Tel: (604) 826-1661
Fax: (604) 826-6848
Email: mrobinson@fraserbasin.bc.ca
Regional Directors
Dave Barratt
Barb Strachan
Otis Jasper
Ken Becotte
Regional Boundaries
Even though by definition the Fraser Valley extends from Hope to the estuary of the Fraser River, the FBC Fraser Valley Region follows the boundaries of the Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) and includes all the communities in the FVRD. The Region begins at Boston Bar and includes the lower Fraser Canyon and the central Fraser Valley from Hope to the eastern boundaries of the GVRD. The Region extends from the US border on the south to the Chilliwack and Harrison River watersheds on the north.
Major Sustainability Issues in the Region
Major sustainability issues facing the region include flood hazard management, erosion, rapid population growth and urban sprawl, loss of agricultural land, transportation congestion, air pollution, improving aboriginal/non-aboriginal relations, maintaining healthy fisheries and fish habitat, crime prevention and other social risk factors, and conflicts over land use, particularly at the urban/rural interface.
Fraser Valley Regional FBC Programs
Go to Fraser Valley for information on
the regional programs.
See also: Basin Wide Programs
Major Watersheds
Chilliwack/Vedder
Columbia Valley/Cultus Lake
Coquihalla
Fraser
Harrison
Lillooet
Nahatlatch
Stave Lake
Sumas
Communities in the Region
Abbotsford
Boston Bar
Chilliwack
Harrison Hot Springs
Hope
Kent
Mission
Yale
Major Economic Activities
Agriculture
Construction
Education & Training
Fishing
Forestry & Forest Products Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Mining
Retail
Service Industries
Transportation & Utilities
Tourism & Recreation
General Description of the Region
The Fraser Valley Region is located east of Vancouver and has a population of approximately 240,000 people, or 9% of the total population of the Fraser Basin. The Fraser Valley is a broad, fertile floodplain on the Lower Fraser River that drains westward to the sea. The Valley lies between the Coast Mountains and the Cascade Mountains north of the US border.
The Fraser Valley contains some of the most productive agricultural land in Canada and, indeed, in the world. Its topography, soils, climate and proximity to major markets all favour agriculture, which is the dominant economic activity in Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Kent, and other smaller farming communities. Agricultural production in BC exceeds $1.4 billion in gross farm receipts, over one-half of which is generated in the Valley from fruit and berry crops, eggs, poultry, vegetables, nursery stock, turf, mushrooms and dairy products.
As one of the prime food growing regions in Canada, the Fraser Valley is challenged with managing growth associated with its rapid increase in population. Prime agricultural land accounts for just 1% of BC's land base – by comparison, parks constitute12% of the land base – and therefore, protecting agricultural land is crucial, particularly in the Fraser Valley that is the most productive agricultural area in the province.
In the Hope, Kent-Harrison and Mission areas, forestry is a significant industry. Commercial fishing is an important industry throughout the Lower Fraser. The Fraser Valley also provides a transportation and utility corridor for road, rail, river, natural gas and power for the major urban centres. Other major sectors include tourism, service industries, agricultural processing and manufacturing. Much of the development in the region is on the floodplain and behind dikes. Flood hazard management is therefore a major concern for residents, business and local government.
Fraser Valley residents benefit from one of the lowest costs of living in BC, as food production is nearby. Fuel and housing costs are lower than in urban centers and transportation, such as the West Coast Express, provides access to employment. Proximity to forests, lakes and natural landscapes provide a quality of life that residents enjoy.
CPR Tunnel in Fraser Canyon
History of the Region
The Fraser Valley is the traditional territory of the mainland Halkomelem speaking people, a group of Coast Salish that includes the Katzie, Musqueam, Kwikwetl'em, Tsawwassen, Chehalis and Sto:lo peoples. Archaeological evidence confirms oral traditions that their ancestors lived beside the river for thousands of years. It is estimated that 60,000 people lived in the Fraser Valley in times before contact.
The first known Europeans to travel through the valley were Simon Fraser and his companions on their canoe trip from the interior to the coast in 1808. In 1827, fur traders made their first permanent establishment at Fort Langley that was owned by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). Their expectations were to conduct a fur trade similar to that in eastern Canada. Very quickly, however, the traders shifted to the age old First Nations economy based on fishing and agriculture.
Even before direct contact with Europeans in 1782, small pox had been introduced to aboriginal communities through the extensive First Nations trade routes. By the time the HBC undertook a census in 1832, First Nations populations were being decimated by 13 different contagious diseases. Aboriginal populations reached an all time low around 1910.
Historically, the Fraser Valley was the main access route to the USA, but now connects the Pacific coast to the BC interior and the rest of Canada. In the early days, people used canoes and then steamboats on the Fraser River for travel because the roads were no more than simple trails. The HBC's famous paddlewheeler, the Beaver, was used to supply Fort Langley. During the gold rush other paddlewheelers went into operation, and steamboats plied the valley from 1858 until the last one was retired in 1925.
Farm settlement followed the Gold Rush era (1858–63) as the fertile soils and moderate climate in the Fraser Valley was ideal for food production. A number of communities including Chilliwack, Mission and Kent/Kilby developed as major agricultural and commercial centres.
The Fraser River flooded each spring, spreading fertile silt across the valley floor and rejuvenating the wetlands that supported abundant wildlife. As settlement increased, so did the property damage caused by the annual flooding until diking and reclamation projects more or less confined the river to its main stem. In 1894, a major flood inundated much of the Fraser Valley. The largest drainage project in the valley was the Sumas Reclamation Scheme of the 1920s, when Sumas Lake was drained to create Sumas Prairie. The project created more than 130 sq km of fertile crop land.
Fraser River flood in 1894
When the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) was completed along the north side of the river in 1885, it provided a more efficient means of transporting goods and people. Rail access also stimulated logging, which became a major industry during the 1880s; the valley floor and then the slopes of the mountains were gradually stripped of their giant cedars and forest cover. The CPR was followed by the Canadian Northern Railway, later absorbed into the Canadian National Railway (CNR), that built a line along the south side of the river just before World War I. A local railway, the electric Interurban line, was opened in 1910 and ran between New Westminster and Chilliwack. For 40 years until its closure in 1950, this line carried passengers, mail, milk, fresh produce, fish and other freight to and from valley communities. In the end, it was superseded by the extension of a network of roads, culminating in the construction of the Trans-Canada Highway in the early 1960s; this inaugurated a new era of suburban expansion.
World War II had a tremendous influence on the Fraser Valley, not only because of the many men and women who went overseas, but also because the Japanese who lived on or near the Pacific coast were relocated further inland to internment camps and farms for the duration of the war. The Japanese, who were responsible for much of the agricultural production in the area, disappeared almost overnight, resulting in economic hardships in Valley communities
Another major flood devastated the Fraser Valley in 1948, inundating Chilliwack, Matsqui and Hatzic and causing millions of dollars in damage to property, agriculture and infrastructure. Since then, major dikes have been constructed throughout the region. From Chilliwack to the mouth of the river there are now over 600 km of flood control dikes on the Lower Fraser.
Hatzic Dyke Break 1948
The character of the Fraser Valley has changed markedly since the 1960s. Most of its residents have arrived since that time to live in suburban communities. If they took up agriculture, it was as hobby farmers not commercial operators, while commercial farming was amalgamating smaller operations to remain economically viable. Recognizing the inevitable pressures that urban development would place on farm lands, the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) was created in the 1970s to protect land for agricultural production. The ALR has protected much of the Fraser Valley farmland from urban development, but some agricultural lands and wetland habitat have been eliminated to make way for highways and housing developments.
In the 1990s the region remained primarily rural, which is what attracted many of the new residents. However, by 2000 the Valley faced serious challenges associated with rapid population growth. These include suburban sprawl, the need to protect agricultural land in the ALR, increasing municipal and industrial pollution, dangerous levels of smog from automobiles, protecting and restoring waterways that are important rearing habitats for salmon and other species, and increasing environmental degradation.
Information in this section is adapted, in part, from the Encyclopedia of British Columbia.