Canadian Coast Guard - Westham Island DGPS Tower Removal

The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) is proposing to decommission and remove an existing DGPS tower located on Westham Island located 20 kilometers south of Vancouver British Columbia on Federal Lands. The project is within the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird sanctuary.

The Westham Island Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) site was a part of a discontinued Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) program which provided enhanced GPS precision to Mariners in Canadian Waters. This site and other CCG DGPS sites along the B.C. coast are being decommissioned which involves removing the infrastructure on the sites.

The Westham Island Site consists of a fenced in compound with two buildings and a small tower inside, and a 120'guyed DGPS tower outside the compound. One of the buildings and the tower inside the compound are operated by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada(ISED) and are not part of the CCG plans to decommission the site and will remain in operation by ISED. The second building is managed by the CCG and was used to house electronics equipment and provide power to the DGPS equipment on the 120' DGPS tower, located approximately 120 meters to the west of the fenced in compound. For this phase of the project, only the 120' guyed tower is scheduled for removal. The other infrastructure will be removed as part of a different project proposal.

The 120' guyed tower is made up of 15 approximately 8' long sections and three levels of guy wires. Fixed to the top is an aircraft warning light, but no other equipment is in use on the tower. In total there are twelve guy wires connecting the top of the tower to anchor points in a 180' radius around the tower. There are six additional guy lines connecting the middle and lower sections of the tower to three anchor points in an 80' radius. The project proposes to remove the DGPS tower and guy wires, but leave the anchor points in the ground so as to limit the amount of soil disturbance and habitat degradation.

In order to remove the DGPS tower, a contractor has been hired. They will start by loosening off the guy wires from the tower leaving one or two in place to help guide the tower to the ground in a controlled manner. The loose guy wires will then be removed from the tower and anchor points and taken off site for disposal. When everything is ready, and the project area has been cleared, the tower will be pushed over to the northeast and land in one piece on the field. The 8' lengths of the tower will be detached from each other and carried off by hand to trucks which will be parked at the end of the access road.

No heavy machinery will be required to conduct this project. small handheld machinery will be used to dismantle the tower and cut guy lines where required. There will be some Himalayan blackberry clearing to create a path to connect the road and the tower. The landing site for the tower also contains a small patch of Pacific Crabapple (2-3 individuals) which may be damaged by the falling tower. The work is planned to start in the last week of January or first week of February 2024 and will be completed by February 15 at the latest. The entirety of the project is expected to take one week or less.

    

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Latest update

January 30, 2025 – The Canadian Coast Guard issued its Notice of Determination and determined that the project is not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.

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Key documents

Key documents
Document number Document title File Date
2 Notice of Determination DOCX (16 KB) January 30, 2025

Contacts

Andrew Wight
Maritime and Civil Infrastructure, Canadian Coast Guard
Andrew Wight, Project Engineer
25 Huron Street
Victoria, British Columbia V8V 4V9
Telephone: 250-413-2835
Email: andrew.wight@dfo-mpo.gc.ca


Disclaimer

This map is for illustrative purposes. The markers represent the approximate locations based on available data. More than one marker may be identified for a given assessment.

  • Location

    • Westham Island (British Columbia)

  • Nature of Activity

    • Other, not otherwise specified

  • Assessment Status

    Completed

  • Start Date

    2024-12-24

  • Proponent

    Department of Fisheries and Oceans - Canadian Coast Guard

  • Authorities

    • Fisheries and Oceans Canada

  • Assessment Type

    Project on federal lands

  • Reference Number

    89150

Nearby assessments

...within 200 kilometres
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