Burns
Bog/ GVRD Project. After a long process of researching locations for an
environmentally focused landscape photo project around the Vancouver area, I
found out about Burns Bog in Delta, BC, just south of Vancouver and within the
metropolitan area. Burns Bog is one of the largest natural areas within an urban
area. It is a massive peat bog home to many plant and bird species. Areas were
previously blueberry farms; peat was mined in other areas. Now it is home to
the GVRD landfill on its southern border. However, the bog proper has been termed
a wilderness area, off limits to any human access. The dump immediately abuts
the bog and water flows off the heaps of garbage into channels running along
a bordering access road. Oddly enough, peat is rather porous... The implications
of the impacts of the dump itself aside, the fact that it exists with in the
Vancouver metropolitan area (and fairly well hidden from most views) makes it
an oddity. The views from atop it create an unnatural or pseudo-natural setting
where both the city and a 'wilderness' can be seen from atop a mountain of said
city's waste. It is an unexpected contrast.
C-Prints,
20x20 in., 2006.
