Exercise #3: Connecting Past and Present

March 3, 2026 By: Kaia Golab

Exercise #3: Connecting Past and Present

Dr. Norman Fennema

HIST 3991: Environmental History

Kaia Golab

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2026

Media Item #1 Urbanization and Land-use conflict

Pitt Meadows is facing modern urban pressure in a way that feels like a direct continuation of historical patterns: settler expansion, infrastructure growth, and decisions about which lands are “available” for housing. In 2025, the Province set a housing target for Pitt Meadows, which the City has discussed as a major planning issue.¹ This connects to Unit 3 themes about urbanization. Because growth in areas like Pitt Meadows demonstrates that urban expansion is influenced by policy decisions, floodplain geography, and farmland protections rather than occurring naturally, it made me reflect on how communities in the Lower Mainland manage housing needs while safeguarding historic farmland and wetlands altered by earlier development.

Link: https://www.pittmeadows.ca/homes-development/housing/provincial-housing-targets

Media Item #2 Conservation and Salmon Habitat

A 2026 report from the Outdoor Recreation Council of BC highlights the “Heart of the Fraser” as one of British Columbia’s most endangered river stretches, posing development and urbanization as key threats to salmon and sturgeon habitat.² This connects to Unit 3 conservation themes because the Fraser River, which is near Pitt Meadows, is an example of how rivers function as complex ecological systems instead of just waterways beside cities. The report made me think about how conservation today tends to involve protecting shoreline space and floodplains, so salmon habitat can survive even with ongoing development pressure in the Lower Mainland. It also shows that conservation policy tends to mean limiting specific kinds of growth in order to protect ecosystems.

Link: https://www.orcbc.ca/blog/2026-endangered-rivers-list