Wreck Beach

Wreck Beach

About Wreck Beach

The Wreck Beach Preservation Society (WBPS) began January 25, 1977, with the assault on Wreck Beach by authorities without public input. This assault by bulldozers and massive dredges, catapulted the beach to fame when beach users formed a small group called Citizens Concerned for Coward's Cove, which then changed to the Wreck Beach Committee, which again evolved into the Wreck Beach Preservation Society in 1983.

Over the years this ad hoc group of citizens have fought numerous attempts by conservative University of British Columbia (UBC) administrations to pave, bury, or destroy the beach and cliffs under the guise of erosion control. Although the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) took over stewardship from the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation in 1989, UBC began lobbying and is still trying to pressure the GVRD to be a good neighbor and protect UBC buildings too near the cliffs' edge through massive erosion-control works.

It appears 1998 will be the year these works or strategies for initiating and implementing these works--with public input--will mark the beginning of combined efforts. A massive slide on September 25, 1997 behind the Cecil Green Mansion Coach House, a heritage UBC building, has accelerated the emergency work which will be necessary behind the building. The WBPS believes the building should be moved, and perhaps bioengineering done just immediately below the site until a comprehensive plan involving Wreck Beach users can be proposed between Northwest Marine drive cliffs and those at the Trail 4 section of Wreck Beach. Authorities would have the public believe that Wreck Beach is only that beach at the base of Trail 6, but the WBPS has--for years--adamantly stated our mandate which is: To preserve the Wreck Beach area, including foreshore and cliffs, in as nearly a natural state as possible from Spanish Banks West to the Musqueam Reserve!

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