Environmental Assessments

Environmental assessments were completed for all the competition venues for the 2010 Winter Games as well as for the two athletes’ villages. The Government of Canada participated in these assessments, with federal reviews administered by the Department of Canadian Heritage. Canadian Heritage received advice on the review process from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.

Environment Canada was called upon to provide scientific and technical input into the environmental assessments for nine Olympic and Paralympic venues and villages, as well as for several related infrastructure projects. The Department’s work focused on the protection of air quality, water quality, migratory birds and species at risk.

Some of the outcomes of this environmental assessment process include:

Cypress Mountain

• Environmental footprint of the venue was reduced to Strachan Mountain only (the original proposal included construction on both Black Mountain and Strachan Mountain).
• Material was not trucked in or out in an effort to have minimum impact on the surrounding environments. All material cut out of the slopes was used in areas where fill was required.

Richmond Oval

• All hardwood trees cut during site preparation were re-used in the venue.

Whistler Olympic Park/Whistler Paralympic Park

• The ski jump was moved to ensure no ancient forest or area wetlands were affected.
• Vegetation clearing and burning was reduced while materials were re-used on-site or composted.
• The overall environmental footprint of the venue was reduced by 30%.

Whistler Sliding Centre and Whistler Creekside

• A section of stream was relocated to avoid acid generating rock exposure.
• Measures were taken to protect the rare tailed frog and its habitat, including building a specially-designed creek channel and relocating by hand several hundred tadpoles and adult frogs.