FREMP > Estuary Management Plan > Colour Coding > Habitat Classification Review

Shorelines are inherently dynamic areas in any estuary and habitat features will change over time. Periodic review and updating of colour coding is therefore required. FREMP will update the colour codes (i.e. through reach overviews) as resources permit through.

FREMP will also consider and review requests to change habitat classifications (the "colour codes"). The process was established in the early 1990s to allow government agencies, proponents, or interested members of the public to request that the habitat classifications be reviewed on a site-specific basis to determine whether or not they had changed over time. A policy on responding to these requests was approved in 2003.

The process is triggered by the receipt, at the FREMP office, of a request to reclassify habitat at a given site or sites. Requests will be reviewed by the FREMP Environmental Review Committee according to a number of habitat functional attributes. If the request is found to have merit, a site visit may be conducted by the FREMP partner representatives. Based on the site visit and/or other information, the representative would recommend that the colour-coding either stay they same or change according to the request. Any recommendation would go through the Water and Land Use Committee (W&LUC) for consideration.

Partner representatives try to do regular field visits in May and September of each year when growing conditions, tide levels, and river flow levels make it possible to inspect habitat conditions. Based on the results of their field inspection, these professional biologists make a recommendation to FREMP's Management Committee to maintain or revise the habitat classifications at the site or sites in question. The ultimate decision whether to change or revise the classifications rests with the Management Committee.