Our analysis shows that West Vancouver is a zone of particular of interest as it possesses the highest human population in our area of investigation (Statistics Canada, 2016) and landslides pose high risk to residents and dense infrastructure. The large section of coastal West Vancouver with high susceptibility of landslide occurrence may be due to unstable slopes from incline and extensive human development of houses, roadways and infrastructure. This has large economic and social implications for residents, insurance companies and the city of West Vancouver.
Massive Rock Fall on Highway 99. Source: http://www.sfu.ca/geog/geog351spring09/group06/landslide/2landslidegallery.htm
The Lion’s Bay community is another region representing medium to high risk and is also of interest as it covers a sizeable portion of Highway 99. Potential failure of Highway 99 gives further implications to travellers and emergency transportation as this is the only highway that allows for vehicle transportation between the Sea-to-Sky District and Metro Vancouver.
Another human dominated area of interest includes the City of Squamish as our model suggests that this region is of higher susceptibility to landslides. Due to the rising house prices in Metro Vancouver, the City of Squamish has become one of the fastest growing communities along Canada’s West Coast (District of Squamish, n.d.). Therefore, there has been a recent push seen to enhance residential and commercial development within the area. With this rise in infrastructure and population, extensive landslide mitigation strategies are recommended within this area prior to further development.