The Pitt-Addington Marsh Wildlife Management Area overlaps the Pitt Polder Ecological Reserve which is established to preserve a fragment of the rapidly disappearing Fraser Valley boglands.

Ecological reserves protect special natural ecosystems, and support research and education. They are not intended for outdoor recreation. However, this ecological reserve is open to the public for non-destructive activities like hiking, nature observation and photography. Consumptive activities like hunting, fishing, camping, or foraging are prohibited. Motorized vehicles are not allowed.

Public and private development within northeast Port Coquitlam required the infill of drainage ditches. These ditches comprised an open drainage system that drained to the Pitt River through pump stations. The ditches were considered fish habitat by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

The City of Port Coquitlam, in partnership with private developers, developed a comprehensive compensation plan to offset impacts in accordance with Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s ‘no net loss’ habitat policy. Rather than create like-for-like habitat, where new ditches would be created as part of the compensation for project-related impacts, highly productive fish habitats were consolidated into a single large-scale landscape feature, specifically a 6.5-hectare intertidal wetland complex.

The existing dyke was relocated inland, restoring historical floodplain, to create off-channel habitat unencumbered by the maintenance and operation of the drainage system. The biophysical character of the wetland complex is borrowed from natural wetlands that occur upstream within the Pitt River system. The ecological value of the features sustained by the wetland complex is far greater than that of the drainage ditches impacted by development.