Paul Cipywnyk's Blog

Edmonds Clean Sweep

Community members participated in the Clean Sweep sponsored by the Edmonds Town Center Business & Community Association this morning. The main meeting site was the Eastburn Community Centre, whose staff were very helpful in coordinating the event. It was a rainy day, so we had fewer volunteers than usual. The City brought one of its salmon eco-sculptures and participants were invited to help plant it.

Mayor Derek Corrigan and Councilors Pietro Calendino and Dan Johnston helped out.

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers also participated in the event, setting up a sign-up booth in the parking lot of Edmonds Skytrain station. Thanks to the Horizontes Scouts for assisting!

photo by Joan Carne

Thanks to Burnaby Firefighters for supplying a hot dog BBQ and hot chocolate!

All in all, volunteers reported that the amount of garbage had diminished from previous events, which is a good sign. I did manage to fill a 5-gallon pail just patrolling around the community centre!

Two Schools Release Fry

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers were kept hopping today, as two schools released their chum fry from Salmon in the Classroom programs.

South Slope Elementary released their chum at 9:30 a.m.

Kenneth Gordon kids released their fish around noon.

Byrne Creek Chum Release With Clinton School

Students from Clinton Elementary School in south Burnaby released chum salmon fry into Byrne Creek this morning with the help of DFO and Byrne Creek Streamkeepers. This is one of my favourite annual events because the kids are so excited and happy, and it connects them a bit to nature.

DFO's Maurice Coulter-Boisvert talks salmon.

Kids get chum fry to release.

My wife Yumi assists.

Kids point and marvel as silver hatchery fry turn brown to blend into the creek.

Chum schooling in the creek.

Choices Earth Day BBQ - Byrne Creek Tours

Choices in the Park hosted a salmon BBQ for Earth Day, and once again Byrne Creek Streamkeepers had our booth set up for the event. We also did two tours of the creek for people interested in getting out in nature and learning a bit about what streamkeepers do.

Thanks again to Choices for having donations from the BBQ this weekend and last weekend going to help efforts to keep Byrne Creek clean and habitable for all the fish and wildlife that it supports.

We presented two hand-cut, hand-painted cedar salmon to Choices CEO Mark Vickars and Choices in the Park manager Dominic Uy in appreciation of their efforts.

Me, Dominic and Mark

Pointing out park features on creek tour.

Byrne Creek 1 of 10 Best!

According to the Newsleader, Byrne Creek Ravine Park is one of the ten best places in Burnaby for a bag lunch and a walk! The story also mentions the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers and asks walkers to help keep the creek clean and healthy.

Burnaby Parks Volunteer Dinner

The Burnaby Parks, Recreation and Culture Commission put on its annual Volunteer Recognition Night this evening, and Yumi and I attended representing the Edmonds Town Centre Business & Community Association, of which I am president. I have had the pleasure of attending the event in the past representing Byrne Creek Streamkeepers, and the Stream of Dreams Murals Society. Tonight our table was made up of representatives from Byrne Creek, Stream of Dreams, and the City's Parks department. It was an excellent event, as always, and the food provided by the City's Deer Lake Catering was fantastic.

Streamkeepers Push For Ponds At Translink Event

A couple of Byrne Creek Streamkeepers attended a Translink workshop this evening on the BC Parkway bicycle and pedestrian trail that links Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster and Surrey. Work is afoot to realign parts of the trail, provide better connections and crossings, add public amenities, etc.

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers are most interested in the parkway course through Burnaby, and in particular the section between Gilley and Griffiths just north of Rumble. We envision the addition of beautiful vegetated biofiltration swales that could intercept and treat stormwater flows before they enter Byrne Creek. The area north of the parkway in this section has a lot of light industrial and automotive businesses that historically have been problematic point sources of pollutants into the storm drain system that connects to the creek.

Our ideas appeared to receive a warm reception! Here's hoping....

Byrne Creek at Blue Cross Earth Day

A couple of Byrne Creek Streamkeepers put up a small version of our creek display at the Pacific Blue Cross Earth Day event this afternoon. It was a windy, sunny day out on the cafeteria patio and we enjoyed talking to people about the connection between roads, storm drains and creeks. People love our 3D relief map of the watershed.

Streamkeepers, Stream of Dreams Tame Lions

Joan Carne and I spoke to the Burnaby Host Lions club this evening. I spoke about Byrne Creek Streamkeepers and Joan spoke about the Stream of Dreams Murals Society. We were warmly welcomed to dinner, and our presentations got lots of questions. The Lions generously asked if there was anything they could do for us, and are willing to bring out their rolling BBQ gear and do hot dogs and burgers, or pancake breakfasts, if we do any fund raisers. Thank you! It is community volunteers pulling together within and across organizations that make Burnaby a great place to live!

Byrne Creek Habitat Looks Like Pea Soup

The spawning channel, sediment pond and overflow pond in the Byrne Creek spawning and rearing habitat in southeast Burnaby looked like pea soup around noon today. Yumi and I had gone down hoping to ID some fry (baby fish); however, visibility was zero. The creek was clean, so the sediment was likely coming down the stormwater pipes along Southridge Dr.

Fortunately, we did not see any dead fish, but we'll watch closely for the next few days. We called the incident in to the City, and an environment officer said the situation would be investigated.

The overflow pond.

The sediment pond.

Yumi and I checked several areas up the hill along Southridge Dr. but did not spot any smoking guns. Hope the City has better luck.

Choices - Byrne Creek BBQ Huge Success

The Choices BBQ today was an overwhelming success. I don't know how much money was donated by people today that will go to Byrne Creek Streamkeepers, but I imagine it must be several hundred dollars. We had a constant flow of people all day long. Choices also provided seven gorgeous gift baskets for prize draws along with several gift certificates.

The staff were incredibly responsive and did special orders on the BBQ for vegetarians or people who wanted chicken instead of beef, in addition to the burgers, European wieners, and bacon... Oh yes, there was also an apparently endless river of chocolate cake!

I was blown away. Thank you Choices managers and staff!

Setting up for the event -- it was a gorgeous day.

Prize baskets.

A happy winner receives her basket.

Join us for more fun tomorrow! Pancake breakfast from 9:00-11:00 and another BBQ from 12:00-3:00. Food and drinks by donation, with donations supporting the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers. Come and learn about Byrne Creek and streamkeeper activities. Our bug team will be doing a bug count of samples collected from the creek at the Choices site from around 10:00.

We will be back at Choices for an Earth Day event on April 20 from 12:00-4:00. Streamkeepers will lead tours of the beautiful ravine park and Byrne Creek starting from Choices at 12:30 and at 2:00.

Choices Weekend Celebration Benefits Streamkeepers

Choices Markets is putting on a breakfast and two BBQs this coming weekend, and Byrne Creek Streamkeepers are thrilled that donations from the events will support their efforts to restore and maintain the watershed. Wow!

The Choices location near Byrne Creek is on the park side of Edmonds Skytrain Station in southeast Burnaby.

BBQ at the Park: Saturday, April 12, 12:00 - 3:00
Breakfast at the Park: Sunday, April 13, 9:00 - 11:00
BBQ at the Park: Sunday, April 13, 12:00 - 3:00

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers will also have their booth set up at Choices in the Park for an Earth Day event on Sunday, April 20 from 12:00 - 4:00. Streamkeers will be offering tours of the creek and ravine park.

More Fry, Oil, Flicker in Byrne Creek

Yumi and I spotted more fry in Byrne Creek today, along with a flicker in the ravine park, but were dismayed by the amount of oil accumulating in the sediment pond.

Salmon fry in the sediment pond

Blue and purple oily sheen on water surface

I think this is a common flicker of the red-shafted race.

More Signs of Spring

Cherry blossoms, a plump robin, and a small school of salmonid fry (baby salmon) all pointed to signs of spring on our Byrne Creek ramble after lunch today.

Spring Salmonberry

I patrolled for fry this afternoon in Byrne Creek this afternoon and was happy to find several more spread in pools in the spawning habitat. As I was scanning one pool a curious chickadee flitted over and danced from branch to branch just a foot or two from my face. We had a little chat and then he bounced off as I moved on. More salmonberry bushes are beginning to blossom.

Baby fish spotted in Byrne Creek

Yumi spotted a salmonid fry in Byrne Creek this afternoon. While we were not able to ID the species, it was great to see baby fish in the creek following last autumn's disappointingly poor run of spawning salmon.

Upper Byrne Creek Needs Some Tender Loving

As streamkeepers, Yumi and I focus mostly on the fish-bearing part of Byrne Creek, and don't get out to check the area upstream of Edmonds Skytrain station in southeast Burnaby that often.

We'd gotten a heads up from city staff that some work was being done in the area, and also that they were hoping to tackle invasive plant species. We took a look, and there is certainly work to be done!

Here's a site that was replanted following the building of a new townhouse complex -- invasive plants including Morning Glory have overwhelmed the area.

A closeup of the sign declaring this to be sensitive habitat!

Abandoned pipe in the bush along 18th Ave.

Large metal junk in the bush along 18th Ave.

Signs of Spring Along Byrne Creek

It was a beautiful sunny day today and I took advantage of it for a long walk along Byrne Creek.

Sun splashing off the water.

Red alder -- I'm allergic to the pollen -- dominates the spawning channel.

Mayfly larva in a pool -- there's a photo of a hatched mayfly in yesterday's blog entry.

Pileated woodpecker in Byrne Creek ravine. I love these flashy birds.

This was a hand-held shot in a forested ravine with my Canon S5 IS at its maximum 432mm telephoto (35mm camera equivalent), so don't look too closely :-).

Foam in Byrne Creek

There was a suds event in Byrne Creek this afternoon. When I started on my walk shortly after 11:00 the creek was clear. I spent some time sweeping the lower reaches, the spawning channel, the sediment pond, and the overflow pond for fry, but saw nothing -- no fry, no smolts, no cuts, zip.

On my way home I took the upper ridge trail, and about halfway along I spotted a pileated woodpecker, and as I was lining him up in my camera, I noticed the creek way down below was quite foamy. Snapping a few shots of the woodpecker, I headed up the hill and found almost no sign of foam in Griffith's Pond near the skytrain station. When I went down the Ron McLean path, there was quite a bit of foam coming down from upstream of the Hell Hole at around 1:15. So the source was likely somewhere upstream of Griffiths.

Byrne Creek Mayfly Hatch

Mayflies were skipping along Byrne Creek this afternoon. Yumi and I didn't spot any salmon fry yet, but they should be popping out of the gravel soon...

We also saw many small apparent redds, or nests of eggs that fish deposit.

Premier Screening of Eagle Eye

The Fraser Valley Hatchery was the site of the premier screening of Peter Donaldson's Eagle Eye, a video based on his one-man show "of ecological intrigue about the ancient dance of interdependence between Salmon and Eagle, creating a classic teaching legend."

Donaldson is a breathtaking writer and performer, known for his Salmonpeople masterpiece. Tonight's event, hosted by the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C., was a "beta" run of the video, with Donaldson seeking input from the audience as to what parts really engaged people, what sections lost their interest, and how the project could be disseminated and used in secondary schools, colleges, universities and communities for environmental education dealing with biodiversity and systems thinking.

Donaldson's show was filmed during the Fraser Valley Bald Eagle Festival, and is an emotionally powerful performance that really gets you thinking about life and our interdependence with other species and nature.

Byrne Creek High School Global Issues Event

In the afternoon I represented the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers at a climate change workshop at Byrne Creek Secondary in southeast Burnaby. The Check Your Head group (Educating Youth for Global Hope and Local Action) facilitated the event, and I provided background on streamkeeping and how kids could volunteer on creek activities. I love working with students and getting their perspective on these sorts of issues.

Our 3D relief map of the Byrne Creek watershed was a big hit.

Environmentalists Roast Run of River Power Inc.

"We want our park, we want our wild salmon, and we want you to go away," said Burke Mountain Naturalists activist Elaine Golds, to rousing cheers from the crowd at a forum on multiple run-of-river power projects planned for several streams on the upper Pitt River.

The overflow crowd jammed into the much-too-small venue was spirited and angry, with cat calls often interrupting presentations by the BC Environmental Assessment Office, BC Parks, and the proponent, Run of River Power Inc.

Although I strongly oppose the projects and the accompanying proposal to cut a power transmission right of way through Pinecone Burke Provincial Park, I was dismayed at the uncivil attitude dominating the crowd.

Yet people had reason to be frustrated. Pinecone Burke is a pristine Class A park that people fought for many years to be declared off limits to logging, mining and hydro projects. To ask that the boundary be adjusted now is crazy.

To invade all the salmon-bearing streams in the upper Pitt is crazy.

To pay private producers 5 or more times the rate for power than the province produces is crazy.

Eventually the fire marshal showed up, and said the number of people in the room had to be reduced. At that point, several hotter heads began shouting "We won't leave!" OK, act like children having a tantrum in the face of logic and safety -- I thought it best to slip away.

As I was wriggling myself out of the room, people were demanding that the meeting be rescheduled in a larger venue. I'm all for that. And while I admire the passion, I think some of the behavior tonight was counterproductive. The mandarins in the room have to follow this provincial government's restrictive policies -- it's the politicians noted for their absence who should bear the brunt.

As the cry went up: "Where are you Environment Minister Penner?"

Nooksack Dace Recovery Strategy

The Nooksack Dace is a little fish found only in a few rivers and streams in the Lower Mainland of BC. It has been listed as endangered under the Species at Risk Act, and tonight I attended a Department of Fisheries and Oceans forum on steps being taken to identify and protect crucial habitat. It was an interesting presentation on the dace and its preferred habitat. Unfortunately, the ratio of audience to DFO staff was about 10:6 -- it could have been better publicized.

Something that I found interesting was that all remaining Nooksack Dace habitat is in developed/developing areas. That's going to make it really tough to preserve this species. I asked if in the future there would be attempts to transplant dace to other streams in their previous range. They're not at that point yet, but one of the biologists said that transplanting would certainly contribute to keeping the species from going extinct.

Here is the recovery strategy for the fish, and watch the SARA public registry for a 60-day comment period after the strategy is officially posted soon.

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers, DFO Tour Habitat

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers and several representatives from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans toured the artificial spawning habitat constructed as compensation when a major road was built over prime spawning habitat. Since the habitat was built around a decade ago, there have been some problems with siltation and flow. It was instructive to share our stream and salmon spawner monitoring observations with the DFO staff, and we discussed several potential ways to remedy some of the problems.

Getting the lay of the land.

Lower Fraser Coho Conservation & Enhancement Initiative

The Musqueam Fisheries Commission and the Pacific Salmon Foundation co-hosted Pulling Together, Making a Difference The Lower Fraser Coho Conservation & Enhancement Initiative today. The day-long workshop brought together First Nations, scientists, and stewards. It was a stimulating event with many excellent speakers, and the Musqueam were wonderful hosts.

Over the lunch hour, participants toured Musqueam Creek and then planted trees in the riparian zone.

Here I am with "my" tree.

Stream of Dreams Murals Society decorated the gym. Here are some fish lanterns, several made by my wife, Yumi.

Stream of Dreams Dreamfish.

Successful Byrne Creek Fish Trapping Survey

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers found 17 cutthroat trout in the Gee traps that they placed in the creek yesterday. While far off the record, we were happy to see fish at all as the creek has been hit by several toxic spills through storm drains over the last couple of years. One disappointment was the lack of coho salmon smolts (yearlings); however, we had not been expecting much as there have been almost no successful coho spawners in the last couple of years.

We handle the fish as gently and quickly as possible as we size and ID them, and then return them to the creek. NOTE: It is illegal to trap fish, and streamkeepers do so with DFO permission.

Measuring a cutthroat.

Streamkeepers head up the ravine.

Fish-Trapping Streamkeepers Find Herons

Members of the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers set traps in the creek today hoping to catch some fish to see what species are resident. We do this every year under the auspices of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to gather data. (Note that trapping is illegal unless sanctioned by DFO). We weren't the only ones out looking for fish! We spotted herons several times -- likely repeat viewings of two birds.

This one was fishing the big pool where the stairs come down into the ravine from Brynlor.

This one was further up the ravine.

Streamkeepers bait Gee traps.

Greenwashing BC's Power Policy?

There's a lot of talk about "green power" in British Columbia, but are initiatives like privately developed "run of river" power projects really green? Few citizens seem to be aware that companies have applied for such projects on streams throughout the province -- and that they are using our water for free while selling their power to BC Hydro at higher rates than the public utility charges.

Run-of-river is being spun as green, but it looks more like death by a thousand cuts.

Problems with these projects include the amount of water diverted (up to 80%!), the roads built to get access to streams to build the plants, the swaths cut through forests for power lines.... It goes on and on. Companies are already trying to get land removed from parks for their construction.

I urge people to check out the video series "Power Play: The Theft of BC's Rivers" at the Save Our Rivers Society website.

Thanks to the Pacific Streamkeepers Federation for making me aware of these videos.

'Porridge' Fouls Byrne Creek Again

The mystery "porridge" has fouled Byrne Creek yet again. We know it comes down the Hedley St. storm drain and into the creek, but the City of Burnaby's engineering department has not managed to confirm the source yet. This has been going on for months now in a haphazard manner. Hope they track it this time!

The stuff was pooled all along the creek. While it does not appear to be toxic, it has no business coming down storm drains into the creek.

UPDATE on Feb. 15: City staff have found the source and are dealing with it. While for legal reasons they can't tell us the details, streamkeepers are relieved that this ongoing irritant will be under control. Thank you!

Sun Splashes Byrne Creek

The sun broke out for a couple of hours today, so I trundled off to do a quick loop of Byrne Creek ravine, checking for fry along the way. Fry are baby fish, and while the coho and chum salmon returns to the creek were very poor last autumn, I'm hoping we did have some successful spawners. In the past we've seen fry as early as mid-February, though I think that is a bit unusual. Streamkeepers will be keeping an eye out for the cute little fish over the next couple of months.

Heading down the stairs into the ravine.

Shopping Carts Dumped in Byrne Creek

Yumi and I found a couple of HomeSense shopping carts dumped into Byrne Creek today. We used to find shopping carts only in the upper watershed, but I guess we'll be finding more on the flats now that the big malls have opened nearby.

More Oily Burnaby Streets

Yesterday we saw a steady stream of oil washing off Southpoint Dr. in southeast Burnaby into a storm drain and into Byrne Creek, and today we found someone had dumped oil on a street in the upper watershed at the corner of 15th St. and 14th Ave. -- just feet away from another drain that leads to the creek. The mangled plastic oil jug was nearby.

Road Oil Enters Byrne Creek Through Storm Drain

Oil that had accumulated on Southpoint Dr. in southeast Burnaby was flowing down the rain drain at the bottom end of the cul-de-sac and into Byrne Creek this afternoon as a steady drizzle washed pollution off the street.

Can you imagine the cumulative flow of this crap into drains all over the city -- all of which lead to local creeks, rivers and the ocean? Yuck!

It is precisely for this reason that streamkeepers are pushing the city to build bio-filtration swales and ponds. There are well-known, well-established ways to ameliorate the impact of such pollution on fish and wildlife habitat.

Fishing Birds Feast on Byrne Creek Trout

When Yumi and I arrived at the sediment pond in the artificial spawning habitat on Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby today on our weekly salmon spawner patrol, a heron struggled into the air, two rotund cormorants plunged off of the concrete lip at the lower end and into the pond, and a kingfisher chattered at us angrily.

We saw a couple of dead cutthroat on the bottom of the pond in the 25-30cm range and for a heart-stopping moment we thought there may have been another fish kill, but we finally saw a couple of live trout as well.

The two cormorants refused to fly -- they simply dove under and swam from end to end depending on where we moved to, and we finally surmised that perhaps they had gorged themselves on trout to the point that they were having trouble getting airborne. The big schools of trout were all gone, perhaps they skedaddled downstream when they came under protracted attacks from all the fishing birds. Maybe the birds had killed the large trout and then had been unable to swallow them? Or they were finally full?

(Note: By "refusing to fly" I don't mean that we were trying to drive the cormorants off -- we were being as non-threatening as possible and just observing -- I've just never gotten that close to cormorants before!)

Note: the apparently different colouring on the bottom bird is just a matter of lighting and exposure.

Heron in Byrne Creek Ravine

A heron was fishing in Byrne Creek today and I got a couple of photos of it on my ravine ramble. It had its eye on me, so as I angled for a better view, I kept talking to it in a soothing tone in an attempt not to flush it -- they can be quite twitchy. That seemed to work as I snapped a few quick ones and then quietly moved away and let the bird continue looking for its lunch.

Salmon Patrol Finds Dead Cutthroat

On our weekly Byrne Creek salmon spawner patrol, Yumi and I found no spawners but did find a dead 23cm male cutthroat trout with no visible external damage. There were live trout in the same pool, so we don't know why this one died.

Byrne Creek Sees Few Spawning Salmon

It's been a disappointing spawning season so far this autumn on Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby, with only around 20 chum and coho salmon tallied. Another issue that has cropped up in the last few years is also being repeated -- the lack of spawning success in coho. We keep finding female coho dead before they have laid their eggs, and today Yumi and I processed another.

NOTE: My usual disclaimer -- it is illegal to disturb spawning salmon. Streamkeepers receive training and also have permission from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to process dead spawners and record data about them. I think it is important to share our volunteer efforts with the public; however, I occasionally worry that people may get the idea that these fish and their eggs are fair game -- they are not!

Beautiful coho found in Byrne Creek today.

Unfortunately, this female did not spawn before she died.

Some people may also be confused about why these fish die. Salmon are anadromous -- that's a big word that means that during their lives they move from fresh water, to salt water, and back to fresh water again to lay their eggs. This entails major changes in their organs -- from ingesting minerals in fresh water to extruding salt in the ocean. Some species of fish can repeat this cycle, but when salmon come back to their birth creeks, streams and rivers to spawn, it's a one-way trip. They stop eating when they enter fresh water and their health begins to steadily deteriorate -- all of the energy in their bodies goes to keeping their reproductive systems and brains going as their flesh fails. If a fish cannot reach its native spawning grounds and find a partner within a set period, it will die before it can spawn.

After collecting data about the fish, Yumi and I voiced a brief appreciation for her efforts, and then we cut the carcass in half (this ensures that streamkeepers don't double count fish) and returned it to the creek where it will provide essential nutrients for the food chain.

Streamkeepers Wrap Trees Against Beavers

Yes, beavers are part of the ecosystem, too, but streamkeepers have to preserve trees in our urban habitat -- in cities the odds are already heavily stacked against healthy streams and salmon. Beavers have been razing trees in the Byrne Creek spawning habitat, so we are wrapping trees with chicken wire to preserve them against the gnawing beasts.

Me wrapping a tree -- photo by JW

Mushy Pollutant Pours Into Byrne Creek

The Hedley storm drain outfall has poured an ugly, whitish, porridge-like pollutant into southeast Burnaby's Byrne Creek yet again.

Yumi and I were doing a creek patrol today when we saw a sandy white substance deposited in pools along the creek. We backtracked it to the Hedley storm drain outfall, where we found gallons of the yucky stuff.

We called it in to the city, and environmental staff said they would be on it along with sewer system staff. This is at least the third or fourth time that streamkeepers have found this substance entering the creek.

I am fairly certain that the flaky porridge-like substance does not come from a sanitary/storm system cross-connect because it occurs sporadically. While the Hedley outfall is notorious for having a nearly constant obnoxious smell, I think we are dealing with at least two sources -- one a fairly constant flow that causes the smell, and dumping into a storm drain that produces the "porridge."

Spawning Salmon Back in Byrne Creek

Spawning salmon have returned to Burnaby's Byrne Creek with streamkeepers spotting both chum and coho in the last week.

I did a spawner patrol today and came across five live chum salmon and two dead ones, which I processed for length, sex and spawning status. Please note that it is illegal to disturb spawning salmon, and that streamkeepers undergo training for monitoring techniques and report their findings to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

If you come across spawning salmon, feel free to observe them from a distance, but do not disturb them, or their carcasses after they die. Streamkeepers check carcasses for size, sex and spawning success, and return them to the creek because the bodies provide essential nutrients to the ecosystem.

Chum salmon spawner in Byrne Creek.

Toxic Substance Kills Fish in Southeast Burnaby

A Byrne Creek Streamkeeper reported a toxic spill in John Mathews Creek in southeast Burnaby this morning. City staff and streamkeepers found dead fish in the creek, and also in Byrne Creek downstream of where John Mathews Creek joins it. The creek was still running a florescent yellow colour well into the late afternoon when streamkeeper Joan Carne took the following photos.

I find it unfathomable that after years of public education efforts, people still don't know, or more likely just don't care, that all street and parking lot drains connect directly to local creeks.

We will all be eating and drinking this stuff some day, for we are at the top of the food chain. It may be highly diluted by the time it enters our bodies, but eventually it will affect us, and our children...

Autumn Colours Paint Byrne Creek

Red, yellow, gold, and brown leaves are painting Byrne Creek with an enchanting mosaic of colours. I love this time of year when the air takes on an edge and the hazy days of summer are replaced with an invigorating clarity.

I also love this time of year because the leaves that colour the creek foreshadow the return of the salmon. Any day now, likely within the next week, coho and chum salmon will start swimming up Byrne Creek to spawn and die, after traveling thousands of kilometers in the Pacific Ocean. As a streamkeeper, monitoring the return of these magnificent fish is a peak experience that I look forward to every autumn.

The relaxed creekside rambles of spring and summer take on urgency and excitement as we stalk the mottled purple and green chum, and the silvery scarlet coho, making note of redds (nests of eggs), and measuring and assessing fish after they die.

Descending the stairs into the ravine.

Burnaby Builds Ugly Drain on Southpoint

The other day I was driving down Southridge Dr. in Burnaby and saw some heavy equipment in action near the bottom end of Taylor Park on Southpoint Dr. Today I walked past the area to see what had been going on and was disappointed to find a huge, ugly asphalt catchment and storm drain. I wish the city could start getting a bit more creative with its planning. This area is right next to a city park and would be the perfect place to put a beautiful rain garden to soak up rainfall. I hope it's not left as is, and some more thought goes into the area's potential for improved stormwater management. It's ironic that the city put in this barren monstrosity just as it is soliciting community input into an Integrated Stormwater Management Plan for the Byrne Creek watershed.

Looking downhill toward Southridge Dr.

Looking up Southpoint with Taylor Park to the right.

Looking down Southpoint from the present dead end where the street was blocked.

Now, imagine this area as a beautiful wetland or rain garden, with lots of opportunity for rain coming down Southpoint to soak into the ground. It could be gorgeous. C'mon Burnaby!

Alta Vista Picnic, Gas, Dirt in Drains

The Byrne Creek Streamkeepers had their booth up at the Alta Vista Park community picnic again this year. It's a great event, and the organizers do an amazing job. It's always fun, and like last year, we brought bugs from the creek for kids to check out.

Streamkeeper Eleanor supervises the bug activity.

The rock climbing contraption is always popular.

As is the annual appearance of a Burnaby firefighters ladder truck.

At events like these, streamkeepers try to educate the public about their local creeks and watersheds. People are often amazed to learn that drains on streets and in parking lots lead directly to local creeks with no filtration. That means nothing except rain should go down those drains!

It was then my turn to be amazed when a person came up to me and told me there was a vehicle parked across the street from the park leaking gasoline directly into a rain drain! I have cropped this photo so as not to cause embarrassment, but this is exactly the type of problem streamkeepers fight.

If you see something like this happening, call the Burnaby 24-hour hotline at 604-294-7200.

On the way home after the event, Yumi and I were also surprised to see trucks spreading dirt from a construction site along Royal Oak. This is illegal, and should be reported to the city.

Remember, everything that gets washed down a drain on a street or parking lot goes directly into a creek!

SalmonTrain Kickoff

This morning the SalmonTrain was officially launched at Gilmore Station on the Skytrain Millennium Line. What's a SalmonTrain? It's a commuter train car covered with Stream of Dreams Murals Society (SDMS) Dreamfish, with an urban creek running down its floor with tips on maintaining healthy watersheds. Conceived by Louise Towell, a co-founder of SDMS, and implemented with the hard work of the Rivershed Society of BC and corporate partners Translink, 3M, and Lamar Advertising, the Stream of Dreams® SalmonTrain Mural in Motion is a vibrant means of educating the public about the importance of clean water in our creeks and streams.

As president of the charitable SDMS, I was proud and amazed at the results of nearly a year of hard work by all the partners. Here are some photos I took of the event, and the SalmonTrain.

The SalmonTrain poster at Gilmore Station.

Fin Donnelly, founder and executive director of RSBC, chairs the event.

Louise Towell, co-founder of SMDS, speaks.

Dan Johnson, Burnaby City councillor.

Partners pose in front of the Gilmore Station poster.

The SalmonTrain arriving at the station.

Louise and Joan Carne, SDMS co-founders.

The partners in front of the train.

A closer look at the exterior.

The urban stream inside the train.

An incredibly lifelike storm drain on the floor.

A closeup of Dreamfish in the floor stream.

The message? All street drains lead to fish habitat.

A ceiling poster, also called a "Michaelangelo."

Another ceiling poster.

So the message is, all rain drains (storm drains) connect directly to local creeks and streams. Why does this message need to get out? Ironically, as my wife Yumi and I walked home from Edmonds Skytrain Station after the event, we came across what was likely paint coming down Powerhouse Creek that leads to Byrne Creek. Somebody was washing out painting equipment into a storm drain, so we called the city in on it. There are still a lot of people to teach!

Update: Lots of stuff on You Tube

Salmon Train Launch -- Fin Donnelly, Louise Towell and Dan Johnson

Interviews:

Translink's Drew Snider

SDMS co-founder Joan Carne

Nature Illuminated at Deer Lake

My wife Yumi was interviewed about her animal lanterns that are part of the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers display at the Night of Lights lantern festival in Burnaby. Originally I posted the story and photo here with full and repeated attribution to the Newsleader because their website does not have direct links to individual stories. On second thought, I am removing that copyright material. To find the story, go to the Newsleader website and click on the "Arts" link in the top navigation bar. It should be there for at least a week or two.

Great Info on wikiHow

I just ran across a site called wikiHow "The How-to Manual That You Can Edit."

It has several entries related to streamkeeping and stormwater management.

Here is an entry on creating a rain garden.

And another one on how to
reduce stormwater runoff at your home.

Looks like there are plenty of other goodies, too.

Paint Flows Into Byrne Creek

Someone was washing paint or a similar substance into a rain (storm) drain in or near our townhouse complex today, and it was flowing into Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby. Yumi and I immediately called the spill in to the city, and they sent out an environmental officer from the engineering department to check it out.

Our complex is being painted in the same white colour, so while Yumi and I were waiting for the officer to arrive, we checked all the storm drains in our complex. We found one with evidence of a white substance leading into it, but it appeared to be the work of an owner, not the painting company. Since the drain pipe runs between our complex at 6700 Rumble St. and the one next door at 6670 Rumble St., we also checked the neighbouring complex, and found a patio with white wash leading down another drain.

The officer spoke with the units that appeared to have washed something down the rain drains; however, it was difficult to find a smoking gun. We'll certainly keep an eye out for any recurrence.

All drains on streets and parking lots lead directly to local creeks and are not treated!

If you see anything entering a creek in Burnaby, smell something bad near a rain drain, or see dying fish, contact the 24-hour emergency line at: 604-294-7200.

Como Creek Wiped Out

I was saddened to hear a report from Pamela Zevit of the Como Watershed Group that the creek was hit by toxins for the second time in a month, likely wiping out any remaining fish.

I am taking the liberty of posting her initial report here, which I found on the Salmonopolis website:

Second Toxic Event In A Month Wipes Out Remaining Como Creek Fish

By Pam Zevit

It is with a heavy heart that I have to inform the community that a second toxic event has now impacted the remaining fish in Como Creek. Senior environmental emergency response, fire, the City and enforcement are all on scene at the time of this e-mail to deal with the problem and initiate the investigation. I have been on scene and have been provided some preliminary information. While there is some idea as to the cause of the event, the actual source of the toxic material which entered the creek system upstream of Millside school is still being determined via investigation. While I cannot provide any comment until such time as the information is made public, I can tell you that the last pocket of salmon and trout which were upstream of where the fire runoff entered the creek in July (just one month ago) are now dead. This basically means that while some remnant numbers of fish may have survived, for the most part the fish bearing part of the creek system from Brunette Avenue to at least the Superstore area (and possibly farther downstream) are now pretty much sterilized. Most of the dead fish will be collected as there are concerns that they may be toxic to wildlife.

If you wish further information please contact the City of Coquitlam in the coming days. I will pass on any further information when I know more.

I have toured the Como Watershed with Pamela and want to express my sympathies (and outrage) at these avoidable events. It is difficult to find the words to express the heartbreak and anger that accompany a tragedy like this, after one has invested so much time and effort into preserving a slice of nature in the concrete jungle. I wish Como Creek the best, and may nature work her wonders in bringing life back to its waters.

Snakes by a Creek!

A few Byrne Creek Streamkeepers went out battling invasive Policeman's Helmet in the creek this morning, and found several garter snakes soaking up the heat beneath black garbage bags in which we compost evil plants on site.

Streamkeeper Maho inspects a garter snake.

My wife Yumi checks out another one.

We handled them gently and released them unharmed.

A close-up of one of the harmless beauties.

A grasshopper posed for a portrait.

Donaldson's Salmon Poetry

A friend sent me a link to Peter Donaldson's moving salmon lifecycle poems. He has a lot of excellent material on his site, and I hope to catch his Salmonpeople one-man performance some day.

Dreamfish Renewed at Discovery Day

Burnaby's Discovery Day at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts on Deer Lake was the site of the latest Stream of Dreams Murals Society and Byrne Creek Streamkeepers renewal of Dreamfish from the original fish mural at the corner of Kingsway and Edmonds. Those Dreamfish commemorated the killing of 5,000 fish in Byrne Creek in 1998 when someone poured a toxin down a storm drain, and grew into a watershed education and community art program that has taught over 50,000 participants across Canada with over 160 murals installed.

That original mural came down for a new development, and we salvaged fish that were still in good condition, and prepped them so that they could be repainted for a new location on a bridge on the Urban Trail that crosses the Skytrain line near Edmonds station.

You cannot paint a Dreamfish until you have heard the story of the death and rebirth of Byrne Creek, and learn how drains on streets and parking lots lead directly to local waterways.

Stream of Dreams co-founder Joan Carne explains how rain drains lead to local creeks.

Stream of Dreams co-founder Louise Towell talks about environmentally friendly cleaning products.

Kids painting Dreamfish.

My wife Yumi found time amid volunteering to paint a Dreamfish.

Kids double-teaming on a Dreamfish.

Adults become kids again, and the creativity flows.

Admiring the growing collection.

A closer view of a few beauties.

Dreamfish Revived at Canada Day Fest

Canada Day dawned bright and clear, and the Stream of Dreams Murals Society and Byrne Creek Streamkeepers took part in the festivities at Burnaby's Eastburn Community Centre.

We've participated in this event for many years, but this day was special because we invited people to help revive the original Stream of Dreams dreamfish that graced a chainlink fence at the corner of Kingsway and Edmonds in Burnaby for many years. The dreamfish commemorated the killing of 5,000 fish in Byrne Creek in 1998 when someone poured a toxin down a storm drain, and grew into a watershed education and community art program that has taught nearly 50,000 participants across Canada.

That original mural had to come down for a new development, and we salvaged all the wooden fish that were still in good condition, and sanded them and primed them so that they could be repainted for a new location on a bridge on the Urban Trail that crosses the Skytrain line near Edmonds station.

Dreamfish are special, and you cannot paint one until you have heard the story of the death and rebirth of Byrne Creek, and learn how drains on streets and parking lots lead directly to local waterways. We set up a pathway in our tents through which people passed to learn that story, and then they painted their dreamfish.

People line up to paint dreamfish.

We had lots of posters of trout and salmon to provide inspiration.

Kids learn from a 3D topo map of the Byrne Creek watershed.

Kids paint their dreamfish.

The collection of fresh dreamfish grows.

The palettes of paint grew increasingly funky!

Here's another one next to a blank dreamfish.

Even more dreamfish...

Admiring the eclectic collection.

Do you remember which dreamfish you painted?

What's a Canada Day without an RCMP honour guard?

Or municipal, provincial, and federal politicians cutting a cake?

By the end of the afternoon, Stream of Dreams and streamkeeper volunteers were exhausted, but we had a great time.

Byrne Creek Duckling Rescue!

Yumi and I found a mallard couple and five ducklings in the Byrne Creek sediment pond this afternoon.

Dad took off, leaving Mom to protect her babies. The family had either jumped in or come down the culvert, and once over the stop log the ducklings couldn't get out of the concrete basin. We hauled a debris log from the spillway and made a ramp, but it took Mom and the kids the longest time to figure out how to use it. We kept gently shooing them toward it, and Mom finally jumped out and stood near the top end of the log, and quacked to attract her kids. A couple of them figured it out and scooted up and over, followed eventually by a third, but two were left behind.

At that point it appeared that Mom was going to accept her losses and began leading the three down to the overflow pond. The two left behind became increasingly frantic, peep-peeping mournfully. Finally one of them discovered the log and scooted up, and fortunately number five saw him go and skittered on up as well.

By this time Mom and the other three were swimming down the overflow pond, and the two laggards veered off the spillway and into the habitat. One of them finally rejoined the group, but number five was lost in the spawning channel. We saw no. 5 several times and kept trying to shoo it toward the overflow pond, but it finally went to ground and stopped peeping, so we gave up. By that point we were wondering if our efforts were doing more damage than good!

Mom and the kids near the log we put in place as a ramp.

Byrne Creek Coho Smolt Relaase

Kids from Stride Ave. Community and Kenneth Gordon schools in southeast Burnaby released coho salmon smolts (babies) into Byrne Creek today. The event was a blast, and we were also graced by the presence of a bald eagle that sat in a tree watching the fun until the noise got to be too much and it flew away. Our DFO community advisor Maurice Coulter-Boisvert shows up with the tank full of fish from the Bell-Irving Hatchery at Kanaka Creek, and the kids are given plastic bags of the yearling fish to release into the creek.

Maurice speaks to the kids.

Kids watch the fish they've released.

A slightly stunned smolt gets used to its new surroundings.

Byrne Creek Chum Fry Release

Kids from Glenwood Elementary and Kenneth Gordon schools in southeast Burnaby released chum salmon fry (babies) into Byrne Creek today. The event was great fun as it always is. Our DFO community advisor Maurice Coulter-Boisvert shows up with the tank full of fish from the Bell-Irving Hatchery at Kanaka Creek, and the kids are given plastic bags of the wee fish to release into the creek.

Thank You South Slope Elementary

I would like to thank teacher Gary Thompson and his students at South Slope Elementary in Burnaby for the package of thank you cards that I received today. It was totally unexpected and greatly appreciated.

Gary and his students have participated in the Salmon in the Classroom program for many years. They receive chum salmon eggs from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and care for them in their classroom until they hatch as alevins. They feed them until the tiny fish reach the fry stage, and then the kids release them into Byrne Creek. As volunteer streamkeepers, my wife Yumi and I have had the privilege of guiding the kids to the creek for several years now.

This year's South Slope Elementary release was particularly meaningful to me, because my Mom was dying of cancer. I didn't tell Gary, but it was an uplifting moment being with his kids that morning, and seeing them so full of life and wonder.

Later that day I told Mom about the fry release, and though she was heavily medicated, she indicated that she understood, and was happy. She loved kids, she loved teaching, and she was a teacher of teachers. She died that evening, and it wasn't until today that I made the connection that South Slope Elementary is right across the street from St. Michael's Hospice, the wonderful place where she spent her last few days.

Streamkeepers ID Several Species of Salmonid Fry in Byrne Creek

Baby salmon and trout are appearing in greater numbers in Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby. Yumi and I positively identified chum salmon fry and cutthroat trout fry today and have photo evidence. We also thought we had got a few coho salmon fry, but unfortunately we have only one, poor-quality photo to back us up.

NOTE: It is illegal to net baby fish, and streamkeepers do so with permission from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. We handle them with care and release them once we get a close look at them and take some photos.

A chum fry. Note the parr marks that do not extend below the lateral line, and the light greenish coloration.

A cutthroat fry. Black leading ray and white tip on dorsal fin.

Three chum and one cutthroat in the creek after we released them. The chum are in the top center-left and the cutthroat is at the bottom right. The chum were around 5cm long, while the cutthroat was about 3.5cm.

Likely a coho fry -- it's a poor photo, but the anal fin does appear to be sickle shaped, and have a leading white ray followed by a dark ray.

Salmon Fry Popping Up in Byrne Creek

Salmon fry (babies) are popping up out of the gravel in Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby. I saw fry in several areas of the creek, the spawning habitat and the sediment pond this afternoon. I was elated to spot them because streamkeepers had seen fry several weeks earlier last year, and I was getting concerned. I haven't positively identified them yet, but they are likely chum. I also saw mayflies hatching and a butterfly, so spring is in the air. Last, but not least, I saw a muskrat or beaver swim into a hole in the bank of the overflow pond in the habitat.

Look carefully and you can see a school of fry above the gravel.

This mayfly has just hatched. The husk is above.

Here's one emerging. A nymph can be seen to the left.

Steelhead Recovery Biologist Speaks to Streamkeepers

Greg Wilson, a fish biologist with the BC Ministry of Environment, spoke to Byrne Creek Streamkeepers about steelhead recovery and habitat restoration efforts in BC this evening. It was an interesting presentation about these unique fish, and he also addressed assessment of the massive fish kill on the Cheakamus River after the August 2005 toxic spill when a CN train derailed on a bridge over the river.

Now That's Rain Drain Marking!

Streamkeepers in BC have long been marking rain drains (aka storm drains) with painted yellow fish to inform the public that all street and parking lot drains lead directly to local creeks and streams. Here's a video from New Zealand with some amazing drain marking!

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers Release 2006 Watershed Report

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers released their Byrne Creek Watershed 2006 Status Report today (5.8MB PDF file).

The report grew from 17 pages in 2005 to 27 pages in 2006. We added an extensive write-up on the February 2006 fish kill as an appendix, and added new sections on pH measurements, rain drain marking, and community participation.

Thanks to everyone who contributed!

Calling All Streamkeepers: Workshop 2007

Community Workshop 2007 for BC streamkeepers will be held May 18-20, 2007, at Thompson Rivers University in Williams Lake, BC. The topic is "Stewardship in Transition: Impact and Adaptations in a Changing Climate."

Check out the conference website for more information and registration forms. Yumi and I went to the conference in Squamish nearly two years ago, and had a great time.

NewsLeader Publishes My Green Street Letter

The Burnaby NewsLeader published my letter in support of the City of Burnaby's green street initiative that I wrote about here.

Unfortunately, you cannot link to specific NL items, so I'll just paste it here:

Burnaby’s alternative street design project applauded

Feb 23 2007

Kudos to the City of Burnaby for initiating a pilot project to make Clinton Street greener while benefiting Byrne Creek and the surrounding environment. (NewsLeader, Feb. 22)

I am excited by this plan and envy local residents who will likely see the beautification of their street result in a reinforced sense of community and higher property values. What bonuses to appreciate, while also knowing their street will have a positive effect on the health of their watershed, and their own physical and mental well-being.

As a volunteer with the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers, I am elated the City has chosen this area for the pilot project.

One of our greatest concerns as stewards of our beautiful neighbourhood waterway is the impact of unrestrained flows of rainwater through street drains directly into the creek. Not only do such huge flows from impervious surfaces such as roads and parking lots contribute to erosion and sedimentation of salmon spawning areas, they also carry pollutants such as oil, antifreeze, brake-lining dust, and other toxins into the creek.

The City’s street edge alternative (SEA) project will help on both counts.

I sense that as a society we are becoming increasingly aware of our impact on our environment, and are realizing that we can all make a difference. Indeed, that we all must start making a difference if our children and grandchildren are to enjoy healthy, sustainable lives.

Such change happens person by person, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, and I am proud that the city I have chosen to live in is taking the lead in fostering such progress.

Paul Cipywnyk

SEA Street Pilot For Southeast Burnaby

Burnaby is planning a pilot SEA (street edge alternative) project on a section of Clinton St. near Ron McLean Park. This is a very exciting development, and I'm elated that it's going into the Byrne Creek watershed, where I volunteer as a streamkeeper.

What's so great about SEA streets? They reduce the amount of rain that runs off into rain drains (storm drains :-) by as much as 90% or even more compared to traditional streets with curbs and gutters. This is very important to local creeks because all of those street drains connect directly to them. That means every time it rains, massive amounts of water go shooting down the creeks because it cannot sink into the ground, or be caught by vegetation, as it did in pre-development times.

Not only do SEA streets reduce runoff, they also help to filter pollutants such as oil, gas, brake-lining dust, antifreeze and other substances that collect on roads. They do this by providing vegetated swales, or shallow ditches beside roads, so that water can soak into the ground. Not only are they functional, they are also beautiful. I hope the neighborhood gets excited about this project, and that it goes well, so that it expands to other areas.

Seattle has had great success with SEA streets. Here are a few links:

Street Edge Alternatives Project

SEA Steets Virtual Tour

Wikipedia entry on daylighting creeks and SEA streets.

Wikipedia entry on rain gardens and SEA streets.

Flow Monitor Installed in Byrne Creek

Burnaby installed a flow monitor in Byrne Creek recently as part of work toward developing an Integrated Stormwater Management Plan (ISMP) for the watershed. I look forward to seeing the data, as the creek has become very flashy due to the effects of urban development and increasing impervious surfaces that result in rain shooting into the creek in huge quantities through rain drains (storm drains :-).

Streamkeepers have been collecting some data on flows for years by manually reading staff gauges installed above and below a gate in the spawning habitat, however readings have been sporadic. The new data-logging equipment will give much greater detail.

Byrne Creek Fry Patrol

Salmon fry (babies) should be popping out any day now from the nests that spawning chum and coho made in Byrne Creek last autumn. While the returning spawner count was disappointing last year at around a third of its peak since the creek was restored, streamkeepers did tally around a dozen redds (nests of eggs) in the creek and spawning habitat.

Yumi and I checked several spots where we've seen fry in previous years, but we didn't see any yet. It wasn't a good day for spotting the wee fish -- it was overcast and fairly dark. It's much easier to see them on a bright, sunny day, when they cast shadows as they flit around.

Atlantic Salmon in Saskatchewan?!

I was skimming an issue of Outdoor Canada and was blown away to read that Atlantic Salmon have been farmed in Lake Diefenbaker in Saskatchewan and anglers have caught escapees in the Saskatchewan River. I don't understand why people continue to introduce non-native species all over the place. It just seems such a no-brainer that this sort of tampering with nature will have negative consequences.

I ran across this article that has sections on fish farming all across Canada:

The Canadian Society for Bioengineering: The Canadian society for engineering in agricultural, food, environmental, and biological systems. A special issue on aquaculture

Trout Repopulate Byrne Creek

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers were happy to tally 55 trout in their winter trapping run on Burnaby's Byrne Creek--a number that was near previous highs. The results were heartening considering that a year ago a toxin introduced into the creek through a rain drain (storm drain) killed all fish throughout most of its length. We identified species, measured them, and released them back into the creek.

NOTE: It is illegal to trap fish, and streamkeepers do so for monitoring purposes under the auspices of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Streamkeepers retrieve a trap.

Measuring a fish--you have to be gentle and quick so as not to harm them.

Streamkeepers work their way up the misty ravine.

Foggy Fish Trapping on Byrne Creek

Twice a year Byrne Creek Streamkeepers set out Gee traps in the creek to check on populations of cutthroat trout and young coho salmon. We leave them in overnight and come back the next morning to identify, measure and release any fish that are caught.

It was a foggy, mysterious morning on the creek today, with a forecast for sun. I love the arduous tramp up the ravine. It's hard to believe you're in a city once you get into its depths. Well, the old tires here and there, and the garbage that washes down the creek are reminders that this is not pristine wilderness...

The foggy ravine before the sun burns through.

John, Dave, Dave, and Yumi set a trap and check water temperature and pH.

Yumi checking pH. The results were good all along the creek.

Resting on a trail as the sun tops the ravine rim.

Lovely light pours through the woods.

Dead Cutthroat Trout, Mayflies in Byrne Creek

We found a dead cutthroat trout in the sediment pond above the spawning habitat in Burnaby's Byrne Creek today. It was about 30cm long, and when we opened it up, it was a male. No signs of external damage. There were plenty of other live trout around, so it wasn't killed by a toxin. I wonder if was an early spawner near the end of its life cycle. CORRECTION: Yumi believes that it was spiked by a heron -- there was a stab wound that I assumed I had inflicted when I scooped it out of the pond with a pike, but she thinks that the size and shape of the wound were smaller than what the pike would have done.

We also saw many mayfly nymphs in pools on the spillway between the sediment pond and the overflow pond, and also found one hatched, rather bedraggled looking mayfly floating on the surface of the sediment pond. We fished it out with a twig.

Salmon Spawning Season Ends in Byrne Creek

As winter sinks its grips into the lower mainland of BC with unusual ferocity, it appears that the salmon spawning season has ended for southeast Burnaby's Byrne Creek for another year. Autumn is the most exciting time of the year for Byrne Creek Streamkeepers, for the return of salmon to this struggling urban waterway in the autumn is the most visible evidence that our efforts to protect and enhance the watershed are not in vain.

This year the returns were poor -- at around 35 chum and coho we saw only about a third of the over 90 spawners recorded in 2004 -- our best year since volunteers began to rehabilitate the once-dead creek about 20 years ago. It was a wild, wet and snowy year though, so we suspect we missed salmon that we couldn't see in the high, dirty water, or that were flushed away in the heavy rains before we could find their carcasses. A good sign is that we saw at least 10 redds (nests of eggs) in the spawning channel, well up from sightings in the last few years.

You may scoff at these numbers, but seeing as only about a third of the creek remains in a somewhat natural state, and the rest is piped or ditched, any positive results are to be celebrated.

Streamkeepers patrolled the creek almost daily as the weather allowed, and though past records indicate the spawners peter out by mid to late December, we continued into the New Year, hoping...

We have lots of other activities to keep us busy until once again we begin stalking the creek for the first spawners next October, but we'll miss them. They surmount incredible odds from birth to going out to sea, to returning to spawn and die, and we appreciate every one that makes it back to "our" small, battered creek.

Excellent Videos on West Coast Salmon

Excellent series of videos on salmon, their life cycle, their decline, and their historical relationship to people and life on the west coast. Thanks to Zo Anne (Pacific Streamkeepers Federation) and Joan (Stream of Dreams) for the links!

The last run, part 1: www.lifeonterra.com/episode.php?id=24
The last run, part 2: www.lifeonterra.com/episode.php?id=25
The last run, part 3: www.lifeonterra.com/episode.php?id=26

Streamkeepers Wrap Trees Against Beavers

Beavers have been mowing down trees in the artificial spawning habitat on Burnaby's Byrne Creek. While the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers are all for urban biodiversity, we felt we had to protect the trees in the habitat that provide crucial shade for the spawning channel in the summer, so we had a tree-wrapping session this morning. We use chicken wire, and it's effective in keeping Canada's national symbol at bay :-).

A view of some of the damage.

Here I am going at it with chicken wire and cutters.

My wife Yumi, Bob, and Rusty, one of our mascots.

Byrne Creek Patrol Finds Oil Still Seeping, Dead Cutthroat

The oil that streamkeepers saw entering Burnaby's Byrne Creek a week ago is still trickling out of a storm outfall. City environmental staff put a boom in to try to soak some of it up, but it doesn't appear to be very effective. Today we found a dead cutthroat trout a few meters downstream of where the substance is entering the creek, and while it's impossible to say there is a causal relationship, it's possible the fish blundered into a pocket of the pollutant.

This little cutthroat trout had no visible external damage and was 17.5cm long.

As we worked our way upstream looking for spawning salmon, the sun broke through.

It's beautiful moments like this that lift a streamkeeper's spirits!

Burnaby Acknowledges Streamkeepers, Stream of Dreams

There's a nice mention of the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers and the Stream of Dreams Murals Society on this City of Burnaby page. (Check the Community Support area) for their input into the city's Eco-Sculpture program.

As a streamkeeper volunteer and president of the Stream of Dreams board of directors, thanks Burnaby! We enjoy working with the city and appreciate the support.

BC MLA Raj Chouhan Tours Byrne Creek

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers were happy to take BC MLA Raj Chouhan on a tour of the creek this morning. We explained how the watershed works, what we do throughout the year, and what some of our concerns are. We really appreciated the opportunity to share, particularly since MLAs are so busy. Mr. Chouhan gamely followed us through the bush in the spawning habitat, asked many questions, and shared his appreciation for volunteer efforts like ours.

Thanks!

Coho Spawners, Polluting Oil in Byrne Creek

Today Yumi and I did our weekly salmon spawning patrol for the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers in southeast Burnaby. We were happy to find a couple of coho, but were also dismayed to see a steady stream of oil entering the creek from a storm outlet. We called the city's environment department, and they sent staff out to put a boom in and try to trace the source.

Here's the oil entering Byrne Creek.

This outfall has always been problematic, with oily substances appearing quite often. Today the flow was stronger than usual and steady. This must be more than just road wash.

The amount of guck accumulating in the settling pond is also increasing...

A magnificent male coho that we found today.

We measured him and checked out his internals, and his milt was loose so he appeared to have spawned. We process spawners and keep records under the auspices of the DFO.

We were also happy to find a huge new redd, or nest of eggs, in the spawning channel, with a female guarding it. We found the expired male perhaps 15-18 meters downstream, and there are few spawners in the system now, so he may have been her partner.

Cold Spawner Patrol on Byrne Creek

Yumi and I did a cold, wet spawner patrol on Burnaby's Byrne Creek today -- halfway through it started snowing again. We were rewarded with one dead spawner, unfortunately it was a female coho salmon that had not deposited her eggs. Poor visibility precluded sighting any other returning salmon.

An unspawned female coho.

(Please note that streamkeepers monitor spawners under the auspices of the DFO -- please do not disturb salmon or their carcasses.)

Oily filth accumulates in the semi-frozen spawning habitat.

The blast of snow in BC's lower mainland is going to have a negative impact on local creeks. All the salt and snow melt that people use to keep their vehicles moving will eventually make its way down rain drains (AKA storm drains :-) and into local waterways.

Salmon-Safe Certification -- Why Not in BC?

I first learned about the Salmon-Safe certification program at the 2006 State of the Fraser Basin Conference a few days ago. It's an intriguing program that certifies farms, vineyards, industrial sites and even parks as being salmon safe. I think this is a great idea, and one that would be excellent to transplant to British Columbia.

"Welcome to Salmon-Safe. Almost a decade after we first started certifying fish friendly farms in Oregon's Willamette Valley, Salmon-Safe has become one of the nation's leading regional eco labels with more than 50,000 acres of farm and urban lands certified. The Salmon-Safe retail campaign has been featured in 200 supermarkets and natural food stores."

Federal, Provincial Govts Invest $20 Million in Fraser Salmon

Some good news. Read the press release.

Heavy Rains, Urban Development Batter Byrne Creek

Byrne Creek has been suffering as torrential waters barrel through it during the recent heavy rains that have hit the lower mainland of BC. The ravages are human caused -- if the watershed were still in its natural pre-settlement state, the creek would be in fine shape. Say what?

Yes, development is pouring the massive amounts of water into the creek -- the deluge comes from roads, parking lots, and buildings that drain directly into the creek. All those roads, all those parking lots, all that pavement, all those roofs mean that rain pours directly into the creek through the rain-drain (storm drain) system instead of being absorbed into the ground.

We can't turn back time, we can't "un-develop" urban areas, but why can't we protect what few teeny pocket forests we have left? Why not redevelop aging one- and two-story buildings into towers instead of clearcutting pockets of urban biodiversity?

Burnaby has done a decent job of protecting urban biodiversity, but it could be doing so much more.

Heavy rain turns what is normally a few inches of water into a torrent that scours the creek.

Massive flow is causing erosion and ripping a new, less diverse channel through the creek.

Byrne Creek Spawner Patrol

I went on my first spawner patrol this autumn on Byrne Creek this morning, as I had been away at university for three weeks. Yumi and I found two dead coho spawners and a very dead