Paul Cipywnyk's Blog

Sockeye Salmon Dying Unspawned on Harrison River & Lake

Yumi and I went as far up the  Fraser Valley as Kilby today looking for spawning salmon.

We were surprised to see lots of dead sockeye on the banks of the Harrison River -- many of them just barely starting to show their spawning colouration, and looking good enough to eat. We could also see lots of big silver fish belly up out on the water. Strange.

On our way home we stopped in at Kanaka Creek to poke around the hatchery, and talked to the manager. He said he'd heard stories of people out fishing on Harrison River & Lake who said they'd seen lots of silver floaters.

I also found a thread on the Fishing with Rod website with similar reports, and plenty of speculation as to what the cause could be -- high water temps? disease?

The above had the most advanced spawning colouration that we saw.

The beach at Kilby.

In several shots I took of the water, you can count a dozen or more dead
floaters per picture, but I've not posted any here because at this size of photo
the fish are just white dots.

Met Ripple Relay Riders at Burnaby’s Byrne Creek

I met Ripple Relay/Wild Salmon Express cyclists Michelle Nickerson and Daniel Van der Kroon today. They have been cycling the entire length of the Fraser River watershed to highlight awareness of wild salmon and promote a shift away from open-net fish farming.

We met at Burnaby's Byrne Creek, and chatted about the challenges this urban watershed faces. It was great to meet them, and wish them on their way. Their goal is near!

Photo by my wife, Yumi.

Let’s Kill More Salmon Before They Spawn ‘Too Much.’ Huh?

Now that we've got a half-decent run of sockeye salmon on the Fraser River for the first time in several years, the "let's harvest more!" crowd are out in force. Gluttony and opportunism are reviving their old, baseless, self-centred, anti-social arguments.

As a society, we have the collective attention span of a two-year-old child. And a matching lack of historical awareness.

FEED ME! NOW!

The "over-escapement" letters to editors are starting to fly, accusing the Department of Fisheries and Oceans of not allowing more "harvest" (isn't that a nice, benign word?).

I've never understood the argument that us enlightened human managers of the world might make the apparently huge mistake of letting too many salmon reach their spawning grounds.

What?! Horrors!

The "over-escapers" say this will lead to "over-competition," disrupted redds, blah, blah.

The Fraser used to regularly, year after year, have salmon runs 3, 5, perhaps even 10 times the volume of what we have now in our best year out of five. And since there were none of us enlightened, scientific, white folks around to harvest them with vast nets and motorized vessels, or chew up their habitat with our housing and commercial buildings, or poison them with our sewage and chemicals, the bulk of those salmon got past the First Nations fishers who literally had a life-or-death dependence upon them for millennia.

So how is it that salmon managed to thrive and fill rivers from bank to bank without our scientific, commercial intervention, year after year for centuries?

And as for that "over-competition" argument, well, that's nature's way of ensuring healthy populations. The big, strong, healthy salmon get to partner, get to spawn, get to stir up and replace the redds of smaller, weaker fish.

Nature thrives on competition.

If I were a fisher truly looking forward to the future of this "resource," I'd say let *all* the sockeye through for several generations of fair natural selection until we get tens of millions of huge fish back again - - *on a regular basis*.

Instead of directing your anger at DFO for not allowing you to scoop the LAST FISH, you might focus your efforts on habitat preservation, a shift to tertiary sewage treatment. . .

It's only whining Canadian humans who demand self-centred changes to government regulations that happen to benefit and suit them in the short term. The fish have no voice, no party, no cabinet ministers. . .

UPDATE (Aug. 30): I was happy to see the Vancouver Sun's Stephen Hume tackle "over-escapement" on the front page of the Aug. 30 paper.

UPDATE (Aug. 30): Ernie Crey of the Sto:lo First Nation also warns against overfishing in CBC article.

Jennifer Atchison, 1938-2010, Passionate Burnaby Streamkeeper, Environmental Advocate

Jennifer was always swimming upstream, leading by example, pushing and prodding, collaborating and cajoling. She was the heart of the Stoney Creek Environment Committee, and was instrumental in that group achieving so much environmental restoration in her watershed in conjunction with many partners including the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and the City of Burnaby.

As president of the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers Society, I extend our condolences to Jennifer's family and our fellow streamkeepers at Stoney Creek.

I am grateful I had the opportunity to work with Jennifer at least a little over the last ten years. She was always a joy to meet at streamkeeper events and activities. I was also fortunate to be present when she received two well-deserved awards: the City of Burnaby's Environment Award for Community Stewardship in 2010, and a BC Achievement Award in 2008.

City of Burnaby Environment Award 2010
L to R: Greg Bartle, City of Burnaby Long-Range Planner - Environmental Stewardship;
Jennifer; Burnaby Councillor and Environment Committee Chair Dan Johnston

BC Achievement Award 2008
L to R: MLA Harry Bloy, Jennifer, BC Premier Gordon Campbell

As you can see by the above photos, she was physically diminutive, but she'd latch onto my arm, tilt her head up, focus on my eyes nearly two feet above her own. . . and keep me fixed in her sights until she'd imparted a key message she wanted me to hear :-).

Many of us in the streamkeeper community, and I suspect many politicians and bureaucrats as well, will miss that arm lock, that intense gaze . . .

So let's remember and honour her unwavering message of watershed restoration and protection, and the right of every human being, fish, and animal, to live in clean water and a healthy natural environment, even in urban areas.

Rainwater and Sustainable Communities

This is an excellent website for sustainable stormwater management practices. I really like the "Who are you?" links that tune the perspective toward elected officials, municipal stormwater managers, developers, and the general public.

Thanks to Waterbucket for the link!

Speaking Streamkeeping at Mesa/Burnaby Sister-City Visit

I was invited to speak to a delegation on a sister-city visit today to Burnaby BC, from Mesa, AZ. The group was visiting Burnaby's gorgeous new Tommy Douglas Library, and I was asked to talk about the significance of the Stream of Dreams mural in the children's area of the library, and how the City and the library have collaborated over the years with local volunteers from the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers.

I quickly recounted some of the history of Stream of Dreams, and the original Dreamfish mural on a fence surrounding the property that the library was eventually built on. I spoke about the "fishy neighbourhood" around the library and the beautiful salmon sculpture and the "stream" and its aquatic animals inlaid into the path behind the library. I explained how all drains lead to fish habitat, and how streamkeepers and the City of Burnaby work closely together on keeping urban creeks and streams as natural and healthy as is possible in a developed environment.

While I'm not sure how much of the healthy watershed message I got across in a few minutes, I thank library staff including Chief Librarian Edel Toner-Rogala and Tommy Douglas Branch Manager Roberta Summersgill for inviting me. They are both wonderful to work with!

Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan (right) presents Mesa Mayor Scott Smith with framed memento of the tour.

Viewing the Stream of Dreams installation in the children's corner.

Touring the gorgeous library.

Southpoint Rain Garden in SE Burnaby Underway!

It's so exciting to see construction underway on the Southpoint Rain Garden in SE Burnaby, BC. The rain garden is being created on a dead-end cul-de-sac, and will bridge Taylor Park and Byrne Creek Ravine Park.

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers brought the site to the attention of the City of Burnaby's planning, engineering and parks departments, and all immediately understood the site's potential. It not only links the green space of the two parks, it will provide natural filtration of rainwater that comes down Burnaby's south slope and that roars unfiltered into Byrne Creek. Streamkeepers have noted for years the oily flow off the streets that accumulated into the rain drains (storm drains) along Southpoint Drive and was visible way down below, exiting pipes into the creek whenever it rained.

The site will also be a gorgeous outdoor nature lab for elementary school students from nearby Taylor Park School. The principal, staff and students have already been involved in discussions and developments. The school has also been so kind as to hold an event with streamkeepers, and everyone appears excited about monitoring the new rain garden and how it will affect local urban biodiversity.

And last, but not least, the site is right by Adera Development's "Green" townhouse development. As part of its ethos of sustainable development and giving back to communities, Adera provided a substantial donation to the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers several years ago. We thank Adera for its patience in waiting to receive full public acknowledgement for its efforts, as the streamkeepers decided to use the funds to support the rain garden - a project that took some time to come to fruition.

I can almost feel the earth heaving a sigh of relief as the asphalt is stripped away, allowing the soil to breath and to absorb rain again!

Way to go Burnaby! I hope this project stimulates more of its kind around our beautiful city.

You're doing good, we heartily appreciate it,  let's see more! :-)

Burnaby Library Honours Original Stream of Dreams Mural

In a great collaboration, the new Tommy Douglas Public Library in southeast Burnaby has incorporated a visual legacy of the original Stream of Dreams mural that used to grace the corner of Kingsway and Edmonds.

Before the new library and adjacent commercial/residential development went up, the original watershed mural had to come down. You can read & see about it here.

The original mural commemorated the deaths of thousands of fish after a toxin was poured into a street drain in 1998, killing everything in Byrne Creek. That first Dreamfish mural stimulated amazing collaboration between streamkeepers, schools, the local community and several City of Burnaby departments. It went on to spark so much public interest, that eventually Louise Towell and Joan Carne, who had instigated that first mural, formed the Stream of Dreams Murals Society to carry out watershed education and community art.

Politicians Tour Byrne Creek

Thanks to a passel of politicians who took the time to go on a tour of the Byrne Creek watershed in southeast Burnaby today!

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers Society board members Joan Carne and moi led MP Peter Julian, MLAs Raj Chouhan and Kathy Corrigan, and City of Burnaby Councillors Sav Dhaliwal and Paul McDonell down the ravine trail.

The goal of today's tour was to impart the importance of environmentally-friendly development to the health of urban creeks. The City of Burnaby was a trailblazer in implementing an "open creeks" policy several decades ago, but the creeks cannot survive in a constantly urbanizing environment without progressive development policies that require rain gardens, and roadside and parking-lot swales - anything and everything that helps get rainwater into the ground where it belongs, filtering out pollutants along the way.

SPONGE

That's the word of the day. Our cities must be developed as SPONGES, just like the forests, fields, and bogs that they've filled in. Get that water back into the ground, and you're way ahead in the fight against pollution, against flooding, against massive storm flows off of our streets, roofs and parking lots. . .

Getting oriented to the watershed.

Distracted by potential voters on the ravine trail :-)

A group of nature-loving daycare kids exploring the lovely
creek stole our hearts.

Checking out a simple swale that absorbs run-off from a parking lot
instead of draining it into the storm system - and then the local creek.

Observing a site that streamkeepers approached the City of Burnaby
about, suggesting it could become a large rain garden. The dead-end
street will be decommissioned and turned into a lovely, water-infiltrating
garden that will also bridge Taylor Park and Byrne Creek Ravine Park.

Taylor Park Elementary School just up the hill is already excited about the potential to use the rain garden as a nature-study site. After the pavement is ripped up, and water starts to flow again, and native plants are planted - what species begin to use the habitat? And how does that change and progress over the years. What a great, ongoing science project!

Thanks again to our elected representatives! We know you are very busy, and we appreciate your time and attention. I think another concept that was related today was the fact that streamkeeper groups are 100% volunteer. None of us get any financial compensation for what we do - including today's tour. . .  In fact we take unpaid time off from our day jobs to do events like this. . .

So, now, ahem, let's see some action for our tax dollars ! ;-)

Streamkeepers of the Language

A well-crafted blog post by James Harbeck, a fellow member of the Editors' Association of Canada, that uses the theme of streamkeeping, and in particular the March 2010 Byrne Creek kill, to frame an essay on living languages and etymology.

Thanks for the links, James!

Clearing Invasive Policeman’s Helmet along Byrne Creek

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers are tackling invasive Himalayan Balsam (aka Policeman's Helmet) in lower stretches of the urban creek, yet again. It's an endless battle. We've cleared this particular stretch of the creek three years in a row, but it still comes back.

The growth of this invasive plant can be so thick and rampant that it can literally suck sections of the creek dry if not battled back.

That's my wife, Yumi, and the pink blossoms
above her head are on one of the dreaded plants.
In a matter of several weeks it's gone from barely
noticeable to nearly 2 meters high!

And in places, pink is all that you see. . .
This is near the end of several hours of
back-breaking eradication.

Byrne Creek Bug Count Yields Baby Crayfish

Twice a year, Byrne Creek Streamkeepers count bugs - the fancy name is "aquatic invertebrate surveys" - to assess the quality of the water in the urban stream. We sample the same locations year after year so that we have comparable data. The bug counts usually run for three weekends in a row.

The crew hard at work - we are fortunate to have members
who let us use their china and dining room tables so that we
can  count in comfort after collecting the samples from the creek.

To our surprise, we found three baby crayfish in our sample.
Here's one of them next to a dime for size comparison.

Canada Day in Surrey

We decided to check out Canada Day in Surrey as part of our ongoing exploration of events on Canada's birthday. Last year we went to Canada Day in New Westminster and thoroughly enjoyed the cosy atmosphere in Queen's Park, the live music, etc. As Burnaby residents and community volunteers, we've been to many Canada Day events in Burnaby.

Our impression of the Surrey event was that it was much more corporate-sponsorship oriented than Burnaby events are. I'm not judging that as being either good or bad, but it was interesting to hear Surrey politicians lauding the corporate sponsors for enabling a "free public event." Hmm. Burnaby Canada Day events are free to the public, too, without all the banner ads, displays of cars and trucks, etc. . . Perhaps the Burnaby events are not on quite the same scale, but bigger is not necessarily better, eh?

I was impressed, however, with the strong environmental-sustainability presence at the Surrey event. Lots of displays on sustainable living, and booths on streamkeeping and preserving urban forests. Surrey actually hires university students over the summer to lead teams of hired high-school students to work on restoring urban streams, removing invasive plant species, etc. I have to admit that's way ahead of Burnaby initiatives. . .

Commercial Properties Still Using Pesticides in South Burnaby

I happened to cycle past the Ballard building on North Fraser Way down in the Glenlyon Development near Fraser Foreshore Park in south Burnaby over lunch today.

There was a guy applying something to the lawns on both sides of the street, so I asked him what it was: Weed 'n Feed. I asked him if he was aware that he was applying it right next to Sussex Creek (neither fertilizer nor pesticides are good for aquatic habitat), and he brushed me off saying it was an approved chemical.

I called the City of Burnaby, and staff confirmed that they couldn't do anything about it because it was commercial property and the City's Pesticide Bylaw does not apply to commercial properties. I also checked the Environment Canada website, and discovered that weed 'n feed (combined fertilizer/pesticide) products have been banned on a national level, effective 2012. So it seems a shame that landscapers are still applying the stuff.

It would be great if developers, property managers, and landscapers got ahead of the curve!

I've talked to people who say they've heard that landscapers are intent on using up stocks of products that face potential bans, or that have already been banned but the deadline hasn't been reached yet, and that seems morally reprehensible to me.

Perhaps chemicals manufacturers could be encouraged to take back such products with partial refunds, and governments could be encouraged to support such programs through rebates? Perhaps such programs are in place, but people don't know about them? There's a lot that could be done here!

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers Society Executive

The founding directors of the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers Society met tonight for the first time. We've incorporated as a British Columbia non-profit association after more than ten years of functioning on an informal basis.

The new executive is: President, Paul Cipywnyk; Vice President, Frank Williams; Treasurer, Dave Burkholder; Secretary, Abby Schwarz; Director at Large, Maho Hayashi; Director at Large, Joan Carne.

The board passed a policy to create the position of Past President to ensure continuity. This is not an official executive position, but more an honourary one. We designated Joan Carne as the founding Past President in recognition of her 10+ years of chairing the group to this point.

The society membership fee was set at $5.00 annually. Dues will be payable from the September 2010 regular monthly meeting.

The board passed a motion to designate Bert Richardson, Bob Fuller, and Lloyd Longeway as honourary life members of the society in recognition of their founding efforts with the Vancouver Angling & Game Association to clean up Byrne Creek and initiate restocking of its fish populations.

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers Incorporated as BC Society

After over 10 years of streamkeeping in which we've racked up close to 20,000 volunteer hours, the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers have incorporated as a registered British Columbia non-profit society.

While we've functioned very effectively as an unstructured "jazz band" in which different people have taken the lead on various activities and initiatives on an ad hoc basis, new volunteer insurance requirements were the final straw that pushed us to apply for society status. It'll mean more paperwork, but it also safeguards our well-respected "brand" and sets the stage for fostering a new generation of community leaders.

Born out of the volunteer efforts of several gentlemen from the Vancouver Angling & Game Association who began cleaning up the creek in southeast Burnaby around two decades ago, the streamkeeper group was formed when more people from the broader community became involved after a horrific toxic spill in 1998 that killed some 5,000 fish and other animals in the revitalized urban creek.

I must mention the leadership of Joan Carne, who has herded the group since its inception. I hope the newly established board can fill the huge gumboots she's leaving us! She's not really leaving, but is stepping down from an executive role because she's super busy with the Stream of Dreams Murals Society, which was also spawned from that 1998 kill on Byrne Creek, and has to this point taught over 100,000 kids across Canada about their local watersheds, how they function, and what every single person can do to protect clean water.

Thanks too, to the City of Burnaby, in particular Environmental Services in the Engineering Department, and the folks in Burnaby Parks who deal with environmental issues. Not to mention the Planning staff who work with community groups! Of course we also cannot do the work we do without the oversight and guidance of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and in particular Maurice Coulter-Boisvert, our DFO Community Advisor. And many of us volunteers got our streamkeeper training and ongoing support from The Pacific Streamkeepers Federation. Yay Zo Ann!

Byrne Creek has suffered several more kills over the last decade when people in ignorance have poured toxins down street drains in the watershed. But streamkeepers never give up!

Here's to the next ten years of streamkeeping!

Ugly Bug Ball 2010

DFO Community Advisors in the lower mainland of BC and the Pacific Streamkeepers Federation host a free volunteer appreciation event called the Ugly Bug Ball every two years. For the last several times, the event has been held at the A Rocha facility in South Surrey, a gorgeous old farm that's been turned into an environmental education venue.

A few photos of this year's event, with a concentration on the beautiful natural setting :-):

DFO Community Advisor Mark Johnson sets the stage

PSKF's Zo Ann Morten shows what it means to be a stakeholder :-)

Bribing volunteers with cake!

The wine/whine session where everyone gets to beef in good company!

One of the gorgeous salmon moulded at an Ugly Bug Ball several years ago.

Participants hang out in the orchard.

Looking up at the sun through the orchard trees.

The beautiful pond on the A Rocha property.

Another water feature with snails enjoying the spattering flow.

Some of the gyotaku (Japanese-style transfer images) people created.

It truly is a gorgeous property!

RBC Blue Water Day Hosts Byrne Creek, Stream of Dreams

I was happy to represent the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers and the Stream of Dreams Murals Society at the Kingsway/Walker RBC branch in southeast Burnaby for a couple of hours today for the bank's Blue Water Day. Several RBC branches invited streamkeepers and Stream of Dreams to participate, and we did our best to accommodate as many of them as we could, though it's tough to find volunteers during working hours.

Thanks to Veloy and the staff at the branch!

My Byrne Creek/Stream of Dreams display

All Drains Lead to Fish Habitat!

Serving clients cake!

Veloy and I - thanks!

Info on the RBC Blue Water Project here.

And thanks to the Pacific Salmon Foundation for matching our groups up with RBC!

Sometimes I feel a bit strange displaying front-page spreads of myself from the local papers, but I've discovered it's a great way to start conversations. People trundle by, glance at me, glance at the display, stop as recognition dawns, look at me again and blurt out: "Hey, that's you!" Yup, and now I've got you hooked for at least a minute :-).

USGS: Effects of Urbanization on Stream Ecosystems

An excellent series of videos on how urbanization affects local streams. Thanks to the Pacific Streamkeepers Federation mailing list for this lead. These videos are great resources for explaining the function of urban watersheds to the public.

Burnaby Environment Awards Lunch 2010

The City of Burnaby's 2010 Environment Awards were presented at a lovely luncheon today.

Councillor Dan Johnston, chair of the Burnaby Environment Committee

The Wildlife Rescue Association of BC received the Environment Award
for Communication

Jennifer Atchison of the Stoney Creek Environment Committee
received an Environment Award for Community Stewardship

Brentwood Park Elementary School received an Environment Award
for Youth

Coro Strandberg and Phillip Legg received an Environmental Star
for Planning and Development

And Candace LeRoy of Simon Fraser University received an
Environmental Star for Business Stewardship

Group shot of the awardees

The reception is always a fun event. I've attended four or five times over the past years, first as an award recipient with my wife Yumi for our volunteer work on Byrne Creek, and now as a citizen representative on Burnaby's Environment Committee. It's always a great crowd with opportunities to catch up with old friends and make new ones. City of Burnaby staff do an excellent job on coordinating the event.

Vancouver Sun: Remote Alaskan sockeye salmon offer clues to long-term survival

An interesting read, though I find the overall conclusion to be a "Duh" moment:

The study shows the key to the health of the Bristol Bay fishery is a 'diversified portfolio' of hundreds of discrete populations of sockeye. Some of the populations like it when the surface climate is hot and dry, while others like it cold and wet. Some spend just one year in fresh water before heading to sea, others spend two years.

Researchers for the study, which appears in today's edition of the journal Nature, liken it to a diverse stock portfolio that spreads the risk around.

While this is a great explanation for the layperson, uh, haven't we long known the importance of genetic diversity?

Anyway, a key statement was: "The hope for the Fraser is that the fish can adapt to these warmer conditions and to the diseases that they've seen," says Hilborn. "We just basically have to give them time. And that basically means not harvesting them very much until they can solve the problem."

How about not harvesting Fraser sockeye at all? For several generations? Lower-Fraser First Nations have agreed to a complete sockeye moratorium and are doing only selective fishing, what about everyone else?

UPDATE: Another take on the same issue by Mark Hume in The Gl0be and Mail can be found here.

Inspiring Quotations on Water, Rivers, Fish & Sustainability

Here's a bunch of quotations that I've collected. They focus on water, rivers, fish, nature and sustainability. I've likely shared some of them here before:

From Mighty River by Richard Bocking
"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." -- Aldo Leopold

"We are a restless, dissatisfied novice species, clamoring for rulership of a planet toward which we display not even a rudimentary form of allegiance." -- Robert Harrington

"It seems clear beyond the possibility of argument that any given generation of men can have only a lease, not ownership, of the earth; and one essential term of the lease is that the earth be handed on to the next generation with unimpaired potentialities." -- Roderick Haig-Brown

"This curious world that we inhabit is more wonderful than convenient; more beautiful than it is useful; it is more to be admired and enjoyed than to be used." -- Henry David Thoreau

"It is the salmon that expresses the force of our land. Without the salmon, the land and the rivers would only survive as a corpse survives the death of the nervous system and the departure of the spirit." -- Alan Haig-Brown

"The world was not created for people only, but for purposes that transcend the human race with its limited foresight and imagination; therefore it behooves all conscious inhabitants of this superb planet to nurture it as a garden, maintaining it in health, beauty and diversity for whatever glorious future its denizens may together share." -- Stan Rowe

"The care of the earth is our most ancient and most worthy and, after all, our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it, and to foster its renewal, is our only legitimate hope." -- Wendell Berry

"Unlike our ancestors, those of us alive today comprise the generations running headlong into the limits of our use of natural systems while observing permanent loss of much of our natural heritage. The bottom line is that people have the freedom to change their behavior, whereas fish do not. If we are to save wild salmon, then some people will lose money or the ability to do things they wanted to do. But we all lose if we lose the salmon." (p. 245) -- King of Fish: The Thousand-Year Run of Salmon by David R. Montgomery

"...if we can silence our egos for a moment and set aside our preconceptions about who we think we are, we may begin to perceive some of the lessons that the rest of nature has to teach: lessons not of personality but of relationship, not of order but of complexity, not of private property but of shared responsibility, not of rationality but of mystery, not of the ultimacy of the human enterprise but of the interdependency of all life." (p. 47) -- Cathedral of the World: Sailing Notes For A Blue Planet by Myron Arms

"... is the story we've been telling ourselves about our 'progress' as a species during the last ten thousand years really upside-down? Have we actually regressed, psychologically, from a state of harmony with our natural surroundings to a state of boredom, contentiousness, and alienation?" (p. 122). -- Cathedral of the World: Sailing Notes For A Blue Planet by Myron Arms

"... we have learned to adapt, by increments, to the humanscapes around us until we can hardly remember what a natural landscape looks like any longer.... Most dangerous of all, we convince ourselves, perhaps because of the pervasiveness of the humanscape, that we are at the center of things -- that we are the controllers, the 'managers' of the planet." -- Cathedral of the World: Sailing Notes For A Blue Planet by Myron Arms

"... while engineers can reproduce fish, they cannot replace nature. Hatcheries are technological marvels and they may be a necessity in the modern world, but they are not signs of progress; they are monuments to our failure to protect rivers." -- The Run of the River: Portraits of Eleven British Columbia Rivers by Mark Hume

"A river is water in its loveliest form, rivers have life and sound and movement and infinity of variation, rivers are veins of the earth through which the life blood returns to the heart." -- Roderick Haig-Brown A River Never Sleeps

BC Lower Mainland Streamkeepers: Sign up for Ugly Bug Ball!

Ugly Bug Ball IV is coming on June 12 in South Surrey. DFO Community Advisors from the Lower Mainland of BC and the Pacific Streamkeepers Federation invite streamkeepers to attend this event, network, share information about your group, etc. This fun event in a beautiful venue is free for volunteers!

‘BC Waters Clean Up Challenge’ from Pacific Western Brewing

This is a good initiative by a key member of BC's corporate sector - Pacific Western Brewing.

"Proceeds from Pacific Pilsner and PWB will be used to support the clean-up of streams, rivers or lakes in beautiful British Columbia. We will be selecting one or more community water clean-up projects with funding and other tools this summer."

Community groups can apply here.

While I laud this initiative, I must also chide PWB for its tag line "Save Water Drink Pilsner."

While it's cute, and I do like my beer, brewing and bottling is a hugely water-intensive process in which far more water is used than in simply quenching your thirst from your tap, eh?

Bev Bowler of DFO Receives ‘Salmon Hero’ Award

Bev Bowler of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans received the Salmon Hero award at the 2010 Fraser Assembly of the Fraser Salmon & Watersheds Program. Bev received the award for her dedication to the Salmonids in the Classroom program, in which schoolkids receive salmon eggs to hatch and rear in their classrooms, and then release into local creeks.

Bev is very deserving of this award. Though I rarely get to meet her in person, I've had the privilege of helping several schools release their chum fry into Byrne Creek every spring. It's a great program that thoroughly engages kids, teachers, and parents, and I love the enthusiasm and excitement.

Ernie Crey Gives 2010 Fraser Assembly Keynote

Ernie Crey, Senior Policy Advisor for the Sto:lo Tribal Council gave a moving keynote address to the Fraser Salmon & Watersheds Program 2010 Fraser Assembly this morning.  These are my rough notes, so while the gist may be correct, they cannot be attributed to Ernie Crey as direct quotations . . .

We are undergoing profound, ongoing changes. Changes in the aboriginal community signal profound changes in the entire community, institutions, and policies.

Change is the constant that we all face and we can't hide from it.

Trying to hold back change doesn't work. Change is overwhelming and inevitable.

The best we can do and hope for is to flow with the change and see if we can direct it around the values that we have. That's all that we can do.

Get engaged, run for and hold public office.

People in Ottawa make policy for all aspects of our lives: the environment, taxation, health, etc. All those decisions are made there by a small cadre of males from the dominant community. Woman are largely absent. Aboriginals are absent. Policy is mostly made by white males.

It's best that we be the shapers of public policy in Canada. I've never been a believer in sitting it out.

We've entered a difficult place in the history of this province, particularly when it comes to fisheries.

120 years ago there were 100 million and more sockeye salmon coming back to spawn up the Fraser. We now consider a good year to be 10 million fish. Fish have been going missing from the Fraser for decade upon decade.

The DFO is not the saviour of salmon or its champion. This needs to change.

If we don't drastically change our ways, the chinook will all be gone. Will we allow that to happen? Will we sit it out?

What is the right thing to do? What is the ethical thing to do? For our children and their children, and the children of the white man.

Can't we respond to change?

The aboriginals have adjusted and have begun to fish selectively.

The Cohen judicial inquiry into missing sockeye salmon. I predict the hearing will transfix British Columbians. A good part of the world knows about the disappearance of the sockeye. Some say they are AWOL at sea. Nobody knows why. People blame different sources. Some say it's a scientific question. That may be the case.

Here's my take. It may be a question of science, to improve science, in-season management. But you know it's really a question for British Columbians like you and me. Post your opinions on the inquiry website.

I think communities should hold their own hearings. All of you together. In Merritt, in Kamloops, in Vancouver. Get the ordinary citizens to come forward with their observations and opinions as if they counted.

It's important not to be exclusive as scientists, politicians, and council members. We need to be inclusive.

Working together is what it takes.

We have a shot at not only preserving but enhancing salmon runs.

"Gramps and grandma restored the environment and the rivers." That's the vision that we can, and should, embrace.

First Fry Born in Byrne Creek Since March 4, 2010, Toxic Kill

A few days ago some Byrne Creek Streamkeepers reported seeing fry in the creek - - the first since someone poured a cleanser down a street drain on March 4, 2010, killing everything in the creek. Streamkeepers and local schoolkids have released chum salmon fry and coho salmon smolts provided by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans since the kill, but these are the first native-born fry we've seen.

They are likely cutthroat trout fry, spawned after the kill, incubated in the gravel for 7 - 8 weeks, and just starting to pop up now. It's great to see life coming back to the creek!

Exotic Fish Identified in Burnaby Pond

Several times over the last couple of years we've seen strange fish in a pond in Fraser Foreshore Park in Burnaby near Byrne Creek. I finally got some photos that were good enough to ID one of the species, though it's difficult shooting through the murky water even on a bright, sunny day.

Unfortunately, a biologist has identified them as pumkinseeds,  a species introduced to the lower mainland, likely by people who like fishing for them and eating the pan fish. Unfortunate, for several reasons: if they spread they can compete with native species, they may not have natural predators here, etc. City of Burnaby staff helped with the ID process and are aware of the problem. I have no idea how it can be resolved, but whoever is dumping alien fish in this pond, please stop! Native fish like coho and chum salmon, and cutthroat trout, have enough to contend with in our urban watersheds without having to compete with alien species.

Pond Life in Fraser Foreshore Park

I love this pond near the outlet of Byrne Creek into the Fraser River in SE Burnaby - despite its unfortunate populations of alien fish (see above entry). It's a magnet for all sorts of bugs, amphibians, reptiles and birds.

Clinton Schoolkids Release Coho in Byrne Creek

Kids from Clinton Elementary in southeast Burnaby helped streamkeepers, DFO community advisors, and City of Burnaby staff release coho smolts (yearlings) into Byrne Creek this morning. Clinton School has been involved in several Byrne Creek activities this year - - good on them!

Thank you DFO for bringing these young coho all the way from the Bell-Irving Hatchery at Kanaka Creek. All life in Byrne Creek was wiped out in March when someone unthinkingly poured a cleanser down a street drain, so we're rebuilding the creek from scratch, yet again.

Here are a few photos of today's uplifting event.

Setting the scene: the gorgeous lower reaches of the ravine park

Maurice of the DFO chats with the kids

Yep, that's how big the coho will be when they
come back to spawn in a year or two :-)
Maurice is passionate about his calling,
and we streamkeepers and kids love his style!

The kids' eyes light up as they see the fish they will release

There they go - thanks Clinton kids!

Giving a few confused laggards a gentle poke to move them on

Beautiful young smolts acclimatize to their new, temporary
home before they head out to the ocean soon.

Hope to see at least a few of you back spawning in our creek in
a year and half, when you're nearly as long as my arm!

Summit Logistics Hosts Streamkeeper Display

I had the pleasure of hanging out with staff at Summit Logistics in southeast Burnaby during a staff BBQ today, with the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers display. Thanks to Rick LeBlanc for inviting us to the company's Health and Safety Week event. I chatted with people about how all storm drains lead to local creeks, and about the watershed. Summit has extensive spill-prevention and containment measures in place.

DFO Must Act Now to Save Pacific Salmon

". . .anglers who care about their sport and the stocks that sustain it are already putting their rods away. Only the greedy and the stupid squabble over who gets to kill the last fish for fun."

Good article from Stephen Hume on how several first nations are moving to stop fishing completely, while DFO still dithers on recreational and commercial fisheries.

Edmonds Clean Sweep May 1, 2010 – Come make a difference!

The Edmonds Business & Community Association will hold its regular spring neighbourhood Clean Sweep from 9:45 to noon on Saturday, May 1.

Everyone is welcome to join in -- families, individuals and community groups! Help make our neighbourhood cleaner, safer, and more attractive.

Equipment provided, along with refreshments.

Meet at the Eastburn Community Centre, 7435 Edmonds Street, Burnaby.

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers will be participating with an alternate signup site at Edmonds Sktytrain Station, and will lead a cleanup of the southwest Edmonds area, including removal of invasive plant species from Byrne Creek Ravine Park.

Clinton School Releases ‘Salmon in the Classroom’ Fry in Byrne

Clinton Elementary School kids in SE Burnaby released their "Salmonids in the Classroom" chum fry into Byrne Creek today. My wife Yumi and I accompanied them, representing the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers. It was a gorgeous Earth Day!

Thank you to teacher Elaine Jaltema who had the kids very well organized. She also had a slew of additional science and observation activities lined up, so the kids were testing water temperature, pH, etc.

Getting everyone organized up near Ron McLean Park before
heading down into the ravine

Kids release the chum fry they raised in their classroom

A budding scientist records data

Chum Fry Released in Burnaby South Slope Creeks

Kids from Suncrest Elementary helped Kaymar Creek Streamkeepers, the City of Burnaby, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans release chum fry (babies) in to Kaymar Creek in southwest Burnaby this morning, followed by a release with kids from Nelson Elementary into Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby.

DFO Community Advisor Maurice Coulter-Boisvert speaks to kids

Kids release fry into Kaymar Creek

Maurice speaks to kids at Byrne Creek. These fry will
help repopulate the creek after someone poured a
cleanser down a street drain on March 4, killing all
aquatic life

Holding a bag of chum fry

DFO, City of Burnaby staff and streamkeepers fill bags of fish

Bon voyage! With luck a few of these chum will survive
their trip down Byrne Creek to the Fraser River, down
the Fraser to the Pacific Ocean, and will return to spawn
in the creek in a few years.

Starting them Young

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers had our booth set up at Choices in the Park for the store's Earth Day celebration this afternoon. There was a by-donation BBQ, with proceeds generously being donated to care for Byrne Creek. Thanks!

We offered a tour of the creek, but the only takers on the cloudy, drizzly day were half-a-dozen 4-6 year olds from a nearby daycare and their parents, so the pace was slow. But  I was amazed by the kids - over the course of 2 - 1/2 hours they trundled through the entire ravine loop with nary a complaint, asking lots of questions along the way, and it seemed that all involved really enjoyed the tour.

The daycare teacher was great -- she encouraged the kids to try climbing a low tree (one at a time with helping hands nearby), get their fingers dirty looking at rocks and plants, etc. She was determined to be raising a bunch of nature-loving future streamkeepers!

Celebrate Earth Day with Streamkeepers at Choices in the Park

Come celebrate Earth Day at Choices in the Park near the Edmonds Skytrain Station tomorrow, Saturday, April 17 from noon to 4pm. Enviro-friendly foods & products on display/sale. Streamkeepers will have a display and will offer tours of Byrne Creek at 12:30pm and at 2:00pm. BBQ by donation, with proceeds to support healthy creeks.

South Slope Releases Chum in Byrne Creek

A class from South Slope Elementary School in south Burnaby released its "Salmon in the Classroom" chum fry into Byrne Creek this morning. As far as I know, these are the only fry in the system at the moment, everything else having been killed by a toxic spill into a storm drain in early March. Thank you very much to Gary Thompson, his intern Eva, the parents who drove the kids, and of course the kids themselves!

Stream of Dreams Society Elects New Board at AGM

As president of the Stream of Dreams Murals Society, I am pleased to announce our new board of directors as elected at our AGM tonight.

Paul Cipywnyk, President
Jennifer Lynton, Vice President
Rob Carne, Treasurer
Jane Burkholder, Secretary
Andrea Rozsa, director
Lynn Duncan, director

My President's Report to the AGM:

Stream of Dreams has an exciting year ahead of us in 2010 and many proud accomplishments to celebrate for 2009. Thank you to everyone for all the hard work over the last year.

We ended 2009 solidly in the black, and with many achievements to be proud of as we enter our tenth year. Unfortunately, this has also been a time of cutbacks in government grants, and a poor economy that has severely impacted several sources of revenue. The Society is being proactive in dealing with this situation, adding one staff member to focus on fundraising applications and promotion, along with handling some of the administrative work to free up some of the founders' time to focus on development.

Is 2010 the year of go big or go home? Those of you who have been with us for awhile know this has been a recurring topic over the years, due to the continually growing demand for our watershed education and community art program. We are also developing new methods of educating the public. The ongoing success of our programs, and our stable financial state to date despite economic fluctuations and the severe recent downturn, are testaments to prudent management both at the board, and operational, levels. I congratulate staff and volunteers again for their great work last year, and their efforts to ensure that 2010 will see continuing progress.

We have reached some amazing milestones: 10 years and 100,000 Dreamfish -- that are really something to celebrate! Stream of Dreams is also exploring partnerships with other artists with experience in combining art and music with environmental education.

The Stream of Dreams watershed education and community art concept grew out of a fish kill in Byrne Creek, which runs just a few dozen meters from where we are sitting here tonight. Sadly, Byrne Creek was wiped out again just ten days ago, when someone unthinkingly or unknowingly released a toxin into a drain in the upper watershed that flowed into the creek, killing well over 1,000 fish and likely other animals, in addition to impacting the entire watershed from the creek to the Fraser River, to the ocean. Our health, and the health of every living thing in the ecosystem is at stake.

It is clear that the need for education remains, that the need for our program is as important now as it ever was. I am personally saddened and angered by the loss, as I'm sure many of you are. But let us not despair, let us take this as a renewed call to action. I look forward to working with this amazingly talented and creative group for another year, and I hope some of the faces here tonight that we don't see quite as often will consider devoting a few more hours of their precious time to helping the Society's message spread far and wide.

Thank you, Paul Cipywnyk

And a big thank you to Stream of Dreams founders Louise Towell and Joan Carne, and to departing director and continuing Vancouver Island team leader Micqualyn Waldie for their passion, drive, creativity, and hard work that have grown a local community event into a multiple award-winning, cross-Canada watershed education and community art program. You are truly inspirational and it's been, and continues to be, a privilege to work with you.

Environment Canada ‘Responds’ to Streamkeepers

Here's what an Environment Canada spokesperson had to say to the Burnaby Now after yet another chemical dump into Byrne Creek that killed everything in the open watershed from top to bottom:

Raisinghani responded to recent criticism from streamkeepers that suggested Environment Canada was lax on enforcement of anti-pollution laws and failing in its job to protect fish and their habitat.

"Environment Canada takes its enforcement responsibilities very seriously," Raisinghani wrote. "If the source of contamination is found, an investigation may be launched."

WOW, Right!?

I'm sure polluters are shaking in their chemical-covered boots upon hearing that proclamation. IF. MAY.

How about WHEN. SHALL..?

Isn't action by default something that we should expect from those mandated to protect our health and our environment?

I feel for Raisinghani. He, she, is muzzled, handcuffed, and just spouting the "line" from someone higher up who doesn't have the balls to speak to the public.

What we need is swift prosecution, not purported tough talk. Hell, that ain't even tough talk. Them's bureaucratic-PR weasel words. IF. MAY.

I would like to point out that the IFs and MAYs have been spouted repeatedly in the past - and have never been addressed. That does not reassure anyone about Environment Canada's track record, eh?

There was a toxic spill on a tributary that feeds into Byrne Creek as recently as 2007  in which the "source of contamination" WAS found, and Environment Canada went into its usual "an investigation MAY be launched" mode, but ended up doing NOTHING.

So what gives us citizens, who pay Environment Canada salaries, and who trust you to protect us and our environment, any reason to believe this time will be any different?

This issue has been brought up again, and again, and again, and we don't need any more IFs and MAYs. We need ACTION.

The real sad thing about all this is that as volunteer streamkeepers we work with all levels of government: municipal, regional, provincial, and federal. We don't want to diss anyone, but . . .   We are giving up hundreds and thousand of hours of our time to volunteer. We are taking time away from our work. . . while we're paying through our taxes, for, apparently, nothing to be done by "our" government.

That's harsh..

Short Video on Fish Kill from Newsleader

Found this video on BC Daily Buzz, and am assuming that since it's got embed links, it's OK to reproduce. This was shot by Mario Bartel of the Burnaby Newsleader a couple of days ago. It's me at the pond near Edmonds Skytrain Station where the deadly spill was first noticed on March 4, 2010.

Media Interest in Byrne Creek Kill Has Legs

The strength and duration of media interest in the recent fish kill in southeast Burnaby's Byrne Creek after someone illegally disposed of a chemical, likely down a drain on a street, is intriguing. The kill happened late Thursday afternoon, yet I was still receiving multiple calls for interviews and tours on Monday. Usually three- to four-day old local news is as appetizing to mainstream media as, er, rotting fish, but somehow this story had legs.

And we didn't send out a single press release or email, we didn't make a single phone call - we simply tried to keep up with the requests that poured in. We have no staff, streamkeepers are 100% volunteer. If anyone still doubts the power of Twitter, well, that's how this story started. . .

Perhaps it had something to do with public outrage. This story struck a chord. The creek is in an urban area, it is surrounded by public parks, and I think people are really getting the message that it's not only fish,  it's about the entire ecosystem and our health, too.

I've been monitoring the online versions of stories, and people have been responding with anger and disbelief that such a tragedy could happen - yet again - in a beloved creek. People have also been scathingly skeptical that anything will really be done by the federal agencies that supposedly are tasked with protecting our environment and our health.

The outrage is palpable, and I think that's what has kept this story alive.

Streamkeepers are making lemonade from the lemons handed to us by the thoughtless polluter - we've been getting calls from concerned citizens reporting suspicious substances on streets and in ditches, we may have a few new faces at our monthly meeting tomorrow (Thursday, March 11, at 7:30pm - coordinates here), we've been getting requests from businesses to come speak to employees about the watershed and how we all connect to it.

I hope interest remains high, but I understand that we have to get on with our busy lives and attention will quickly fade. Unfortunately, I've seen this cycle several times on battered Byrne Creek, and I hope that my sense that this time the response is noticeably stronger isn't just wishful thinking.

Thank you to all the media who covered the kill! And thank you to the public for expressing your feelings. If you really want change to happen, if you want to see enforcement, I urge you to write your local MLAs and MPs, and the federal and provincial environment ministers - without strong policy direction agency staff's hands are tied.

Media Covers Byrne Creek Fish Kill

Some of the media coverage of the toxic spill in SE Burnaby's Byrne Creek a few days ago:

Burnaby Now article

Burnaby Newsleader article

CBC website

The press is already getting results - a gentleman phoned me today with a report about seeing Powerhouse Creek, a tributary of Byrne Creek, running very dirty in the area of Beresford St. about a week ago. The more eyes we have on our local creeks, the better!

Update March 8, 2010

Globe & Mail article

Metro article

Update March 10, 2010

Burnaby Now on lack of enforcement

Burnaby Now on Mayor, City Council Push for Education

Update March 11, 2010

Burnaby Newsleader followup

Sample Density of Fish Killed in Byrne Creek

Sometimes it takes death to reveal how much life there is.

Would you believe that on average there was a dead fish less than every 2 meters along a sampled section of Byrne Creek the morning after someone poured a toxin down a street drain in the upper watershed on March 4, 2010? Most people never see fish in the creek - it takes patience, stealth, and knowing where to look to spot them when they are alive. My wife and I counted 231 dead trout, coho smolts (yearlings) and coho fry (this spring's babies) in an approximately 400-meter section of the creek. For those interested, here's the breakdown:

182 - Small cutthroat trout (say less than 15cm)
20  - Medium cutthroat trout (say 15-20cm)
1   - Large cutthroat trout (over 20cm)
Total 203 cutthroat trout

16 small-to-medium dead fish visible inside the culvert, too dark to ID
1 - large trout, very dark, no cutthroat markings on chin, near footbridge

8  - Coho smolts
3  - Coho fry
Total 11 coho salmon

Grand total dead fish in that stretch: 231

And that's likely lower than the actual number due to several factors: dead fish get wedged under rocks and drop deep in pools, the tiny fry are difficult to spot at all and we know that before the kill there were schools of dozens in the area sampled. In addition, opportunistic predation starts almost immediately after the toxin is quickly flushed down the creek: we found several fish partially eaten, and only strings of guts and bits of flesh too small to ID here and there.

The coho were found around T518 to T516 (lower end of the lower ravine). The coho fry were found in the vicinity of T517 where we photographed live ones a few days ago... See the entry below "Video of 2010 Salmon Fry in Byrne Creek."

The above photo shows dead fish ranging from coho fry at the bottom left,
a coho smolt a the bottom right, and an adult trout above. There was a
surprise to come, as you'll see in the next photo. . .

The big trout had a fry in its mouth. It's not hard to imagine what
happened - it spotted a little fish in distress from the chemical,
thought it an easy meal, and then before it could even finish
swallowing its target, the bigger fish also died.

Counting the Dead

Imagine walking down a street, and every few steps that you take, you come across a body.

A few more steps, a cluster of bodies. Every step, another body. Another group of bodies.

You approach an area where yesterday you saw small children playing - and you find small, inert bodies.

Small bodies, ranging from babies recently born, to midsize ones -- kids going to school. Further on, large ones, adults.

All with bulging eyes, gaping mouths.

Staring. At nothing. For they do not see any more. They do not breathe any more, for they died gasping for breath.

They choked to death.

That's what it was like today, carefully walking down Byrne Creek, counting the dead.

The dead that died when someone unthinkingly, uncaringly, or, despite decades of educational efforts, perhaps unknowingly, poured a chemical down a storm drain.

The bodies were fish. Just fish.

But we'll drink what went in that water someday, too. Or perhaps swim in it. Those toxins don't just disappear.

If we eat fish or other seafood, we will eat what went in that water someday, too.

All drains lead to fish habitat.

People habitat.

Every living thing's habitat.

I fear I'll dream tonight about counting the dead.

The bulging eyes, the gaping mouths.

The horrifying, constricting feeling of being unable to breathe.

We found fish today that in desperation had thrown themselves into the air, up onto the banks of the creek - to breathe, please let me breathe!

That would be like me throwing myself under water to escape foul, poisoned air - to breathe, please let me breathe!

Yes, I'm emotionally attached, because for days recently I eagerly patrolled Byrne Creek, looking for baby coho salmon, baby chum salmon, hoping against hope that the few salmon spawners that made it back last autumn succeeded in creating a new generation.

I saw baby fry, and I rejoiced. My heart soared. I took photos. I took videos.

I blogged, I Tweeted, I Facebooked. I did all that social media, cyberspace stuff.

But real life intervened

And now they are all dead.

And all that I can do is

Count the dead.

Fish Kill in Burnaby’s Byrne Creek March 4, 2010

A chemical entered Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby in the mid-to-late afternoon today, killing fish. Someone called Environment Canada [CORRECT: in fact the City of Burnaby received the call from the BC provincial enviro ministry after a youth called the Provincial Emergency Program], who then called the City, and streamkeepers also noticed the kill around the same time. City staff took samples and worked on tracing the source, which likely came from a storm drain, while streamkeepers took photos for documentation and sampled pH in the creek at several points. Both City staff and streamkeepers plan to follow up tomorrow. Here are some photos:

The fish ladder at the pond west of Griffiths Dr.
Water is covered with foam and slick to the touch.
There was an ammonia smell coming out of the pipe.

Dead fish on bottom of pool.

Dead cutthroat with hazy water visible. That's a size 12 boot
toe beside it for comparison.

Just a few days ago, streamkeepers were excited to see baby salmon
fry popping out of the gravel. We are concerned that they may also have
been affected.

I find it hard to believe that after decades of education efforts, such
kills still happen.

Please, folks, remember that all drains on roads and parking lots lead to fish habitat!

Re-Inventing Rainwater Management

Ran across this study today (pdf doc): Re-Inventing Rainwater Management: A Strategy to Protect Health and Restore Nature in the Capital Region by the  Environmental Law Centre at the University of Victoria. While I have yet to read all of it, it appears to be an excellent take on issues that streamkeepers in Burnaby and all over BC have been concerned about for years. An excerpt from the introduction to the problem:

We don't normally think of rainfall as pollution. However, over the last 150 years we have built cities in a way that transforms rainwater into an agent of considerable environmental harm: urban stormwater runoff.

Changing pristine rainwater into pollution occurs in stages. The first step is the creation of pollutants from driving and fixing cars, using chemicals on houses and yards, and commercial and industrial processes. Heavy metals, PCBs, oils, grease, antifreeze, solvents, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, paint chips, PAHs, road salt, and detergents fall to the ground across the urban landscape.

The second step involves our construction of impervious surfaces such as roofs, paved streets, sidewalks, and parking lots. As a city develops, the vegetation and natural soils that absorb and filter rainwater are replaced by impervious surfaces. When we pave over nature's absorption and filtration system, the next heavy rain sweeps across the landscape's hard surfaces picking up pollutants.

In the final step, the storm sewer system rapidly conveys all this polluted water to the nearest water body and flushes it at high speed into a sensitive aquatic ecosystem. In addition to the pollutants from the landscape, the water often contains paint and motor oil that people have dumped into the storm sewer. To make things worse, in older municipalities, this stormwater often contains sanitary sewage.

Video of 2010 Salmon Fry in Byrne Creek

I shot this video at 640 X 480 resolution with my Canon SD780 digital still camera handheld with the zoom at max. I processed the file in Windows Live Movie Maker, a free download. Not bad for such a cheap, on-the-fly setup :-).

It's always great to know that at least some of the few salmon that managed to return to this urban creek in southeast Burnaby last autumn successfully spawned, and that their eggs survived through the winter.

Learn About Salmon-Friendly Gardening

From our friends at LEPS, via the PSKF message board:

Make your neighbourhood a better place and start something healthier for you and for salmon, in your backyard!

On Saturday March 13, join Langley Environmental Partners Society from 10am-3pm at the Fraser River Presentation Theatre, 4th floor, 20338- 65 Ave Langley, for the 3rd annual Salmon Friendly Gardens Seminar.

This workshop style seminar will have speakers present practical solutions for:

• Converting Lawn into a Vegetable Patch ~ Ward Teulon, City Farm Boy
• Rethinking Weeds as Wild Edibles ~ David Catzel, Glorious Organics
• Gardening for Wildlife ~ Jude Grass, Birds on the Bay
• Pesticide Alternatives That Work ~ Martin Harcourt, Mainland Landscaping and Gardening Ltd
  

Event includes refreshment break. Pre-registration is required, to register email kgreenwood@tol.ca

Why grow a salmon-friendly garden?

Every Langley home is located in the middle of salmon habitat. Each of Langley's twelve watersheds collects runoff from our backyards and directs it into one of our salmon-bearing streams. The Fraser River salmon run - the largest in Canada - depends on these small tributaries for spawning and the healthy development of young fish.

The upshot is that what we put on our gardens ends up in our streams, including pesticides and fertilizers. In addition, the majority of Langley's tap water comes from aquifers, meaning that our drinking water originates directly below our feet. When you consider that 95% of pesticides used on residential yards are considered probable or possible carcinogens by the US Environmental Protection Agency, there's good reason to cut back on the chemicals we use in our gardens.

This worrying evidence doesn't mean that your garden has to go to the bugs. LEPS presents this full-day seminar on how to grow a beautiful, healthy and productive garden without chemicals.

The event also launches the Township of Langley's pilot Grow Healthy ~ Grow Smart Program.

Salmon Saturdays are supported by the Fraser Salmon and Watersheds Program.

Dirty Discharge Passes Through Byrne Creek

At 4:00 p.m. today I noticed that the pond near Choices in the Park just west of the Edmonds Skytrain Station in SE Burnaby was a murky grey-green colour. Not good. Something likely had been dumped in the creek through a drain on a street or in a parking lot. I phoned it in to Environmental Services at the City, and was told it had already been reported and that staff were checking the situation.

This is the pond at 4:00 p.m.

And here it is at 5:00 p.m. The creek flow had cleared
out the "slug" of dirty water.

Didn't have time to check downstream for the possible
impact on fish. Hope to do a creek walk tomorrow.

The concrete structure at the bottom of the photos is a fish ladder to enable fish to get up to the culvert that was put in when the trail was built across the creek.

New Fry in Byrne Creek, Signs of Spring

Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby, BC, is sporting new babies! I spotted two salmon fry in pools in the creek today - not many, but it's a start. There were also lots of other signs of spring.

Hard to ID for sure, but it may be a coho, judging by
orange-ish colour.

This backlit strider was making explosive flashes of light
on the water with every step.

Warmest January on Record in Vancouver, Eh?

Well, look what I found outside our door today:

I also did a quick patrol for salmon fry in Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby. Didn't see any yet, but back in 2005 we spotted fry on Feb. 8, so with this year's warm winter they ought to be popping out of the gravel soon!

Wrestling Yellow Fish at Edmonds Skytrain

Several years ago, Byrne Creek Streamkeepers marked rain drains (aka storm drains) around Edmonds Skytrain Station (among other areas) in southeast Burnaby with yellow fish to remind the public that nothing other than rain should go down these drains because they lead directly to fish habitat.

The other day I met my wife at the station and took some shots of an apparent, ahem, pissing match. Excuse my language, but it really reminds me of territorial scent marking by canines and other beasties :-).

You can clearly see the cute original fish painted over by, to my eye, the rather blimp-like, mean-looking latecomer. From Translink? Why mark already marked drains?

Collapse of Soviet Union Put Danube, Dnieper Rivers on Diverging Courses

A sobering article in the Washington Post. While many countries have come together to clean up and revitalize the Danube, there has been little progress on the environmental devastation to Ukraine's Dnieper perpetrated under the communist regime.

Water Act Forum Stimulates, Educates

Thanks to Watershed Watch for putting on a forum yesterday "to discuss how NGOs can work together to move the Living Water Smart (LWS) agenda forward, and how groups can help to modernize the BC Water Act." I enjoyed the presentations, learned a lot, and was impressed with the knowledge represented by the people in the room.

The organizers are asking for input so here goes: I'm not sure if "getting groundwater in" came up much in discussion, and that's crucial, particularly in urban watersheds like the creek that I volunteer on as a streamkeeper. The focus seemed to be on sucking groundwater out, which of course is very important, but we shouldn't neglect the "letting it soak in naturally" part of the cycle.

I'm not sure if a water act can include things like impermeable vs permeable surfaces, swales, rain gardens, infiltration ponds, biofiltration, street-edge alternatives, etc., but rainwater infiltration > groundwater infiltration is crucial in urban watersheds. Otherwise too much water is dumped into creeks through rain drains (trying to reshape the debate by getting away from "storm drains") during moderate-to-heavy rains, and not enough gets into the ground to maintain base flows in long, hot, dry spells.

I know we don't want to get too detailed or prescriptive, so perhaps as part of the preamble, or guiding principles, there could be something about the permeability-groundwater issue in regard to promoting watershed-friendly development and redevelopment guidelines?

Salmon Return to Japanese River

From the The Yomiuri Shimbun

This article is about salmon returning to the Chikumagawa river as flows improved after East Japan Railway Co. was directed to stop taking illegal amounts of water from the river to power trains in Tokyo.

Wow, amazing how one's life can change. When I rode the Yamanote Line in Tokyo on a daily or weekly basis for well over ten years from 1985 - 1999 I had no idea that some of the power was coming from a dam that was impacting salmon. Mind you I knew next to nothing about salmon, and nothing about streamkeeping back then.

Coho Spawning in Byrne Creek

The day was dark and gloomy following a week of rain, but my wife Yumi and I decided to check out Byrne Creek in SE Burnaby for spawning salmon. We volunteer with the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers, and spawner returns have been low this year, but we're always hoping.

It's tough to see fish when the water is high and dirty, and the light is low, but to our surprise we ran across a pair of coho spawning. In fact, the poor conditions likely worked in our favor, for on a bright day with clear water, the notoriously shy coho would have quickly spooked and hidden themselves. While we never saw them that clearly, it was still a thrill when we'd catch a flash of these magnificently muscular fish, with their scarlet-streaked copper-green sides.

A swirl of dark green, brown-gold and red as one of the coho moves up the creek. They had chosen to spawn just above a fast riffle, and moved up and down, battling the current.

The female flips sideways and carves the gravel with her tail to dig a nest for her eggs called a redd.

Bird’s Nest, Spider, Claw Marks Along Byrne Creek

Today on a patrol of Byrne Creek my wife and I found one dead chum salmon, one live chum guarding a nest of eggs (redd), and three coho salmon, in addition to lots of cutthroat trout that gather this time of year hoping to snag a wayward salmon egg. Nature being unemotional and efficient, we've observed cutthroat poking female salmon in their bellies, hoping to pop eggs out.

Today Yumi found a nest on the ground. It looked like it had never been completed. We also ran across what I believe is an orb weaver spider. It was on the cycling/walking path on Southridge Drive, so Yumi shepherded it off into the grass, as she is wont to do with any sort of animal that she feels is in danger.

We also observed plenty of claw marks and tracks at various places along the creek as opportunists of all species gather to meet the returning salmon. That's why salmon are so crucial to the entire west coast environment - they are a key part of the food chain for all sorts of birds and beasts, in addition to fertilizing the forests.

Byrne Creek Paw Prints, Paint & Mushrooms

I ran across lots of tracks along Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby on a patrol looking for spawning salmon today. Dead spawners attract all sorts of hungry animals from skunks to raccoons to coyotes. I've even seen squirrels checking out carcasses - why not? A cousin of mine calls them "rats with bushy tails" :-). Someone also thoughtfully left a bunch of paint cans along the fence at the spawning habitat!

Prints leading toward the creek

Close-up

A rain-filled mushroom

Poster reminding people and dogs to stay out
of the creek during spawning season

What's with the paint cans? Someone even took the
time to nicely line them up, so why not the time to
take them to a recycling centre?

Burnaby Now Interviews Streamkeepers about Spawning Salmon

Thanks to reporter Christina Myers and photographer Larry Wright from the Burnaby Now. What was to be a quick photo op on salmon returning to Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby turned into a great front-page article after Christina and I "chatted" via email.

Dunno if this is a permanent link, but at least for now you can find the story here.

Face to Face with Coyote on Byrne Creek

I had a meeting at the Stream of Dreams office just off Byrne Road south of Marine Way in SE Burnaby this morning, so I dropped into the Byrne Creek artificial spawning habitat for a few minutes on the way back up the hill to check if the chum salmon I had seen on a spawner patrol the previous day were still around.

As I broke out of the path into the habitat and onto the vehicle access road, a coyote came scooting out of the bush just a few meters in front of me, trotted a short way down the road, and stopped.

A large coyote.

It was the biggest I've seen in some time. It looked at least the match of a mid-sized German Shepherd, and had thick, sleek fur, so it appeared well fed... (the above photo was snapped on the quick draw with a tiny pocket camera and enlarged dramatically, so the quality is middling. . .)

It stopped and stared at me, and I stared at it while regretting not having the long walking pole that I usually carry. It flinched first, and began loping down the chain-link fence looking for a way out, and finally wriggled under it.

Before I proceeded further, I got my knife out and then slowly walked in, making plenty of noise. (During spawning season I carry a sheath knife in my pack to process dead salmon with -- streamkeepers have permission from the Department of Fisheries to cut open carcasses to determine sex and to check if fish have spawned before they died).  The creek was still running high and dirty from the morning rain so I didn't bother searching very hard because water visibility was very poor. I have to admit I was also on edge moving through the bush, because the coyote was likely in the habitat because it was attracted to dead salmon.

Sure enough, on my way out, I found the remains of a chum the coyote had been eating on the bank at the southwest end of the overflow pond, near where I first flushed it out.

There wasn't much left, just head bones, and about five inches of body. I didn't linger, not wanting to be between a coyote and its lunch :-) . I did see salmon eggs that had spilled into the water, so it was likely an unspawned female chum.

I found the experience exhilarating, and it left me tingling all over. It's amazing how the sight of a predator sharpens your senses when you're alone in the bush -- even in an urban park.  Thank you, coyote, for that moment of clarity, focus, and connection to nature.

Silverdale Creek Wetlands

On the way home from Harrison Lake we took the slower route 7, and at one point before Mission saw trails and what looked like a spawning channel to the north of the road. We found an access road, and discovered the Silverdale Creek Wetlands. We'd heard about the project, so we set out to explore. There were "Mother Bear with Cub" warning signs all over, so we kept our eyes peeled, proceeded slowly, and made plenty of noise!

It was a beautiful area, with ponds, marshes, and a spawning channel. We found only one dead spawner in the wetland area, but saw several more dead, and one live one swimming upstream, from the bridge over the creek near the entrance.

Look closely - there, in the middle foreground, it's
a huge concrete salmon. Steamkeepers around the
lower mainland have been sharing the mold for
these beauties

Despite it being November, there were still lots of dragonflies about

Lots of bird boxes of various sizes adorn many erected perch "trees"

The only spawner we saw in the habitat

The same spawner can be seen in the foreground

And a close-up of a second concrete salmon in the habitat

Salmon Pumpkin for Halloween

My wife Yumi carved this salmon pumpkin for Halloween to celebrate the return of spawning chum and coho to Byrne Creek in SE Burnaby, just behind our place.

Later: She also made a cat pumpkin.

Spawning Salmon Return to Byrne Creek

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers spotted six chum salmon in Byrne Creek this afternoon, and several of them were already digging redds, or nests, for their eggs. It was a wonderful sight to see!

Byrne is an urban creek in southeast Burnaby, and salmon numbers have been declining for the last several years.

I took the above video using the video function on my Canon S5IS camera, which tops out at 640 X 480 at 30 fps. I then used MS Movie Maker, which came free with the Windows XP operating system, to do so some rudimentary editing, titling, etc. It's a far cry from a real camcorder and more powerful software, but it's still fun to play with.

Turning Cities into Sponges

I never thought I'd be quoting a publication called the Daily Commercial News and Construction Record, but I'm willing to learn from anyone. An article entitled Philly's bold stormwater management plan leads the way caught my eye - it's an initiative that I'd like to see in more cities, and promoted by ones like my own Burnaby.

I love the following quotation from the article:

The plan reimagines the city as an oasis of rain gardens, green roofs, permeable pavements, thousands of additional trees, and more. The idea is to turn the city into a giant sponge to absorb as much rainwater as possible and delay the rest in its journey to the nearby Delaware and Schuykill rivers.

Now that's vision! Or simply going back to what used to be . . . Most cities were once giant sponges, because that's what most land used to be before we built on it. So it makes sense to return to what worked for Mother Nature for millennia, eh?

How about this?

The new plan announced last month would "peel back" a lot of the city's concrete and asphalt and replace them with plants - rain gardens, green roofs, landscaped swales in parking lots, heavily planted boulevards, and small wetlands.

Yes! Streamkeepers and other concerned citizens have dreamed of this for years. The main issues dogging urban creeks are massive flows during rains because of all the water that goes shooting off of roads, roofs and parking lots straight into street drains, and pollution from oil, antifreeze, brake-lining dust, rubber, soap, other chemicals, etc., washing off our streets. Rain gardens, ponds, swales - they would all help with both problems, slowing peak flows and filtering out pollutants.

I believe all municipalities in British Columbia are required to produce ISMPs (integrated stormwater management plans) for all of their watersheds, and Burnaby is no exception. The City has been working on a Byrne Creek ISMP for some time now, and I have sat in on stakeholder sessions as a representative from the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers.

Unfortunately, I haven't witnessed much imagination in the process so far. I get the sense that there's more talk about more pipes, than there is about rain gardens, swales, street-edge alternatives, trees and plants. More pipes? That's so 19th and early-to-mid 20th century, eh? Let's be forward-looking!

Autumn Rains Coming to Lower Mainland

We're going to savor the sun today, because look what the Environment Canada Weather Office has in store for the Vancouver area for the coming week:

It's not all bad news, though. This is about the time of year when rain triggers spawning salmon to start coming up our local stream, Byrne Creek, in southeast Burnaby.

Missing Salmon – I Think I Know Where They’re Going

I've been eating them.

I've been to three events in the last week, two of them specifically aimed at raising consciousness about the environment and restoring waterways and salmon runs, and I've been served salmon, lots of it, at all three.

And I've shamelessly, well, OK, with a twinge of conscience, indulged at all three. Heck, I had seconds at one event, because the call kept going out that there was still fish to be served.

Wild? Farmed? Endangered sockeye? "Still plentiful" pinks? I dunno, but it all tasted great. Surely it wasn't farmed, at least at the enviro events, eh?

When people organize an event to preserve, say, the Vancouver Island Marmot, do the little beasts end up on the dinner plates? Do celebrants discretely poke at bits of fur stuck between their teeth instead of fish bones?

Yeah, I know, that analogy is full of holes, but. . . it makes you squirm at bit, doesn't it?

Autumn Colours Advance on Byrne Creek

The recent rains in the lower mainland of BC have cast a chill upon the land, yet warmed my heart with excitement. Salmon will return to Byrne Creek soon.

It's a bit early, the first spawners are usually spotted in this urban creek in southeast Burnaby around mid-October, but the fish follow the rain, so you never know - and I couldn't wait to start looking.

I didn't find any salmon today, but the rain had begun washing the vibrant greens into reds, yellows, golds, and browns.

Blog Mentioned in Burnaby Now

Thanks to Julie Maclellan who mentioned me in her Burnaby Now column this weekend. She called me a "streamkeeper, environmental advocate and blogger about all sorts of interesting things." The pressure is on now!

Silty Discharge Hits Byrne Creek

A "slug" of silty water hit Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby overnight or early this morning. As no dead fish have been spotted, it appears it was not toxic; however, any discharge into street drains is illegal, and City of Burnaby staff are checking for the source.

As streamkeepers repeat again, and again, all drains on streets and in parking lots lead to fish habitat.

Water in the sediment pond in the spawning habitat was still opaque many hours after the discharge, though the water running into the pond (at the lower end of the photo) is clear.

Water discharging downstream of the artificial spawning habitat was also still very murky early in the afternoon.

Canoing Fraser River at SEP 2009 Workshop

About 70 streamkeepers signed up for a canoe trip down the Fraser River to cap the SEP 2009 (BC Streamkeeper) Workshop, out of around 300 people attending. It was a gorgeous day for a paddle and we had a great time. We put in near the Mission bridge, and took out up Kanaka Creek, with a stop for lunch along the way.

The putting-in point near the Mission bridge.

Me in front, with my wife Yumi behind me, and Naomi from Campbell River.

Heading downstream.

Catching up in a bit of friendly competition...

Cool water, blue skies - a gorgeous day for a paddle.

Working up a sweat!

Looking east down one of most productive salmon rivers in the world, with Mt. Baker barely visible on the horizon.

Heading up Kanaka Creek to the landing site.

It was a great day with a fantastic outing with wonderful people. Thanks to all of the organizers and sponsors!

BC Streamkeeper Volunteers Paint Concrete Salmon

At the 2009 BC Streamkeepers workshop, volunteers pitched in to paint two huge concrete salmon in designs inspired by children who had taken the Stream of Dreams watershed education and community art program.

The original salmon sculptures grace the Alexandria Bridge in BC. DFO Community Advisor Joe Kambeitz found original mock-ups of the salmon in a junkyard and rescued them to make molds for use by streamkeepers across BC.

The following photos show the salmon arriving, and being painted by volunteers based on Dreamfish created by schoolkids who took the Stream of Dreams watershed education and community art program.

The last photo shows Joe with Stream of Dreams founders Joan and Louise.

Vancouver as 'World's Greenest City': How About Daylighting a few Creeks?

Is there any possibility of daylighting any of Vancouver's 60-odd lost and buried creeks as part of the mayor's plan to make Vancouver the world's greenest city?

How about a truly green city with salmon spawning in dozens of creeks running through neighbourhoods everywhere? That's what we used to have....

http://vancouver.ca/greenestcity/

Streamkeepers at Choices Earth Day, Saturday, April 18

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers will have our booth set up from noon to 4:00 p.m. at Choices in the Park for their Earth Day BBQ. We will also offer tours of Byrne Creek, so come and sign up! This is in southeast Burnaby, near Edmonds Skytrain Station. Last year's event was great fun, and kudos to Choices for sponsoring and collecting donations for streamkeepers' efforts to preserve and enhance this lovely, but struggling, urban creek.

Coho Fry Identified in Byrne Creek

Yumi managed to net a couple of fry in Byrne Creek today. To the best of our knowledge they are coho: sickle-shaped dorsal and anal fins with leading white/black rays, distinct parr marks, orange-tinged caudal, anal and adipose fins...

Definitely not chum, and do not have the white dorsal tip of cutthroat fry, and dorsal/anal fins definitely sickle-shaped, which cuts do not have...

NOTE: It is illegal to net fry and streamkeepers do so with the permission of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for ID purposes only. Fry are returned unharmed to the creek.

Salmonid Fry Spotted in Byrne Creek

Yumi and I saw salmonid fry in Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby, BC, today. After checking ID books against the photos we took, they appear to be chum salmon fry.

It's always exciting to see fry in this urban creek, and know that the few salmon that came back the previous autumn were successful in spawning and creating a new generation.

Rainy Byrne Creek

I had to get outside despite the rain and shake my afternoon drowsiness. Byrne Creek was running high and dirty, but there were some beautiful scenes. I saw some varied thrushes -- a male and a female hanging out together -- on the ravine path, and some red-winged blackbirds at the overflow pond. Unfortunately my bird photos were all blurry today because of the low light in the woods. My Canon S5IS does not perform that well in such conditions and I didn't want to carry my DSLR in the rain.

Byrne Creek with high, dirty flow in the rain.

A mossy tree - I didn't realize there were raindrops on the lens until I viewed the photos at home!

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers Host Kerr Wood Leidal Presentation

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers hosted Crystal Campbell and Laurel Morgan from Kerr Wood Leidal at our meeting this evening. Crystal and Laurel spoke about stormwater control and amelioration methods, and integrated stormwater management plans, or ISMPs.

The City of Burnaby is currently working with consultants and streamkeepers on an ISMP for the Byrne Creek Watershed, so it was a timely topic. It was an engaging presentation followed by a lively question & answer period.

We had a great time discussing ways to better manage water quantity and quality in an urban watershed with high flows and pollution due to the spread of impervious surfaces, industrial and road (gas, oil, antifreeze, metals) sources of toxins, and the loss of forests and wetlands.

Can New Pollution Bill be Trusted When Present Laws Are Ignored?

Environment Canada News Release
New Enforcement Legislation Cracks Down On Environmental Offenders

Ottawa -- March 4, 2009 -- Cracking down on polluters, poachers and wildlife smugglers through increased fines and new enforcement tools are the main elements of the Environmental Enforcement Bill introduced in the House of Commons today by Environment Minister Jim Prentice.

I hate to be negative because overall this sounds like a great move; however, the problem is even present laws are not being enforced, so will this change anything?

One example: In October 2007, John Mathews Creek in Burnaby, BC, turned orange and fluorescent yellow after someone poured a toxic chemical down a storm drain. Here we are 17 months later, and apparently nobody has been charged.

John Mathews Creek runs into Byrne Creek and then into the Fraser River, so the contamination was widespread. It occurred just as salmon were returning to spawn in Byrne Creek. When streamkeepers recently called the Canadian Environment Ministry about progress in the case, they were told to file a Freedom of Information request if they wanted to pursue the matter. Apparently the City of Burnaby got the same response. This is our national government, using our tax money, "at work." Hah!

Now let's review a few points:

• Said "someone" was caught red-handed
• The pH of the creek was running 3
• Dead fish were collected
• City of Burnaby environmental staff were called in and were on scene
• British Columbia Environment Ministry staff were called in and were on scene
• Samples were collected

And here we are, a year-and-a-half later, and our designated national protectors of the environment have apparently yet to accomplish anything, and refuse to speak to the tax-paying citizens that they work for.

So I'll praise the "new and improved" enforcement bill when I actually see some enforcement.

Chilly School Tour of Byrne Creek

A couple of Byrne Creek Streamkeepers took a class of kids on a tour of the Byrne Creek watershed this morning. It was cold! I was glad I'd zipped home following a biz mtg to put on long underwear, a turtleneck and a fleece jacket.

We pointed out the lay of the land, how streets and storm drains connect to the creek, invasive plant species, found some aquatic bugs to look at, took some water samples.... Great fun with an eager group of "popsicles" as another streamkeeper called them :-).

Protecting the Blue Heart of the Planet

Passionate speech by Sylvia Earle on saving the ocean -- a prize-winner at the TED conference.

"We are facing paradise lost."

"We have taken over 90% of the big fish from the sea."

"Health for oceans means health for us."

"I hope that some day that we will find evidence that there is intelligent life among humans on this planet."

"Auden: Thousands have lived without love. None have lived without water."

"With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you are connected to the sea no matter where on earth you live."

"No water, no life. No blue, no green."

Byrne Creek Fry Search

Fry have been found already in some Burnaby creeks, so Yumi and I checked out parts of Byrne Creek today. While we didn't spot any baby salmon yet, it was a lovely day to be down by the gurgling waters.

Yumi checking the creek for fry.

Some lovely fungus growing on a fallen tree.

Death scene. Feathers trailing down a tall cedar and spread on the ground...

There were over a dozen bald eagles soaring above the ravine.

I wonder if the above feathers were remnants of an eagle lunch...

CNN: Fish Migrating to Cooler Waters

"(CNN) -- Climate-driven environmental changes could drastically affect the distribution of more than 1,000 species of commercial fish and shellfish around the world, scientists say."

http://tinyurl.com/dn9ksn"

This echoes some of the discussion at the recent State of the Salmon 2009 conference that I attended. Could the day come when the Fraser, the world's greatest salmon river, could no longer support runs?

That's Some Road Sweeping Job!

Crews working on a broken water main in our townhouse complex said they'd sweep up after themselves. Right. Here's what the road looked like after they went home for the day. See that drain? It goes straight into Byrne Creek, and baby salmon fry will be hatching soon.

Adopt a Legislator

One of the interesting ideas that came out of the State of the Salmon 2009 conference was "Adopt a Legislator". Unfortunately, I don't recall which speaker said it, so I can't give it proper attribution.

Anyway, delegates from several countries agreed that the only way to get change going, and action happening, was to educate politicians.

So here you go, some protocol and forms of address when writing to politicians in Canada, at various levels of govt., from the CivicNet BC website (thanks to editor Shaun Oakey for pointing this out):

http://tinyurl.com/as8o68

or

http://www.civicnet.bc.ca/siteengine/activepage.asp?PageID=250

Summary of State of Salmon 2009

The State of the Salmon 2009 conference over the last three-and-a-half days has left me stunned -- long days and lots of information to process. I documented it as best I could in a running collection of Tweets on my Twitter account, and I've posted that entire flow of jottings to my blog here.

First let me say that the conference organizers did a tremendous job. I don't know if there was ever any panic behind the curtains, but there was nary a glitch to be seen by the audience. And thanks to the simultaneous interpreters who mediated the flow in English, Russian and Japanese.

This was the second State of the Salmon conference, and my first. It's mostly aimed at scientists and bureaucrats, but we had a pretty good volunteer presence from lower-mainland streamkeepers and First Nations from the west coast and north. I think such broad representation greatly added to the conference, but of course I'm biased :-).

One of the threads that flowed throughout was the need for more research on how to protect and conserve wild salmon, and there was excitement about the new approach to science under the new Obama administration. The research dollars may start flowing again!

It was interesting to see the rifts occasionally bubble to the surface between the geneticists, the hatchery promoters and hatchery critics, the "stronghold, or protect the best" advocates and those who feel all habitat deserves protection. As a streamkeeper working on the ground, I was part of perhaps a minority that felt that any available $$ need to go toward action and habitat protection. We know what the problems are, yet we continue to study the patient while he's dying. Any knowledge we gain in the end is still, as one participant put it, "looking at a construction site through a hole in a fence -- and we're standing ten feet back from the hole."

There was also an underlying sense that perhaps with climate change leading to ocean warming and acidification, there is no way to prevent the loss of southern salmon spawning areas. Which to my mind made the groaning buffet tables laden day after day with salmon, halibut, shrimp, pork, bison, chicken etc. seem an indictment of the principles of having such a conference in the first place. Of course I ate everything, so I'm as guilty as anyone, but it never ceases to amaze me at how difficult it is for us humans to make our actions even approximate our pious thoughts. When it comes to human gatherings, feasting is so ingrained in all cultures that I doubt we'll ever get away from such behaviour.

At one point I was dreaming about future historians studying the progression of conferences and seeing that at the first one participants ate crab and lobster, at the second salmon and shrimp, at the third tofu and beans... and finally they were chewing on switchgrass because that was all that was left :-). Oh, rats, I've trapped myself in an illogical story -- by that point there would be, er, no point, in holding another salmon conference. I digress...

Something that was strangely absent from any discussion was pollution. I think it came up once in passing in a comment from the audience, and perhaps was glossed over by one of the speakers. Yet pollution is one of the biggest issues when it comes to habitat preservation, and is a direct and deadly killer of urban streams. And what's it doing to ocean survivability? We humans have been flushing all sorts of chemicals down our rivers and into the ocean for centuries -- surely that must have some impact on the "mystery" of declining biodiversity. Yet it was never addressed.

It was refreshing to hear from First Nations representatives who spoke from the heart, and who gave a breath of life to the proceedings. You can throw up all the PowerPoint slides full of as many charts and plots, and dense statistical calculations, as you like, but to hear the simple words "We have no fish anymore," provides much greater clarity and grounding.

Well, I have to get back to work, and perhaps I'll find time for more analysis and synthesis later.

I'm glad I attended.

Now, how about some ACTION!

Tweets From Day 3 Salmon Conference

Here are my Tweets from today's State of the Salmon 2009 conference sessions (third of three days), in last-to-first order:

Angelo: we all hope that future generations will be able to admire salmon as we have.

Angelo: we cannot forget the hope that salmon themselves represent.

Angelo: sustainability must be a primary guide.

Angelo: We need more political leadership.

Angelo: I worry about a younger generation that is drifting away from.

Angelo: need to do more to reconnect young people to the environment.

Angelo: Protecting salmon needs to be seen as a moral issue.

Angelo: need a precautionary approach to development.

Angelo: the unrelenting loss of salmon habitat is mainly due to rising human population.

Angelo: Heart of the Fraser is one of most productive stretches of river in the world.

Angelo: pollution, water extraction, development.

Angelo: but we also have to protect rivers that are still in good shape.
Angelo: urban habitat restoration leads to education.

Angelo: Protect, reconnect, restore.

Angelo: We need to better identify and manage key salmon watersheds.

Angelo: Need to incorporate local values so that people buy in.

Angelo: Instead of reacting to bad development planning, need to be proactive.

Angelo: Need to put a more preventive slant on habitat preservation.

Angelo: need to better understand and incorporate societal values into conservation.

Angelo: strive to develop ecosystem-based approaches to conservation.

Angelo: there is a need for new and fresh approaches.

Angelo: there is a pressing need for action.

Angelo: Most important is to move from discussion to being more action oriented.

Angelo: the theme for this conference was "Bringing the Future into Focus".

Angelo: Closing remarks.

Our problem is managing people, not fish.

Protected areas give society an excuse to ignore everything else.

Comment -- urban streams are so important, they bring fish to people's backyards.

Belyaev -- every citizen of every country is an integral part of the environment, their habitat.

Belyaev -- legislators won't get on side until they are informed.

Need to have an ongoing conversation with a legislator.

"Adopt a Legislator" Every scientist, every activist needs to adopt a legislator.
We're still talking about the same things we were 15 years ago -- how do get moving, doing?

We need a scale that people can relate to.

We need to change the paradigm as how we function as humans.

We need an informed public that votes differently and changes behavior.

Glaciers "make rivers work" in many places.

How long will glacier-fed watersheds continue to exist?

Groundwater flows are critical to spawning habitat and must be protected.

QA "we'll come to that later" -- later is now.

Every salmon stream must have a protected base flow throughout the seasons.

Alaska has strong laws for preserving flows in streams for salmon, but tough process.

Bristol: salmon are fun, they're food, let people define salmon for themselves.

Bristol: need to do outreach with political decision makers, and those who live off salmon.

Bristol: reframe the issue -- protected areas to pass on to future generations.

Bristol: Tongas has been a long and heated land battle in Alaska, but we're making progress.

Bristol: Grassroots concept -- bringing more and disparate people to conservation.

Bristol: what role do salmon play in modern society?

Bristol: Trout Unlimited Alaska

Belyaev: we can't accomplish anything in isolation, need all groups aboard.

Belyaev: criticizing is a favourite pastime of people.

Belyaev: different fishermen have very different opinions.
Belyaev: where can we find a compromise among all the groups?

Belyaev: salmon preservation is first and foremost human relations, scientists, fisherman, politicians.

Belyaev: How is Russia different -- no private property along rivers, so feds can protect areas.

Healey: must be thinking about salmon within context of global change.

Healey: the future is not going to be same as the past.

Healey: should we preserve Arctic areas as refuge for migrating salmon?

Healey: we have to start looking at Arctic as becoming suitable for salmon.

Healey: are there places where salmon habitat will continue to be suitable in face of warming.

Healey: In a very few decades most salmon habitat in southern range will no longer be suitable for them.

Healey: we really need to take a long-term view of conservation.

Kopchak: we are building an "electronic elder" to collate/share information.

Kopchak: Find common languages, cross jurisdictional systems.

Kopchak: H2O -- Headwaters to Ocean.

What are you going to do about long-term sustainability of salmon. YOU.

We who love salmon are not necessarily representative of the general public.

Rahr: we cannot succeed without preserving salmon strongholds.

Rahr: Russian far east has best opportunity for salmon habitat preservation.

Rahr: WWF study says 55,000 tons of salmon are poached for roe yearly in Kamchatka.

Rahr: We tend to react at the 11th hour -- we need to take the long view, get ahead of the curve.

Rahr: We don't proactively protect, we react, so good places get pounded, it's a losing strategy.
Rahr: Pacific Salmon Conservation Assessment.

Rahr: The time to be effective is before the threat is on top of you.

Rahr: we must save the best -- habitat etc.

Rahr: Pacific Rim population will double by 2050.

Rarh -- Wild Salmon Center http://www.wildsalmoncenter.

Fukushima: masu salmon are effectively protected but taimen are not.

How the heck do get an average from some of these scatter plots?

Fukushima: Japanese huchen/taimen -- http://tinyurl.com/cfo4tw

Fukushima: fish species richness falls due to damming.

Fukushima: Hokkaido protected drainages designed for salmon conservation.

Fukushima: Hokkaido has 574 watersheds of which 32 are "protected drainages"

Fukushima: Japan has thousands of dams.

Fukushima: National Institute for Environmental Studies Tsukuba Japan http://www.nies.go.jp/

Marxan: http://www.uq.edu.au/marxan

Reeves: Marxan -- a decision support system for systematic conservation planning.

Reeves: Concept of irreplaceability -- areas essential to meet conservation goals.

Reeves: We have long thought that nature can bounce back from any indignity we impose upon it.

Reeves: Livingston Stone was calling for salmon reserves in Alaska in 1892.

Salmonid Rivers Observatory Network

Do we need more vision or more implementation?
Skeena: kids learn to honour, respect and take care of the fishery.

Skeena -- these fisheries are also nurturing grounds for our children.

Skeena -- this is all for naught if we don't protect the habitat. Yes!

In-river native fisheries don't need boats, fuel, port infrastructure.

Skeena, we can catch fish in better ways, with more local benefits, while boosting biodiversity.

Russia -- we need legislation like Canada's Wild Salmon Policy, and we need more than that.

Kaev: Pink salmon need improvement of spawning conditions.

Kaev: chum salmon need further development of hatchery rearing.

Kaev: wild vs hatchery salmon in Sakhalin.

Russains are using Google Earth for some mapping -- what a change from the Cold War!

Semenchenko: Sakhalin test rivers -- Taranay, Kura, Naycha.

Semenchenko: move away from monitoring commercial fisheries to whole river monitoring.

Semenchenko: Monitoring salmon in Sakhalin.

Tabunkov: We are talking major devastation (poachers + ruthless companies).

Tabunkov: Companies will take maximum fish regardless of regulations.

Tabunkov: Poachers taking about 20% of salmon caught.

Tabunkov: I don't want to keep this photo on screen (fish gutted for roe only) -- too depressing.

Tabunkov: Problem of poachers taking roe only.
Tabunkov: problem of "heavily corrupt companies working with "heavily corrupt bureaucrats"

Tabunkov: we do not tag hatchery fish on Sakhalin so research "leaves much to be desired"

Tabunkov: hatchery chum pushed wild pink out of spawning grounds, so law was changed.

Tabunkov: these recently built hatcheries were destructive to wild fish.

Tabunkov: fishing companies are building their own hatcheries with no scientific input.

Tabunkov: Sakhalin has 15 federal hatcheries producing 900 million fish?/year.

Tabunkov: Sakhalin divided into over 700 fishing areas -- assigned to companies -- they care for enviro.

Tabunkov: no forestry, no mining, no drilling equals recovering fish.

Tabunkov: collapsing Russian economy (see prev Tweet) resulted in recovery of salmon.

Tabunkov: collapsing Russian economy some years ago impacted fisheries - no forestry, mining, drilling.

Tabunkov: Sometimes there were too many spawning fish that clogged the river - I don't get this.

Tabunkov: Fisheries Association of Sakhalin http://tinyurl.com/cegdgd

Tabunkov: I'm here representing concerns of fishermen.

Taylor: thanks to First Nations of the Skeen Fisheries Commission http://www.skeenafisheries.ca/

Taylor: looking for "fair trade" designation for Skeena salmon sustainable harvested by FN.

Taylor: all economic benefits of Babine/Skeen fishery stays local.

Taylor: conservation, biodiversity and ecological integrity paramount in all decisions.

Taylor: develop selective in-river fisheries that emulate what FN did.

Taylor: look back to move forward -- there are other ways.
Taylor: but increased abundance of "enhanced Sockeye" has led to overharvest of wild fish.

Taylor: says installation of spawning channels was a success.

BTW, by FN, I refer to First Nations, or "native Indians".

Taylor: We are trying to replicate something FN had in place for hundreds of years.

Taylor: FN principles -- reciprocal economic exchange, strict and transparent enforcement of rules.

Taylor: FN principles -- fishing property rights, sustainability, conservation for future generations.

Taylor: Babine River, FN used to harvest 3/4 million salmon a year.

Taylor: First Nations "managed" fisheries for hundreds and thousands of years – sustainably.

Taylor: there was a robust fishery on the Skeens thousands of years ago - a sustainable FN fishery.

Taylor: Skeena Wild Conservation Trust - http://www.skeenawild.org/

So LuLu says, yes we need a TV show or weekly newspaper column called "Fish Files"

Artist LuLu has a panel on her scroll called "Fish Files" -- I like that, sounds like a TV series.

Artist Lu is chronicling the conf with an art scroll.

Morning break is announced -- we now get to eat Skeena salmon with our coffee.

I'm feeling like the patient is dying and we're discussing better ways to monitor the decline.

DFO asked Tlingit to halve salmon take, elders said no fishing at all because there are almost no fish.

Tlingit have completely stopped fishing in the headwaters of the Yukon on advice from elders.

Peterman: we have data on Fraser sockeye "all the way back to 1938" - how is that "historical"?

Canada's Species at Risk Act - http://tinyurl.com/cdg9s6 9:31 AM

QA comment, no fish species has ever been listed as endangered under SARA, even the cod that 99% gone.
Holt: We suggest that risk tolerance be identified by fisheries management.

Holt: uncertainties are pervasive, but we can account for them in the model... Uh, OK

Mortality is depensatory when its rate increases as the size of the population decreases. (http://tinyurl.com/ccwwws)

Holt: depensatory mortality -- another term I need to learn

Canada's Wild Salmon Policy: http://tinyurl.com/bexba

Holt: speaking on Canada's Wild Salmon Policy

Zhivotovsky: there are some lake-spawning chum salmon in Russia - rare

Zhivotovsky: speaking about research on "south Kuril" islands - wonder how Japanese feel about this?

Thinking at the first conf they ate crab and lobster, now salmon and shrimp, next conf tofu and beans.

Tweets From Day 2 Salmon Conference

Here are my Tweets from today's State of the Salmon 2009 conference sessions (second of three days), in last-to-first order:

BTW. today's sessions wrapped up with a plea from octogenarian Pearl Keenan -- nice to have some heart instead of statistics. She's from the Tlingit First Nation in the Yukon. Her basic plea? Please stop taking all the fish at the mouth of the river -- she lives near the headwaters, and they're all gone up there. I had to find her later and thank her for speaking from the heart, and hoping we would listen to something other than "science" and PowerPoints.

Long: Washington State fisheries are dependent on hatcheries

Busack: Argument is now how serious is domestication (hatchery fish), not if it exists.

Busack: Concern that interbreeding between hatchery and wild fish reduces fitness.

Researchers find what they look for, and when you bring up other potential factors, they get defensive.

When issues arise, it's time to break for coffee. Sheesh.

One word I have yet to hear at this conference is "pollution."

Q&A: Beamish -- coho and chinook in St of Gerogia are critical and think will get worse.

Walters: But culling seals is no solution because they also keep down other predators.

Walters: Huge growth in harbour seal population in Georgia Strait.

Walters: Ocean mortality causes hypotheses - hatchery disease, ocean warming, predators??

Walters: We don't know what is causing coho and chinook ocean mortality.

Walters: South BC chinook continue to decline despite closing commercial fishing in 80s and sport in 90s.

Walters: coho spawning in south BC has collapsed even with hatchery supplementation.

Walters: Declining marine survival is the biggest hit to salmon.

Walters: there has been no substantial habitat loss since 1990. Huh?

What data? Historic salmon runs - data never goes back more than a century, so how is that "historic"?

Walters: severe coho and chinook declines in south BC - threats are other than fishing.

Some speakers really need to take a Plain English course! Jargon-itis puts the audience to sleep.

What the heck is a "mortality objective"?

Schindler: geomorphic variation in fresh water is reflected in ocean growth of salmon.

Schindler: spawning productivity of rivers changes over time -- me: so shouldn't we protect *all* rivers?

Schindler: Are doomsday scenarios the best way to get the message out to the public?

By the time this conference is over we'll have eaten all the fish in the sea.

Q&A - Hokkaido also has conflicts between agriculture and fisheries.

Q&A - salmon can quickly repopulate territory if habitat is cleaned up and access enabled.

Q&A - unfortunately, education on salmon preservation is weak.

Q&A - if policymakers would err on the side of safety, we'd have better monitoring.

Q&A - Japan considers 2nd-gen hatchery spawners to be "wild" as long as from same stock.

Walton: need to look at viability of salmon at local levels -- creeks.

Walton: hatchery reform will be crucial to the survival of wild salmon.

Walton: over-harvest and hatcheries impact wild fish.

Walton: if you want to keep salmon runs strong, don't ruin your rivers.

Walton: after a century of using salmon hatcheries, we still don't know if they benefit salmon.

Walton: challenge is to develop a concise story we can tell people about protecting wild salmon.

Walton: How are we going to change human behaviour in relation to wild salmon?

Walton: do we have a common vision for a wild salmon policy?

Walton: endangered salmon are a West Coast-wide issue.

Walton: we have been working on recovery plans for a long time, but need people's support.

Last US administration (Bush) gave little support to conservation.

Bowles: fish only care about action -- what are we doing to fix things?

Bowles: "plan" has become a four-letter word, but plans are essential for salmon recovery.

Bowles: hatchery fish are not a replacement for natural populations.

Bowles: key threat to salmon is apathy.

Bowles: public becoming more disconnected from fish and their watersheds.

Riddell: conservation of wild salmon and their habitat is the highest priority.

Riddell: in BC/Yukon there are 8300 combinations of streams/salmon species.

Riddell: diversity is key to preserving salmon.

White: all groups that harvest salmon have a sense of entitlement.

Kulikov: sounds like Russia also has jurisdictional and bureaucratic issues.

Kulikov: First protected area in Khabarovsk area was created in 1920s.

Nagata: Japan looking at zone management for coexistence of hatchery and wild salmon.

Nagata: Commercial and game fisheries in rivers are prohibited in Hokkaido.

Nagata: Hokkaido fishery needs to change to wild salmon management objectives.

Nagata: calls native salmon spawning "traditional management", hatcheries "modern management".

Nagata: Hatcheries in Japan were established in 1888 from US.

Rawson: Pogo - we have met the enemy and he is us.

Rawson: we can't be doing things the same way that we have been doing them.

Rawson: habitat protection is the key contributor to saving the salmon.

Rawson: there is little public confidence in process for protecting habitat.

Rawson: Spawner return in some Puget Sound rivers is less than 10% of historic figures.

Rawson: lost 75-90 % of estuary habitat in Puget Sound.

Rawson: Habitat loss is the key factor for decline of Puget Sound chinook salmon.

Rawson: Hatchery risks - genetic, ecological, disease, etc.

Rawson:hatcheries are our arrogant assumption that we can do better than Mother Nature.

Rawson: causes of chinook decline - harvest, hatcheries and habitat.

Rawson: Skagit chinook have declined dramatically over last 50 yrs.

Rawson: Puget Sound chinook listed as threatened.

Quinn: larger fish may enter spawning grounds ealier than small fish.

Quinn: in some cases, middle of run is fished hard, with early and late less exploited.

Quinn: so we might be hitting more "early" fish, and more "late" fish.

Quinn: human exploitation appears to affect timing of spawning runs to some degree.

Quinn: fishing rates (exploitation) vary widely during run timing due to management.

Quinn: fisheries are less size-selective than they used to be.

Quinn: intermediate sizes of fish are most vulnerable to being caught.

Quinn: expected that gillnet fishery is selective against large fish.

Quinn: salmon have been declining in body size -- selective effects of fishing?

Quinn: humans have an impact on evolution of animals through hunting.

Quinn: humans have a long history of affecting the evolution of animals.

First nations comment - science must work with first nations knowledge.

Audience comment - global warming is a symptom of overpopulation.

Williams: Aldo Leopold - humans must change from conquerors of land to members of it.

Williams: to save salmon - land ethic, multiple scales and political boundaries, restoration economy.

Williams: hatcheries alone cannot solve problem of declining salmon, declining biodeversity.

Williams: artificial species restocking is not biologically viable without addressing causes of decline.

Williams: impacts - rising temps, reduced snowpack, variability in flows, fires.

Williams: Stressors - human pop growth, resource consumption, invasive species, climate change.

Williams: reconnect rives to their floodplains, do not channel them.

Williams: Protect remaining habitat, Reconnect to other areas, Restore urban waterways.

Williams: we must protect remaining habitat.

Williams: 29% of Pacific northwest salmon stocks are extinct

Williams: Laws and regulations are not enough. We are destroying Earth -- ecological footprint.

How the heck do you "increase salmon resilience to climate change"? Isn't that evolution?

Sun: Canadian Fisheries Management 'A Mess'

Vancouver Sun: Canadian fisheries management a mess.

Tweets From Day 1 Salmon Conference

Here are my Tweets from today's State of the Salmon 2009 conference sessions, in last-to-first order:

Fedorenko: Pacific Rim nations release 5 billion hatchery salmon/year.

Fedorenko: Total value of Pacific Rim commercial salmon catch $1 billion/year.

Beechie: Dams are the big story in extirpation of salmon in US lower 48, along with development.

Irvine: 50% or more of all BC salmon species are red/amber status (ie not good) in conservation units.

Irvine: In Canada general catch declines for all salmon species, 2008 one of lowest years.

Disappointed that reports from different countries are measuring different things so can't compare.

Hilsinger: Alaska salmon catches for all species have been good in last thirty years.

Radchenko: Russia releasing over half a billion hatchery salmon into Pacific annually.

Radchenko: Russian sockeye and chum catches are way up in the last ten years.

Kang: Korean salmon returns in 2000s fell to a third of returns in 1990s -- also warming?

Nagata: Focus on biodiversity of wild salmon and restoration of freshwater environments.

Nagata: Japan chum returns have fallen dramatically in south, more stable in north (Hokkaido) - warming?

Nagata: Japan stocking hundreds of millions of chum and pink fry.

Vladimir Belyaev: Important to improve national and international reporting to set reserves for salmon.

Vladimir Belyaev: Protecting entire watersheds is crucial to protecting salmon.

Vladimir Belyaev: Ocean survivability is moot if we don't protect spawning habitat -- rivers, estuaries.

Vladimir Belyaev: Russia is looking at setting up protected areas for salmon.

David Anderson: Concerned that Canada will fall behind US under Obama on climate change.

David Anderson: Major uncertainties about the impact of hatchery fish on ocean survival of wild stocks.

David Anderson: Strong opposition to change. People understand existing systems and fear the unknown.

David Anderson: The dead hand of the past protects the status quo.

Nathan Mantua: Humans are the primary drivers of change in salmon ecosystems.

Looking at Ecology and Society journal website: http://www.ecologyandsociety

Resilience Alliance http://www.resalliance.org/

David Suzuki -- World Scientists' Warning to Humanity, back in 1992 - http://deoxy.org/sciwarn.htm.

Suzuki: State of Salmon -- we invented the economy, we gotta change it.

Suzuki: State of Salmon -- all that humans can do is manage themselves, not other animals.

Suzuki: The most important lesson we have is the extent of our ignorance.

Suzuki: The future of salmon is bleak as long as politics and economics are the major drivers.

Guido Rahr fate of salmon will be determined in our lifetimes.

First Nations start by pointing out that side channels and creeks in the lower mainland are being destroyed.

Muddy Byrne Creek

Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby, BC, looked pretty muddy this afternoon, even though the rain had stopped for several hours. I tracked it as high as near the Edmonds Skytrain Station, and the water up there was still muddy, so it wasn't erosion in the ravine. Hope nobody was pumping out a construction site into a storm drain -- all drains connect directly to the creek, and baby fish will be hatching soon.

City staff responded immediately and said they'd check it out.

Vancouver Sun on Threats to Fish

The Vancouver Sun published a story today on Water crossings pose serious threat to fish: report. While as a volunteer streamkeeper I'm happy to see coverage of threats to migration of fish, some of the conclusions raise a resounding "Duh!"

As in "Culverts and bridges are a little-known threat to migration." Right, as if we didn't know.

But now perhaps more people will know.

Question is whether anything will be done about it.

CBC Story on Invasive Plants in BC

CBC has run a story on invasive plants in BC. It's about time the mass media began covering this issue. Streamkeepers and other groups have been putting in thousands of collective volunteer hours battling these non-native plants that overpower and kill native species, leading to monocultures that destroy habitat.

Byrne Creek Patrol Jan. 18, 2009

Yumi and I walked the ravine portion of Byrne Creek this afternoon for the first time in over a week. As we suspected, there was some significant erosion following the melting of the heavy snow we've had over the last few weeks.

Heading down the stairs into the ravine.

Tree fallen into creek at eroded bank.

A closer view.

Wild looking fungus on a fallen log.

Appointed to City of Burnaby Environment Committee

I've been appointed to the City of Burnaby's Environment Committee as a citizen representative. Went to my first meeting last night, and was pleased to see several familiar faces among senior staff that I've worked with through my streamkeeping volunteering with the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers and the Edmonds Business and Community Association. I look forward to learning the ropes and contributing toward making Burnaby a great place to live, work and play.

Short Water Videos From CWF

The Canadian Wildlife Federation has a good series of short videos on water. Check them out!

Report Says DFO Not Monitoring Enough Salmon Streams

According to this Globe and Mail article, a new study shows that Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans is not monitoring enough salmon spawning streams to preserve salmon stocks.

Stocks may be even more depressed than previously feared, and without adequate monitoring, Pacific salmon could go down the road toward oblivion as have the Atlantic cod. It also appears that the DFO has a pattern of dropping monitoring of streams that are in trouble, potentially skewing results.

Mapping Multiple Benefits of Marine Ecosystems

Interesting article on a joint project between Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment, the Nature Conservancy, and the World Wildlife Fund to develop software to assist in mapping the economic benefits of marine ecosystems.

I like the following quotation:

"'People tend to look at nature in one of two ways,' added Michael Wright, managing director of the Natural Capital Project. 'We either ignore the values it provides altogether, or we focus only on one specific commercial value, such as fisheries,' he said. 'We see individual pieces, not the whole. As a result, the collective value of nature is diminished. Through this grant we want to develop tools that do not just maximize the fisheries but capture all of the interests that depend on the oceans.'"

Any effort to broaden the way we calculate the "value" of nature is to be applauded.

Informative News Video on Stormwater Management

The Newshour with Jim Lehrer on PBS had a good video on stormwater management in the northwest US.

It presents the problems with urban runoff and what can be done about it.

What I find interesting is that often Canadians feel that they are miles ahead of Americans when it comes to the environment, when in fact US legislation and *enforcement* put us to shame.

Western States Face Water Shortages

According to this article, increases in population and climate change are putting even greater pressure on the Colorado River, leading to potentially worse water shortages in the future.

What I found interesting is that there is no mention of fish or other wildlife in the article. Makes you wonder if any species other than humans have been written off already...

The history of our exploitation of water in the west is long and torturous. I recommend the meticulously researched and well-written Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner on this topic.

The Tyee on Fraser Salmon

"All of BC has a stake in better managing once massive salmon runs. Third in a series."

Part of the Exploring the Fate of the Fraser River series in The Tyee.

Seattle Coho Dying Before Spawning

Coho are dying in restored streams in Seattle before they can spawn, according to this Seattle Post-Intelligencer article. The cause is speculated to be polluted runoff from roads. We have noted the same effect here in the lower mainland of British Columbia, with many coho dying unspawned in "our" stream, Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby. While Byrne has received few coho in the last few years, it's even more tragic when the few that do come back do not spawn before they die.

According to the Seattle article, coho in rural creeks are fine, it's urban creeks and restored city waterways in which the fish are struggling -- precisely the creeks that suffer most from pollutants.

Thanks to streamkeeper Joan for pointing out the article.

Streamkeepers on CBC Radio

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers were interviewed by CBC radio reporter Terry Donnelly today. Joan Carne and I spoke about the trials and tribulations facing urban creeks, and the positive news that this year's run of chum and coho spawners in Byrne Creek had at least matched the new low set last year. Why is that good news? Well, it's the first time in several years that the numbers had not declined!

We covered some of the issues affecting urban creeks including scouring and erosion caused by massive runoff during rains due to the buildup of impervious surfaces (roads, parking lots, roofs) in urban watersheds, pollution from road wash that goes down storm drains including gas, oil, antifreeze, brake dust, rubber dust, etc. Terry was also curious about efforts to daylight creeks, or bring them back to life from the pipes that they have been buried in.

It was a great conversation, and I hope a decent portion makes it onto the air. I know that the vagaries and time pressures of journalism often result in at best a minute or two of a two-hour discussion actually being published...

The piece should air on B.C. Almanac on Friday, Nov. 28, 2008, and the latest we heard was that it was slated for 1:40 p.m.

You can monitor the show here.
(http://www.cbc.ca/bcalmanac/) Just look for the link near the top of the page under "Listen Live".

Female Chum Awaits Death in Byrne Creek

This female chum salmon was quietly awaiting death in a calm pool in Byrne Creek this morning. Her spawning mission accomplished, her life's purpose was done. In her deteriorating state she appeared to have gone blind, as she didn't react to my looming shape, but when I stepped in the water she sensed the movement, her shallow breathing accelerated, and she stirred her body -- battered from digging a nest for her eggs in the gravel. I snapped a quick photo and left her in peace.

Chum Spawn in Byrne Creek

Chum salmon have been returning to Burnaby's Byrne Creek over the last couple of weeks. You can check out the website for updated information on numbers as streamkeepers monitor the run.

I took a video of a few spawners today and posted it on You Tube -- my first YT contribution. The quality is not the greatest as I shot it with a digital camera, not a video camera, and I'm still experimenting with editing and processing techniques.

Autumn Signs Along Byrne Creek

A ramble down the Byrne Creek ravine revealed signs of autumn, though a holdout garter snake proved it wasn't too cold yet.

An empty bench in Ron McLean Park invites contemplation of changing colours.

The return of an American Dipper to the creek is a sure sign of the impending arrival of spawning salmon.

These bouncy little birds love to dive under the water for salmon eggs.

Not the best shot of a garter snake -- but I was happy to see they were still enjoying a bit of sun as the cold comes on...

Rivers Day 2008

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers had a booth up at Rivers Day on the BCIT campus in Burnaby today. It was a gorgeous day with lots to see and do.

Hanging a temporary Stream of Dreams mural for the event.

Byrne Creek display.

Rivers Day founder Mark Angelo and BC Environment Minister Barry Penner.

VIPs release cutthroat trout into Guichon Creek.

A curious ball of fluff watches the activities.

Touring Byrne Creek Watershed With MP, MLA

I had the pleasure of taking MP Peter Julian and BC MLA Raj Chouhan on a tour of the upper Byrne Creek watershed this afternoon. I appreciate the time these gentlemen took to listen to streamkeepers' concerns, learn about efforts to enhance the watershed, and view a couple of proposed project sites.

Peter and Raj have toured Byrne Creek ravine and the artificial spawning habitat previously, but this time we concentrated on the "creek beneath the streets" -- the upper part of Byrne Creek that has long been buried and piped into the storm drain system. I took the opportunity to talk about the possibility of daylighting (bringing the creek back up from pipes) in Ernie Winch Park, and creating a rain garden/biofiltration facility at the lower end of Southpoint Dr.

Thanks again, Peter and Raj!

Alternative Sidewalk in White Rock

I ran across a SEA (street edge alternative) street in White Rock today, but on taking a closer look, it appeared to be more of an alternative sidewalk. SEA streets do away with curbs and gutters, and replace them with vegetated swales to reduce the impact of rain into storm drain systems and filter out pollution. This street had small swales but it still had a curb... Hmm... There were openings cut into the curb here and there, with small guides to let street runoff in, but I don't think they would accomplish much.

As you can see, the regular storm drain is still in place, and the teeny street diversion would not move much water into the swale.

I'm not an engineer, and I'm scratching my head on this one :-). Most such projects attempt to capture the polluted water from streets... Not nearly as much pollution on the sidewalks...

Byrne Creek Sediment Pond Profiling

The sediment pond upstream of the Byrne Creek artificial spawning habitat is to be cleaned out next week, and streamkeepers decided to do a depth profile of the accumulated silt and gravel, so that we can learn how fast the pond fills after it's been cleaned.

Streamkeeper John W. told me about a method using a transverse line knotted at 1-meter intervals, from which a weighted line is dropped with tabs at 10cm intervals. The method worked like a charm; however, my wife Yumi had to go through some contortions to anchor the line on the side of the pond with a lot of growth next to it!

Yumi setting up the ropes.

Me checking out the drop line.

Streamkeeper John G. helps collect data.

Yumi burrowing through the bush.

Fish-Friendly Car Wash Kits

Having a car wash fundraiser? Make sure you're not polluting your local creek while you're at it -- all street drains lead directly to local waterways with no treatment. So what's the solution? A salmon-friendly car wash kit. I picked this up from the Pacific Streamkeepers Federation bulletin board and think it's a great idea.

Check out this info on the kits from our neighbours to the south in King County, Washington.

It would be great if the City of Burnaby would get a few of these kits and make them available at community centres!

Blame Mother Nature?

People on a mailing list were discussing the damage humans do to the environment, and the "damage" that Mother Nature does. Here was my two cents:

I suppose it depends on one's definition of "damage." A lot of what Mother Nature does could also be called "renewal" or "ecosystem change or development" or.... Nature is not static by nature :-).

The kind of damage that humans do is very different from the kind of damage that Mother Nature does. Our damage tends to be more permanent. Once we've changed something, we are loath to see nature reclaim or reuse it in any shape, manner or form.

As a streamkeeper, I like to use the example of rivers. In their natural, healthy state, rivers are alive. They shift, they move, they're full of snags that provide habitat, they carry and turn over gravel that fish need to spawn in. They are constantly changing. They flood, and floods are good because the silt and accompanying biota renew the land.

Then people come along and choose to build in the flood plain. Now suddenly for one species -- us -- the annual flooding isn't all that pleasant, so then comes the channeling, the diking, the building of dams. Those snags and other woody debris are dangerous for boaters, so they're pulled out. The river is dredged to provide safe passage. The spawning gravel is mined for more construction. The river is a shackled shadow of its former self.

In addition, we choose to take our bodily and manufacturing wastes and pipe them into rivers, often with little or no treatment.

And the irony is that it is we who make rivers "dangerous" through all of our construction. The forests are gone, the meadows are gone, the wetlands are gone, so when it rains the water has nowhere to go but into the storm-drain system and then directly into the river, instead of soaking into the ground. And all that diking and channeling ends up just collecting all the force that would have dissipated in a natural flood plain. So when the levee breaks and we suffer damage.... whose fault is it? Can we blame Mother Nature?

Adera Donates $10,000 to Streamkeepers

Today Adera Development Corp. handed a $7,500 cheque over to the Pacific Salmon Foundation that is designated for projects by the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers. Adera has already printed colour brochures for the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers, so the total donation is $10,000.

Thanks!

Photo by Cindy Sommerfield

Adera has built several developments in the Byrne Creek watershed, and wanted to give back to the community by supporting the efforts of the streamkeepers. Byrne Creek Streamkeepers plan to use the funds on stormwater management facilities such as rain gardens and biofiltration ponds that would naturally filter and slow flows into the creek, in conjunction with the City of Burnaby.

Canadian Govt Reclassifies Pristine Lakes as Toxic Waste Ponds

According to this CBC article, lakes across Canada are being classified as mining-tailings waste sites, using an obscure mining regulation to apparently trump the Fisheries Act that prohibits the dumping of toxins into any fish-bearing waters.

This is insane.

Both the government and the businesses involved must be confronted on this issue. The government for failing to protect the environment, wildlife, and everyone's health, and businesses for proposing this idiocy. I run my own business, belong to my local board of trade, my neighbourhood business association, and this sort of cavalier destruction sickens me. These companies are getting a free ride with no real accounting of the associated environmental and health costs. Where does the death of a watershed touch the profit-loss statement or balance sheet?

Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Loyola Hearn should resign for failing his department's mandate to protect our watersheds and fish.

[Counterpoint, June 17] OK, I was riled and while I stand by my post, I should acknowledge that without the mining industry, I wouldn't even be able to have a blog :-). Think of all the metals in my computer... the coax cable that connects me to the Internet... the server farm that hosts my site... The electricity plants that make it all run. Not to mention the pervasive use of metals in all sorts of items I use daily. Would I give up my watch? My cameras? My shower?

Yet I do believe there is a huge disconnect between what we pay for products and what their true cost is. Some inputs into the raw-materials production and manufacturing processes are not accounted for, and neither are most unacknowledged outputs such as garbage and toxins.

Streamkeepers Tackle Invasive Plants

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers tackled masses of invasive plants that had overwhelmed native plants and trees planted by the City of Burnaby on the sides of the access ramp to the creek off Southridge Dr. Unfortunately, the City has no invasive species plan or coordinator, or apparently any budget to maintain what it has planted.

Streamkeepers to the rescue!

Thirteen volunteers put in a total of 32.5 hours this morning unearthing conifers, ferns, salmonberry, and other native plants from the clutches of Himalayan Blackberry, Morning Glory, English Ivy, and Scotch Broom. We filled two heaping truckloads of invasive plants and took them to the City's recycling centre on Still Creek.

One of the areas we worked on. It was so overgrown that these conifers were not even visible. As we cut down 2-meter high blackberry we came across more stunted trees.

Hauling the invasive plants up the ramp.

Filling the truck.

Burnaby Environment Awards

Burnaby City Council and its Environment Committee held the 2008 City of Burnaby Environmental Awards Reception this afternoon.

Byrne Creek Streamkeeper and Stream of Dreams Murals Society co-founder Joan Carne was among the recipients.

Joan with Councillor Dan Johnston

Several Byrne Creek Streamkeepers attended the event, and were happy to see a Stoney Creek volunteer receive an award as well.

Streamkeepers Attend South Burnaby Rebel Fest

A few Byrne Creek Streamkeepers set up a miniature version of our booth at the South Burnaby Secondary Rebel Fest this afternoon. It was a beautiful day to be outdoors and it was fun talking to kids about streamkeeping. Volunteer Eleanor was a hit because she'd graduated from the high school the previous year and still new many kids.

Armstrong School Guides Mark Rain Drains

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers and Girl Guides from Armstrong Elementary marked rain drains (storm drains) with yellow fish this evening so people are aware that all such drains lead to fish habitat. We had gorgeous views of clouds building over the North Shore, but thankfully the rain held so we could complete our project.

Streamkeepers oversee the work.

Guides paint yellow fish.

Clouds gather on the horizon.

Armstrong school is quite a distance from "our" Byrne Creek watershed, but a drain is a drain!

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 chum. We also saw four live chum and a live coho.

Unfortunately, the two coho were both unspawned females. They were in excellent shape and had not begun to turn color as spawners usually do. Their egg sacs were still firm, and we wondered why they had died prematurely. We hope this doesn't become a recurring pattern with female coho, as it was last year on Byrne Creek.

Here's Yumi hauling one of the coho out of the spawning channel.

A close-up of the egg sacs.

Yumi found this one by smell! Not much left of it...

Streamkeepers measure all dead salmon spawners we find and check if they have spawned. We then cut the carcasses in half so we don't double count, and return them to the creek where they provide essential nutrients.

Streamkeepers in Burnaby Now

The Burnaby Now had a good article today on Byrne Creek Streamkeepers monitoring returning salmon spawners with a couple of photos. It's great to get the coverage. There was one misunderstanding though, in that the spawners tallied and pictured were chum, not coho.

Salmon Return to Byrne Creek

I knew it! The day after I arrived in Victoria for my second residency at Royal Roads, salmon were spotted in Byrne Creek back in Burnaby. A member of the streamkeeping group that I volunteer with spotted two chum and one unidentified salmon following the rains that came on the weekend. I'm sorry to have missed the start of the run, but I'll be following reports from the group while I'm away.

Low River/Stream Conditions in BC

The BC Environment Ministry issued a press release today saying: "Rivers in a large portion of the province continue to experience low streamflow conditions. In some areas, these continue to be record-low flows for the date."

Details here.

And Man Created Coho

There was a story in the Vancouver Sun today about coho salmon in the city. It's part of a series of short articles on urban wildlife. While I applaud the Sun's initiative in educating the public about nature, the coho story ended with a rather strange sentence that implied coho never existed in urban streams in the lower mainland until humans began stocking the fish.

"Fish in the city: Initially all the coho that swam out to sea from city streams were hatchery-born. They were transported to creeks as fry, where they remained until heading to Georgia Strait and the Pacific a year and a half later. Hatchery-born fry are still added to creeks but, over time, wild-born fry have become part of the spring mix."

There is a huge historical gap here -- human activity wiped out "fish in the city" for decades. Vancouver used to have over 60 streams, of which only a few still exist, and only a couple provide spawning access and habitat. All the rest have been paved over and piped. Where I live next door in Burnaby we are more fortunate in having a greater number of productive urban streams because development happened later here, at a time when people were more aware of environmental and sustainability issues.

But no, hatcheries and humans did not create salmon runs in the city! The best we can say is that we brought some of them back in a diminished state with a lot of hard work after realizing the error of our destructive ways.

Adams River Sockeye Run

Yumi and I headed up to the Adams River yesterday afternoon to take in the sockeye run -- 2006 is one of the peak returns that happen every four years. I checked the BC Parks website and discovered that a campground near Vernon, Kekuli Bay, was still open, so we decided to spend the night there.

That evening it was cold and windy, and we chowed down on hot ramen and hot dogs in the dark.

The next morning, we had a chat with the park operator and complimented him on the clean site. The park is on the bare side, but still beautiful in its own way. We saw loads of small fish from the dock, and enjoyed the changing colors on Kalamalka Lake as the sun rose.

We drove up to Adams Lake via the Falkland-Chase road. It's a small highway with a stretch of gravel that passes through pretty country. When we arrived at Roderick Haig-Brown park, it was already crowded even on a weekday. There were lots of schoolbuses with hundreds of kids.

DFO staff were on hand to tell people about the sockeye, and disect a few dead ones.

We headed out to the river to watch the fish. It is a breathtaking sight to see the thousands of spawners performing their final act before they die.

We were surprised to see many chinook spawners as well -- they are huge fish compared to the sockeye. We hadn't seen any chinook when we visited the Adams run four years ago. Here's a dead chinook next to a dead sockeye and the size disparity is evident.

There were several people snorkelling and taking video and still images of the spawners.

Here's one more image of a male sockeye in his full glory.

We spent over an hour walking along the river and watching these beautiful animals complete their life cycle. As a sign on the path poignantly pointed out, they're born orphans and die childless. A true wonder of nature.

We drove to Kamloops and then took the 5A south to Merrit, stopping for an hour of fishing at Stump Lake along the way. I had a couple of bites casting from shore, saw a trout following my lure, and had one on line for 10-15 seconds, but we didn't land any. We always use single, barbless hooks. Here's Yumi as the sun began to drop in the sky.

Pre-Sediment Pond Cleanout Fish Salvage

The sediment pond in the Byrne Creek spawning habitat needs to be cleaned out this year, so Burnaby city staff, Envirowest staff, and Byrne Creek Streamkeepers have been salvaging fish by netting them, and releasing them downstream. It's always a fun activity, albeit stressful on the fish. Yet it's better than trying to get them as the water is pumped out -- that's really hard on them.

We were pleased to find several coho among the preponderance of cutthroat trout. Most of the fish were in the 7-12cm range, however we did get a nice cutthroat that was 21.5cm.

Paint Poured Down Storm Drain

I was shocked and disappointed to see someone in our townhouse complex in the Byrne Creek watershed has poured what appears to be paint down a storm drain.

While it didn't appear to be a large amount, any paint at all is no good. People still don't seem to know, or perhaps care, that all storm drains lead to local creeks. That means that anything except rain that goes down those drains could potentially kill fish and other creatures.

I've informed council and also suggested that the drains in our complex be marked with the yellow fish program. As a streamkeeping volunteer, I'd be happy to do so.

Byrne Creek Summer Bug Count

The Byrne Creek Streamkeepers completed their summer aquatic invertebrate survey today -- or bug count -- and the results were satisfactory. All of the samples were in the 2.0 - 2.5 range for water quality on a scale with 4 being good. Not bad for an urban creek that faces a constant flow of pollutants from storm drains. Thanks to leader John for organizing the three weekend counts and Dave for tallying the results. Here's one of Dave's charts:

We use the standard Streamkeeper's Handbook method of surveying. The types of bugs and their numbers indicate the quality of the water.

Fish Population Recovering in Byrne Creek

The fish population in Burnaby's Byrne Creek is recovering following a devastating toxic spill into a storm drain that killed some 700 trout and coho at the end of February 2006. Byrne Creek Streamkeepers found 15 cutthroat trout in 9 traps tonight, for an average of 1.67 fish per trap. That's still off of the usual tally of 3-5 fish per trap, but its a huge improvement from the big, fat, zero we got a few weeks after the spill.

While we had set out 10 traps, unfortunately one was pulled from the creek by someone. We were fortunate to run across it later in Ron McLean Park. We're not sure if it's pranksters that yank the traps, or perhaps concerned citizens who don't understand that streamkeepers are authorized by the DFO to do such fish surveys.

Fish Killed In Eagle Creek

Over 200 trout and juvenile coho salmon were killed in Burnaby's Eagle Creek when a toxin, perhaps chlorine from a hot tub or pool, was poured down a storm drain. As a volunteer with the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers, I was dismayed, for some 700 fish were killed in Byrne Creek at the end of February by a toxin that was never identified or its source tracked down.

At least in the Eagle Creek case it appears that the city's environment officers may have discovered the source, and if so, I hope they throw the book at the perpetrator(s). My sympathies to the Eagle Creek Streamkeepers!

The Burnaby Now and the NewsLeader covered the event.

Brunette River Recovery

There's an excellent article in the News Leader on efforts to rehabilitate the Brunette River in the lower mainland of BC. It features longtime streamkeeper Elmer Rudolph, and well-known watershed advocates Mark Angelo and Bob Gunn from BCIT.

Reporter Michael McQuillan presents the history of the river and the terrible impact of unbridled industrialization. Fortunately, citizens and governments are gradually learning that rivers that we once treated as open sewers can be rehabilitated, and that fish and other wildlife will come back. I love to see good news like this, and hope it will only get better in the future.

Canada Day in Burnaby's Richmond Park

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers volunteered at the City of Burnaby's Canada Day event at Richmond Park today. We had great weather and had a fun time interacting with the public. Hundreds of people dropped by our booth to learn a bit about their watershed.

The RCMP bear in front of the streamkeepers booth.

Streamkeepers answer questions.

RCMP honour guard gears up for the opening ceremony.

Air cadets and RCMP lead the parade of dignitaries.

My wife Yumi checks out a cruiser from the driver's seat...

And from the rather less desirable cage in the back seat :-).

Trying New pH Kits in Byrne Creek

Yumi and I received new pH kits from Byrne Creek Streamkeeper Brian yesterday, and we tried them out on our ravine walk by the creek today. We got a reading of 7.5 with the Hach kit from Dynamic Aqua-Supply, and also 7.5 with a lo-Ion paper kit, so at least the results were consistent.

Lamprey Spawn in Byrne Creek

Yumi and I spotted nine lamprey in Byrne Creek today, and most appeared to be paired off and spawning.

This appeared to be a threesome :-).

We also saw lots of caddisfly larva -- they look so cool encased in woody debris and sand.

Burnaby Environment Awards 2006

A few weeks ago we got a call from the City of Burnaby that Yumi and I had won an Environment Award for Community Stewardship for our volunteer work with the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers. It took awhile for the idea to sink in -- while we've put our share of hours into the group, there are other members who are at least as deserving, if not more so. Ironically, I think what put us in the running was media exposure the two of us got after the devastating fish kill in the creek in late February this year when someone poured a toxin down a storm drain.

Today we received the award from the city's Environment Committee at a nice open-air luncheon at the city art gallery at Deer Lake, along with several other recipients, including an Environmental Star award for youth for another Byrne Creek Streamkeeper, Eleanor King.

Since we began streamkeeping about four years ago, we have made wonderful friends and learned so much.

Yumi, me, my Mom, and her husband Barry.

Gladstone Secondary Kids Tour Byrne Creek

Yumi and I took a bunch of high school students from Gladstone Secondary in Vancouver on a tour of Burnaby's Byrne Creek today. It was a gorgeous day for a loop around the ravine, and while it's sometimes hard to tell with teenagers, I think they enjoyed rambling through the woods. Dunno if they enjoyed my blathering on about streamkeeping and urban biodiversity, but I did get a few questions :-). I like going out with kids and trying to get them to connect a little with nature.

That's me on the right in a ball cap, waving a rolled up map, talking about the watershed.

Taylor Park Kids Release Coho in Byrne Creek

A couple of classes of kids from Taylor Park elementary school released coho smolts (yearlings) into Burnaby's Byrne Creek today. The DFO fish releases are always fun, and it's great watching the childrens' glowing faces as they let the fish go in the creek.

A volunteer helps kids release fish.

Released Chum Fry Still Hanging in Byrne Creek

Several hundred of the thousands of chum fry released in Byrne Creek on Tuesday, April 25, by kids from Burnaby's Clinton Elementary are still hanging around in the creek. Chum start migrating toward the ocean not long after reaching the fry stage, so it's interesting to see schools of them five days after they were released.

Here's Yumi taking close-up shots.

(Netting fry is illegal, and streamkeepers do so under the auspices of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for identification purposes only.)

Byrne Creek Teems With Life Months After Toxic Spill

Southeast Burnaby's Byrne Creek is burgeoning with life two months after someone dumped a toxin down a storm drain killing some 700 trout and salmon, along with other aquatic life. It's hard to keep nature down, life just keeps bubbling up no matter how our cruelly our supposedly superior, smarter species abuses it.

Yumi and I rambled through the Byrne Creek ravine this sunny, warm afternoon, and were rewarded with an abundance of bugs, birds and baby fish. We saw a pileated woodpecker, a finch, towhees, robins, chickadees and several species of ducks.

The female red-eared slider turtle that someone dumped in the spawning habitat a few years ago was out sunning on a rock--though she's an invasive species it was nice to see she had survived the toxin and come out of hibernation. As for how we can tell she's a female when she dives under the water as soon as we get within 10 meters of her, well, it's all in the tail. Boy turtles have noticeably thicker, larger tails than the girls do.

Insects abounded, some "good" some "bad." The good included bumblebees and crane flies, the bad were represented by tent caterpillars. I guess caterpillars are not really bad, but they do munch so heartily upon trees!

Here are a few photos we snapped:

A cutthroat trout fry hanging out in the creek.

A crane fly larva we spotted in the creek.

And a crane fly (?) that skittered along the ground and up my pants!

It takes patience squatting by the creek to spot some of these beasts.

A water strider.

Bright green algae appears in the creek in the spring.

More Trout Fry in Byrne Creek

More cutthroat trout fry are emerging in Burnaby's Byrne Creek, not quite two months after a toxin poured down a storm drain killed an estimated 700 fish.

We returned this little fella to the creek after taking many photos. You can still see a bit of a tummy bulge left over from the alevin (hatched but still in the gravel) stage where the yolk would have been.

That's my index finger outside the jar behind the fry!

(As always when I post such photos, I caution readers that netting fry is illegal, and streamkeepers do so under the auspices of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for identification purposes only.)

Trout Fry Found in Byrne Creek, pH Fears

More good news mixed with bad from Byrne Creek, which was devasted by a toxin that killed hundreds of fish about six weeks ago. In addition to the chum fry (salmon babies) that streamkeepers began seeing a few weeks ago, we're starting to see cutthroat fry.

Yumi and I saw several very small fry in the ravine portion of the creek around noon today, extending from just below the footbridge (T516) to the area near the monument (T519-520). We netted one from a pool about 3 - 4m downstream of the footbridge and it was a cutthroat. It was tiny, two-three centimeters long.

We released this tiny trout unharmed after getting some photos.

Assuming the normal time of around seven weeks for cutthroat to hatch and another week to emerge from the gravel (these figures taken from the BC provincial "Fish Facts" coastal cutthroat pamphlet), the eggs that these fry came from were perhaps laid about 8 - 9 weeks ago, or a week or two before the toxin killed fish in the creek. Nice to know cutthroat are being born!

A negative recording to offset the good news is that we got a low pH reading at T521 (the bottom of the Brynlor stairs) of around 5.5 - 6, which is definitely on the edge for fish and other aquatic life. We got 6.0 on our old pH paper and around 5.5 on new paper streamkeepers bought a few weeks ago. Water temp was 8.5C and air temp was 6.0C.

We're going to monitor the pH closely. Apparently fish need at least 6.5 to do well, and thrive at around 7.5. Try Googling "salmon optimum pH" and you'll find lots of good information.

Streamkeepers Never Surrender!

I was saddened to hear about the death of another creek, yet heartened that local stewards are not giving up. Reay Creek in the Saanich Peninsula on Vancouver Island has had toxic kills for three years in a row, yet Sidney Anglers, Peninsula Streams and Friends of Reay Creek vow to continue restocking efforts. See this article (don't know how permanent this link will be) in the Peninsula News Review.

This case is particularly poignant for me because some 700 fish were killed by a toxin a month ago in Byrne Creek, the urban waterway in Burnbay, BC, on which I volunteer as a streamkeeper. That followed a massive kill of nearly 5,000 fish in Byrne Creek in 1998.

I wonder how many creeks are killed each year in BC? Canada? The world? There should be some means of keeping track of such events and comparing them over time.

Check out the Peninsula Streams Society for more info on the Reay Creek kill and rehabilitation efforts, along with coverage of other watersheds in that area.

Streamkeepers Release Report on Byrne Creek Fish Kill

Streamkeepers have released a report (500K PDF) on the fill kill in Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby on the Feb. 25/26 weekend.

FM 107.9 Streamkeeping Interview

Broadcasting student Jill Batie of BCIT interviewed me a few days ago for an update on the fish kill in Byrne Creek that happened a month ago.

Jill has kindly allowed me to post the interview here. We covered the issues in depth, including an update on the kill, some positive signs that are emerging in the creek, how storm (rain) drains are connected to the creek, the issue of impermeable surfaces and urban development, sustainability, and how Byrne Creek's ongoing struggle has led to an excellent educational/art program by the Stream of Dreams Murals Society that has touched over 32,000 schoolchildren across BC.

You can download the 25-minute interview in a 2.9MB MP3 file. Hope you enjoy it!

Soap Enters Byrne Creek From Hedley

Yumi and I went for a walk down Byrne Creek ravine in southeast Burnaby at around 3:00 this afternoon. As we neared the bottom of the Brynlor stairs, we could see the creek had a heavy soapy flow. When we got to the bottom of the stairs I called the 24-hour spill number, and the person who answered said there was a similar complaint yesterday, and put me through to Environmental voicemail.

Yumi and I tracked it back to the Hedley Ave. outfall -- there was an obvious trail of suds down the side of the ravine over the rocks from the drain pipe. It was near 4:00 by then and the flow of soapy stuff had dwindled.

The Hedley outfall is where rain drains enter the creek from a large area bounded approximately by Hedley Ave. and Gilley Ave. east to west, and Kingsway and Portland north to south. The flow of soap was much too heavy for an individual washing a car. If you see any flows of soapy water or other noxious substances entering rain drains on a street or parking lot, call Burnaby Environmental at 604-294-7460, or after regular hours the spill hotline at 604-294-7200.

The soapy flow near the stairs in the ravine.

Yumi checking the pH. It was 6.0, not bad.

Suds trail down the side of the ravine from the Hedley Ave. pipe.

Byrne Fish Kill Update on 107.9 FM

BCIT contacted me for a radio interview update on the fish kill in Byrne Creek a month ago, and I spoke with broadcasting student Jill Batie for over 20 minutes this morning.

We covered the issues in depth, including an update on the kill, some positive signs that are emerging in the creek, how storm (rain) drains are connected to the creek, the issue of impermeable surfaces and urban development, sustainability, etc. Hope my blathering made some sense!

The interview should be aired on 107.9 FM in the lower mainland at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 30.

Trout Repopulate Damaged Creek

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers trapped four cutthroat trout and a dozen stickleback over the weekend in an area of the creek that was wiped out by a toxin a month ago. While the numbers are still way below average, they are encouraging because it appears that trout are are moving back into the main stem of the creek from its tributaries.

BC Environment Ministry biologists now estimate that 650 - 750 fish were killed in the creek on the Feb. 25/26 weekend based on the numbers of dead collected.

Here's a trout being measured before we released it.

Chum Fry Enliven Devasted Byrne Creek

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers John and Maho reported seeing over a hundred fry in the sediment pond in the artificial spawning habitat yesterday, so Yumi and I went to check it out this afternoon.

Sure enough, they were cruising around in schools of a couple of dozen fry each, and we managed to corral a few. Yumi got four in one swipe of her net -- a butterfly net with nice, soft mesh that doesn't hurt the tiny fish.

We put them in a bucket and transferred them to a jar for photos. They were chum salmon, and a welcome sight in a creek that was wiped out by a toxic spill just three weeks ago. Apparently the toxin did not penetrate all the redds, or nests of eggs, deposited by spawning salmon last autumn.

Four chum fry from overhead.

The wee tykes spread like a volley of mini torpedoes.

Here's another overhead with a tape -- they're 4 - 5 cm long.

Yumi getting set to release them back into the creek.

NOTE: Please don't try this with your kids -- it's illegal without the sanction of the DFO!

Byrne Fish Survey Finds Zero Post-Kill Fish

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers conducted our annual late winter/early spring fish-trapping survey over the weekend, and came up with zero fish in an area where we'd usually trap 30-40 on average.

We hadn't been expecting much following the kill two weeks ago of over 300 trout and a few salmon after someone dumped a toxin into a storm drain in the Edmonds area of Burnaby.

While it was exhilarating to hike the ravine in the sunny weather, the result was disappointing.

Setting traps in the creek.

Checking traps the following day.

We usually catch cutthroat trout and coho smolts that we measure and then release. Please note that it is illegal to catch fish through trapping, and that streamkeepers are authorized by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to carry out this research.

Follow the Muddy Brown Creek

Setting out on our regular walk around Byrne Creek at noon, my wife and I could hear from a distance that the water was still running high, at least seven or eight hours after a rare dusting of snow had fallen overnight.

We caught glimpses of the creek through the trees as we walked along the ravine and it looked dirty.

Walking down the Brynlor stairs.

Our impression was confirmed when we reached the bottom of the stairs in the ravine. The water was high, frothy, and coffee-with-milk brown in colour, with near-zero visibility. Runoff following rain or snow is often silty, but this was opaque, and following the major fish kill in the creek just 10 days ago, we were not impressed.

We checked the artificial spawning channel and sediment pond, and could not see a thing, the water was so dirty.

Dark water pouring into the sediment pond from the Southridge culvert.

While we understand it is impossible to contain all silt and dirt in runoff, there is something wrong with this picture. This is not from erosion, for we followed the creek all the way up to where it appears from the storm drain system (it was buried years ago in the upper watershed), and the water there was nearly as bad. So the silt had to be coming from somewhere further up in the watershed.

Byrne Creek between 18th and 17th.

It's not only chemicals and other toxins that streamkeepers worry about, such silty flows are hard on life in the creek as well. Please let Burnaby environmental staff and streamkeepers know if you see dirty water flowing into rain drains (aka storm drains) on streets or in parking lots.

Burnaby Environmental: 604-294-7460
24-hour spill hotline: 604-294-7200

BCIT TV Interview on Byrne Creek Kill

A couple of BCIT broadcasting students interviewed me about the recent fish kill in Byrne Creek, and the story should air on the Shaw Cable community channel this Sunday from 1:30 p.m.

It was another good opportunity to get the word out about how storm drains (or rain drains as we like to call them :-), connect directly to creeks in the Lower Mainland of BC.

We spent over an hour in the rain shooting around the creek -- footage that apparently will be edited down to 2 minutes. It will be interesting to see what they squeeze in!

Promising Bug Count in Despoiled Creek

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers found a little life to celebrate today in the creek, which was hit by a toxic substance last weekend that killed hundreds of trout and some salmon.

Streamkeepers did a "bug count" of aquatic invertebrates over the weekend, focusing on areas already covered two weeks ago. They were happy to find that while the overall rating had dropped a bit, the change was minimal.

That was good news at the end of a devastating week.

Minimal Life Signs in Post-Kill Byrne Creek

We're finding a few signs of life in Burnaby's Byrne Creek, five days after a toxic substance entered a storm drain in the upper watershed, killing hundreds of trout and some young coho salmon. It appears a few fish are beginning to gradually repopulate the creek from some of its tributaries.

A biologist from the BC Environment Ministry who was collecting dead fish from the creek for further studies called me last night to say that he had placed 16 baited traps in the creek yesterday, and invited me to join him this morning to check them out.

There were a few signs of life in the lower reaches that were the farthest away from the toxin's point of entry. We found 3 cutthroat trout, 1 coho smolt, several dozen stickleback, and 1 sculpin spread out among 10 traps between the Fraser River and the golf course. They could have come from the tributaries, or found refuge in them, or perhaps whatever hit the system was diluted by the time it got down there. The 1 coho smolt was in a trap at the outflow where Gray Creek joins Byrne Creek on the u/s (Gray) side of a flood gate, so perhaps it wasn't in the main stem when the event occurred.

We also found a couple of stickleback in three traps around Meadow Bridge and the lower end of the spawning channel in the artificial habitat. The stickleback may have survived by being in the upper reaches of the overflow pond where they might have avoided the flow of deadly stuff. We often see stickleback at the upper end of the overflow pond where there is stagnant water unless rain pushes water down the spillway.

There were no fish in three traps placed near Ron McLean park upstream and downstream of a storm drain outfall we call the "Hell Hole."

So it looks deathly quiet all through the ravine and the habitat, with some signs of life starting around Meadow Bridge, and building up a bit moving further downstream below Marine Way. We've seen lots of cutthroat in Froggers Creek in the past, and there are likely more in the other tributaries, so the cutthroat will gradually repopulate.

We also spotted one free-swimming salmonid fry at the lower end of the Southridge Dr. culvert yesterday, so perhaps it popped out of the gravel after the event and the toxin didn't penetrate the redds (nests of eggs laid by spawning salmon and trout). We're keeping our fingers crossed and our eyes open! With luck there may be a few redds, both salmon and trout, yet to produce....

While the above numbers are minimal, and in no way mitigate the extent of the tragedy, some life is better than no life!

Here's a dragonfly nymph found in one of the traps. Its labium, or mouth, is extended. Cool! I'd never seen one before...

Local Papers Cover Burnaby Fish Kill

The Burnaby Now and the Burnaby NewsLeader both had coverage of last weekend's fish kill in Byrne Creek on their front pages this week.

Both papers also wrote editorials about the kill.

I don't know how stable these links are but here are the two stories:

Now

NewsLeader

The NewsLeader doesn't reveal direct links to stories, so the above link will no longer point to this story in a few days.

Citizens Send In Fish Kill Tips

I got a phone call this morning from a person who saw someone dump a gallon pail into a storm drain near the Byrne Creek spawning habitat. The witness soaked up some of the substance with a towel and said it smelled like thinner. He said he'd read about the fish kill in the paper, and tracked me down. I've forwarded the information to Burnaby's environmental department.

If anyone else has any tips, if anyone saw something being dumped into a storm drain in the upper watershed in the Edmonds area last weekend on Saturday or early Sunday, please let streamkeepers or the city know, and we will respect your privacy if you so wish.

Burnaby Environmental: 604-294-7460
Byrne Creek Streamkeepers fish kill messages: fishkill@byrnecreek.org

Vancouver Sun Picks Up Byrne Fish Kill

Today's Vancouver Sun published a paragraph on the fish kill in Byrne Creek on page B2 based on Dan Hilborn's article that is appearing in the Burnaby Now today.

Access is for subscribers only, but the lead to the Sun story can be seen here.

Global, CTV Coverage of Byrne Creek Kill

I was interviewed by CTV and Global TV this morning about the fish kill in Byrne Creek. The resulting stories were pretty good, especially the Global item with Mike McCardell. He really got across the image of a creek trying to survive in an ever-encroaching urban environment. He also managed to get me three or four clips of some length, rather than the usual half-hour interview parsed down to a 10-second blurb. Thanks!

CTV used several of my photos, but limited my airtime to that 10-second blurb :-).

There will also be stories appearing in the Burnaby Now and the Burnaby Newsleader over the next day or two.

Thanks to all the media for turning out, streamkeepers really appreciate these chances to educate the public. Remember, storm drains on roads and parking lots lead directly to your local creek!

One issue with the Global coverage was that somehow the crew got the notion that Byrne Creek had been buried downstream of Marine Way by the recent widening of Byrne Road, which is not the case. The creek was re-channeled west of Byrne Road some years ago.

BC Environment Ministry Collects Dead Fish

A couple of biologists from the BC Environment Ministry patrolled Byrne Creek over the last two days, collecting fish from the major kill due to an unknown substance entering the creek through a storm drain.

They collected several hundred fish, and while they said they probably won't be able to determine what killed them, they will try to make the best of a terrible situation by using them to get a picture of life in an urban creek through species identification, measurements and ages.

Fish Kill Extends Throughout Byrne Creek

Volunteers with the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers have tracked dead trout and coho smolts all the way up Byrne Creek Ravine Park to Giffiths' Pond near the Edmonds Skytrain station in Burnaby. The total count of dead fish is now about 300.

One volunteer reported a "diesel smell" and a slick of oil coming out of the storm drain where the creek "daylights" (appears from the storm drain system into which it was channeled and covered), and a different chemical odour at another drain that enters the creek nearby.

Volunteers will try to cover lower portions of the creek today to further assess the damage. Streamkeepers increasingly fear that this kill may be approaching the magnitude of the 1998 tragedy that wiped out life in the creek after a toxin was poured down a storm drain in the upper watershed.

Fish Kill in Byrne Creek

Yumi and I were dismayed to find dead fish throughout Byrne Creek this afternoon. The kill took place sometime between noon yesterday, when we walked the ravine portion of the creek and saw no fish, and this afternoon when we counted over 150 dead trout and salmon.

This photo shows trout ranging from 9cm to 33cm in length, along with one coho smolt.

We called the city, and an environmental officer was on the scene in less than half an hour. We also called another streamkeeper, Jane, and we counted 12+ dead between the slide in the ravine and the upstream end of the culvert under Southridge Dr. (Tag 517 to Tag 515). We saw 77+ dead in the Sediment Pond, and 62+ dead in the spawning channel. There were couple on the spillway and one in the overflow pond, for a total of well over 150 fish, most cutthroat trout, with a few coho smolts (young salmon that are born and live in the creek for a year before heading out to sea).

A closeup of the 33cm beauty.

We could not see dead fry (salmon babies that began appearing in the creek a few weeks ago in small numbers), however they are so small that it would take a very close examination to find any, and we ran out of time.

I fear that what killed the bigger fish may have wiped out the fry. It's been raining all evening and into the night, so chances of finding more evidence tomorrow are slim.

Later the city environmental officer called and said he found at least 50 more dead fish up the ravine as high as Ron McLean park. While we don't yet know if this kill is of the epic proportions that wiped out all life in Byrne Creek in 1998 after someone poured a toxic chemical down a storm drain, it does not look good.

I hope we find live fish tomorrow if the rain lets up.

Meanwhile, please remember, EVERYTHING that goes down a storm drain IS NOT TREATED and ends up in a creek or a river.

Storm Dumps Tree on Byrne Creek Footbridge

A recent storm knocked a tree over, damaging the footbridge over Byrne Creek in the ravine. This morning I ran into a city crew inspecting the damage and assessing how they would repair it.

After I said I was a streamkeeper they assured me they were aware of the sensitive environment and that they would be careful working around the creek. We chatted about spawner returns, and how the fry from last autumn's chum and coho spawners should be appearing soon. They even asked me about the woody debris, and I said that I'd heard that the city's policy was to leave it in place as long as it wasn't creating a hazard, and they concurred.

Flat Ben Tours Fraser River, Byrne Creek

This is the second installment in our nephew Flat Ben's visit to Burnaby, BC. The sun came out today after days of rain, so Uncle Paul and Aunt Yumi took Flat Ben to the Fraser Foreshore Park and to Byrne Creek.

Here's Flat Ben on the shore of the north arm of the mighty Fraser River, which is said to have the world's most productive salmon runs. It's also a working river and you can see log booms tied to pilings in the background.

Here's Flat Ben at a Stream of Dreams mural near the spot where Byrne Creek enters the Fraser River.

"Did you paint any of these fish?" Flat Ben asked.

"Yes," replied Aunt Yumi. "I painted the fish at the bottom right corner."

"Hey, what's that square thing over there?" said Flat Ben.

"It's a huge picture frame," said Uncle Paul. "Let's pose you in it with the south slope of Burnaby in the background."

"OK," said Uncle Paul. "It's time to put on our streamkeeper hats. Let's go to Byrne Creek and check the water."

"How do we do that?" asked Ben.

"Well, one indicator is the temperature," said Aunt Yumi. "The temperature of the water determines how long it will take salmon eggs to hatch -- the eggs need a certain accumulated amount of thermal energy to develop into alevins, which are teeny fish with yolk sacs. Chum and coho salmon made nests of eggs called redds in the gravel and cobble on the streambed from October to December, and the fry, or baby fish, should start emerging from the gravel any day now."

Ben held the thermometer in the water and discovered that the temperature was 8 degrees Celsius, or 46 degrees Fahrenheit.

"What else can we test?" asked Ben.

"We also test the pH," said Aunt Yumi. "That tells us how acidic or alkalyne the water is. Fish die if the pH is below 4 or above 9."

"So what does the pH paper say?" asked Ben.

"It's 6.4," said Aunt Yumi, "so that's fine."

"OK, let's go home and decide where to send Flat Ben next," said Uncle Paul. "We'll miss having you around!"

Mayfly Photos From Byrne Creek

When I stopped to scan Byrne Creek from the wooden footbridge in the ravine this afternoon, I spotted this mayfly sitting on the rail. It was dark, cold and wet, so it wasn't moving much.

Here's a photo with flash.

Here's another one without flash. It's interesting how the lighting changes the appearance of the mayfly and the background.

Byrne Creek Salmon Run Disappoints

It appears that the 2005 salmon spawning season in Byrne Creek has ended, with the last coho found on Dec. 29, 2005. Streamkeepers haven't seen any spawners since then.

Unfortunately, the return was less than half of 2004. Streamkeepers were also dismayed that very few male coho returned, and almost all of the female coho found had not spawned. The chum run was very low, less than a third of 2004.

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers Volunteer Hours 2005

I started keeping track of Byrne Creek Streamkeepers volunteer hours on June 9, 2005, and here are the results.

They are on the low side, because not everyone tells me when they put in streamkeeping-related volunteer time. Even so, the numbers are impressive for a group with about 15 active members and around another 15 occasional participants.

June 165.5 hours
July 135.5
August 67.5
September 240
October 161.8
November 113.5
December 99

June 9 to Dec. 31, 2005 total: 982.8 hours
Monthly average: 140.4 hours
Weekly average: 32.8 hours

Never Give Up, Salmon Are Still Coming

Yesterday I wrote a sad post about how the salmon spawning season appears to be over with poor results in the lower mainland of BC, and today I find two dead coho spawners in Byrne Creek!

That's the good news. The bad news is that they were both unspawned females, ripe with eggs.

This one was a beauty, big and plump. Too bad she couldn't link up with a male. Where have all the boys gone?

While the overall coho run in the lower mainland has plunged this year, streamkeepers keep finding unspawned females, with few males to be seen. It's a disturbing trend.

Sunshine Enlivens Winter Spawner Patrol

I headed out on our regular Wednesday Byrne Creek spawner patrol today under a dreary overcast sky. I wasn't expecting to see much, as the creek was high and dirty following a heavy rain.

As I walked along I saw blue sky on the horizon, and I wondered if it would clear. I was feeling glum at the poor return of spawning salmon to the creek this year, however the band of blue kept expanding and gradually my spirits rose. By the time I got to the bottom of the ravine, the cloud cover was completely gone.

I searched the spawning channel and habitat in vain, and saw no fish in the ravine either. I think we're probably done for the season, but I keep hoping that the rain we've had nearly every day for a week may entice a few wayward stragglers upstream.

Here's a shot of sunlight bouncing off the water near the footbridge in the ravine.

Burnaby South Green Team Presentation

I was one of two Byrne Creek Streamkeepers who spoke with the Green Team at the Burnaby South High School over lunch today. This is the second year that we've talked to the kids about the watershed, and what they can do to help protect it. It's always interesting to talk to young folk about what streamkeepers do and what issues we are concerned about. It's always a challenge trying to engage teenagers, and its great to see the Green Team getting involved.

Mystery Coho Kill in Byrne Creek

I got a call from two volunteers with the Byrne Creek Streameepers today who were out patrolling the creek for returning salmon spawners. They had come across nine dead coho salmon, all female, all un-spawned, and all looking like they were fresh out of the ocean.

This was unusual for several reasons. First, we rarely see that many dead spawners in one day in our small, urban creek. Second, the fish were in pristine condition, without the usual bodily and color changes that salmon exhibit when they return from salt water to fresh water to spawn. Third, they also found a couple of dead coho smolts -- young fish that live in the creek for a year after they hatch before going out into the ocean.

Coho are our "canaries in coal mines," for they seem to be more sensitive to pollutants than other fish.

We got the word out to a City of Burnaby environmental officer, who went down and took some water samples, and some of the dead fish. We hope an explanation will be found, but often in such cases nothing can be pinpointed.

The kill distressed me, for it added to the toll of female coho that have died before spawning in the creek this autumn.

Disappointing Start to Byrne Creek Spawning Season

We're off to a disappointing start to the salmon spawning season in Byrne Creek, the urban waterway that runs behind our townhouse complex.

So far we've confirmed (measured, sexed, and checked spawning status of dead fish) only 15 chum and 11 coho, less than half of what we had counted by this time last year.

We counted 91 dead spawners last year, and while that may sound paltry, it's an amazing feat for an urban creek in which salmon populations were wiped out for decades. Even after cleanup efforts and restocking initiatives, everything in the creek was killed when someone poured something toxic down a stormdrain six years ago.

It is also frustrating that nearly all of the coho females have not spawned -- we find them with full egg sacs -- while the chum females are almost uniformly spawned.

Streamkeepers have heard that runs have been late this year, so we're hoping the action will pick up.

Coho Spawner Found in Byrne Creek

Yumi and I found a dead coho spawner in Byrne Creek today just a few meters downstream from the wooden footbridge (Tag 516) in the ravine.

It was a strange find, for the fish had not changed colour as spawners typically do.

We processed it for our streamkeeper records, and to our dismay it was a female that had not spawned -- she had two full egg sacs. She was 45cm from eye to base of tail, and 55cm from nose to fork.

We also found three chum salmon in the sediment pond (Tag 514). One pair actively spawning just below the stop log downstream of the culvert, and one on its own -- likely the lone female we found a few days ago.

First Byrne Creek Spawner Sighted

Yumi spotted one spawning chum salmon in Byrne Creek today.

We patrolled from Byrne Bridge (Tag 507) up to the base of the stairs in the ravine (Tag 521).

The chum was hanging in the spawning channel right at the gate into the sediment pond (Tag 514). I poked my head over the edge of the rail and kept going, only to have Yumi shout that there was a spawner there a few seconds later.

It looked like a female, and was starting to develop whitish spots so it had likely been in the system for several days. Perhaps the redd we saw on Saturday was her work. We hope she had a boyfriend that we missed!

Spawning Salmon Return to Byrne Creek

Yumi and I spotted a distinct redd (nest made by spawning salmon) in Byrne Creek today, so the spawners are back! Unfortunately we didn't see any spawners, though the redd triggered a 1 - 1/2 hour search in the stretch between the confluence with John Mathews (Tag 506) up to the bottom of the stairs (Tag 521) in the ravine.

We were elated to see the redd, as we've been expecting the recent rains to trigger the final migration from the Fraser River up the creek.

It's an exciting period for streamkeepers. The final leg of the spawners' odyssey as they return from the ocean to start a new generation of fish is an affirmation of all the work we do throughout the entire year.

Byrne Creek Patrol Oct. 4

With other streamkeeping groups reporting the appearance of salmon returning to lower-mainland creeks in the last few days, Yumi and I decided to do a thorough patrol on Byrne Creek this morning.

We covered the area from Byrne Bridge (Tag 507), through the spawning habitat, and upstream as far as Tag 518 in the ravine. We didn't see any spawners, but there were hundreds of cutthroat trout and coho smolts throughout the area, with concentrations in the spawning channel pools, the sediment pond, and pools in the ravine.

We found a dead cutthroat in the sediment pond. We pulled it out and inspected it. It had no visible signs of external injuries and measured 20cm from nose to fork.

We also drove down to Foreshore Park where the creek empties into the Fraser River, however we didn't see any salmon at the mouth. Perhaps the rain forecast for later this week will trigger some spawners to come up the creek.

As we circled the artificial pond just west of the creek in the Glenlyon development, we were surprised to see hundreds of small golden-coloured fish ranging from about 2-4cm in size. More invasive species?

Autumn Rain Roars Down Byrne Creek

The first autumn rain of the season in the lower mainland of BC roared through Byrne Creek overnight and all day today, turning a trickle into a near-flood.

The heavy autumn rains are a blessing and a curse -- a blessing for they bring salmon back to spawn, and a curse because the development of the watershed has decimated forests and wetlands, resulting in destructive flows into the creek.

Of all the rain that falls on southeast Burnaby, less and less penetrates the ground each year, and more is directed by the storm drain system directly into the creek.

Here are a few photos of the creek taken this morning.

Here's the creek at the base of the stairs that go down into the ravine from Brynlor Dr. Yesterday this was a series of shallow pools with riffles only a few centimeters deep.

And this is the footbridge. I hopped across the creek in this vicinity yesterday in my hiking boots, easily stepping from stone to stone in shallow water.

This is the sediment pond that collects gravel and sediment during heavy flows. The culvert in the background that passes under Southridge Dr. is usually completely visible to the bottom, with only a few centimeters of water flowing. My wife Yumi was standing on a bar in the pond a few meters downstream of the cement block in the middle of the photo two days ago!

This is a new culvert being installed beneath 18th Ave. in the upper watershed. Streamkeepers and the city engineering department have been keeping a close eye on it because the construction is going on outside the usual "window" for such work. Normally in-creek work should not be underway now due to the onset of the salmon spawning season.

Tomatoes Grow in Byrne Creek

Yumi and I found tomatoes growing in the sediment pond in Byrne Creek today. The seeds or a plant must have floated down the creek and got hung up on the bar in the pond.

Yumi jumped into the sediment pond to take a closer look.

Here she's picking a few to take home.

Interviewed by Salmonopolis

There's a new website out there for salmon stewards in BC called Salmonopolis.

An interview with me on how the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers use the Internet to our advantage can be found here.

Night of 2005 Lights

The Byrne Creek Streamkeepers and Stream of Dreams Murals Society participated in the Night of 2005 Lights at the Shadbolt Centre on Deer Lake in Burnaby again this year.

I believe our lantern installation is getting better every year. To our usual complement of salmon we have added jellyfish, a frog, a turtle, a crane, an owl, a dragonfly and other weltand creatures.

Here are few shots of setting up, and a few taken at night.

This is one of my favorite events of the year. I love how the atmosphere changes as the sun sets and the lanterns take shape, blooming out of the deepening darkness.

Byrne Creek Fish Trappers Skunked

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers completed their annual summer fish trapping in the creek with dismal results that seem to back up annecdotal evidence of low fish populations this year. It's disappointing as we seemed to have an excellent coho hatch early this spring followed by plenty of cutthroat fry that appeared later.

The summer trapping (which is approved by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans) produced only 12 cutthroat trout and 2 coho in nine traps, compared to 60 fish, five of which were coho, during the winter pre-hatch trapping.

Several streamkeepers also feel that stickleback numbers are way down from previous years, judging from visual observations at places where they usually hang out.

We hope this is just an anomaly, as creek conditions have generally been improving slightly over the last few years.

Media Finally Sees Long-Term Spill Implications

I was happy to see that CBC television news yesterday and the Vancouver Sun today had items covering the long-term implications of the Cheakamus River toxic spill. It's been interesting to watch this story develop. I don't know what took so long -- it was obvious days ago that there had been a massive kill of fish and other aquatic animals.

Where's the Toxic Spill Outrage?

Well, here it is, the fourth day after a CN train derailment spilled a toxic chemical into the lower Cheakamus River, killing tens of thousands of fish and other aquatic animals, and not a peep about it on the press release websites of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans or the BC Ministry of the Environment.

As for CN, its press release site still doesn't mention the massive kill.

I don't get it. If this had been a spill by a mining company, there would have been universal outrage.

CN Ignoring Fish Kill?

It's interesting to see that as of noon Sunday, Aug. 7, the CN press release site still makes no mention of the massive fish kill in the Cheakamus River caused by the train derailment north of Squamish that spilled sodium hydroxide into the river.

It'll be interesting to monitor this site and see what they publish in the coming days...

Toxic Spill Wipes Out Lower Cheakamus River

A Canadian National Railways train derailed on a bridge over the Cheakamus River north of Squamish on Friday, Aug. 5, 2005.

According to the Provincial Emergency Program, "One car carrying a load of 53,140 litres of 73% sodium hydroxide, an extremely corrosive solution, ruptured and spilled into the Cheakamus River; which feeds the Squamish River system. This resulted in significant environmental impact and reports have been received of all-species fish kill downstream of the spill."

It appears that thousands if not tens of thousands of fish have been killed, including chinook salmon, coho salmon, chum salmon, steelhead, dolly varden, trout, sculpins, lamprey etc.

Yumi and I received a call for volunteers, so we drove up and helped collect and tally fish this afternoon at the Tenderfoot Creek Hatchery.

It was depressing work on a gorgeous sunny day. First we helped count and measure steelhead fry, and then we joined a recovery crew in the river. Here are a few photos:

Hard to believe, but that one Ziplock bag contained 240 steelhead fry ranging in size from 25 - 50mm.

Yumi looks at a beautiful chinook that a recovery crew brought in. Beneath it were a dolly varden and an early chum.

That's me in my chest waders in the Cheakamus, looking for dead fish.

There are more photos and info on the Pacific Streamkeepers Federation website.

Insecticide Awareness Heads Off More Spraying

I was pleased to see a letter in today's Burnaby Now from A.J. Bramhill. I don't know him, but I was thrilled that he took action to stop the spraying of an insecticde that is toxic to water bugs and bees after seeing an article in which I pointed out the possible dangers of the chemical.

In only 48 hours, Mr. Bramhill managed to get five townhouse complexes in south Burnaby to stop their plans to use Merit to battle the invasive chafer beetle. He lives nears Powerhouse Creek, which runs into Byrne Creek, and was happy to notch a "small environmental victory."

I admire his success and hope to meet him some day to extend my gratitude.

News Editor Makes News Again

Here's another example of an editor being on the other side of the desk.

I was interviewed about an insecticide that could affect local streams after sending a press release out for our volunteer streamkeeper group. It never ceases to amaze me how it feels to be on the interviewee side, and the dismay that crawls up the back of your neck when you feel your comments have been misinterpreted.

It's a good story, and I'm happy that it will raise public awareness about insecticides and creeks, it's just that I didn't say quite what it says I did!

I sent in a request for a correction today:

(NOTE: I'm happy to report that the paper will air my concerns. I'm also pleased that we've patched things up amicably, and look forward to working with the paper in the future -- I certainly appreciate its coverage of local environmental issues!)
-------------------------------------------------
Thank you for the extensive article on the chafer/insecticide issue, however I have several concerns about how some of the information was presented.

1) I never said that there was a "potentially deadly impact of the chemical on spawning salmon...." Salmon enter creeks, they spawn, they die. The key is the chemical has a potentially deadly impact on the bugs in the water that are part of the food chain for hatching fry, resident fish, and other animals.

2) "Cipywnyk said coho salmon fry are especially susceptible to chemicals because they have to live in the local creeks for up to a year...." I never said fry were susceptible to Merit, which is the implication in this statement. Again, the issue is that the chemical is toxic to the bugs in the water, and the fry eat the bugs.

3) I never said "... if the chemical was to enter the storm sewer system, it could flow into streams and kill salmon runs throughout the city." Again, it's the bugs.

4) I never said "... Burnaby's storm drains should be considered aquatic habitat." I said storm drains lead directly to streams and creeks.

I am concerned that these misrepresentations could hurt my credibility as a streamkeeper, and even potentially leave me open to accusations of misinformation from the manufacturer of the insecticide.

I would appreciate it if the paper could publish a short correction or letter to the editor along the following lines:

"Paul Cipywnyk thanks the Burnaby Now for its environmental coverage, however he would like to clarify that he did not say that the insecticide Merit would directly affect spawning salmon or coho salmon fry. The key is that the chemical is known to kill the water bugs that fry and resident fish eat. He also did not say that storm drains should be considered aquatic habitat, but that they lead directly to local streams and creeks, conveying chemical runoff and other pollutants into sensitive aquatic systems."

Insecticide Threatens Local Streams

Here's a press release I sent out for a group I volunteer with.

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers

––PRESS RELEASE––

For Immediate Release, June 10, 2005

Insecticide Threatens Local Streams

Burnaby streamkeepers fear that the introduction of Merit insecticide to combat the European chafer in the lower mainland could have serious effects on local streams. The active ingredient in Merit – imidacloprid – is highly toxic to aquatic invertebrates, or in other words, the water bugs that fish and other animals in the food chain need to survive.

Burnaby streams had their best salmon spawner returns in decades last autumn, and scientific bug counts by streamkeepers show that water quality in some streams has been improving recently. It would be a shame for the efforts of many volunteers and government agencies at the local, provincial and national levels to go to waste.

The label on Merit says:

"Do not apply within 30 meters of environmentally sensitive areas such as lakes, streams, rivers or other aquatic systems. Do not apply to terrains where there is a potential for surface run-off to enter aquatic systems." We note that storm drains lead directly to creeks and streams.

It further says:

"This product is highly toxic to bees…. This product is highly toxic to aquatic invertebrates…. The use of this chemical in areas where soils are permeable, particularly where the water table is shallow, may result in groundwater contamination."

We have learned that landscaping companies working in Burnaby have been recommending Merit to clients, and have heard that some strata councils have approved its use. Inquiries with the BC Ministry of Water, Land & Air Protection, and the Federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency confirm that licensed landscapers must follow the restrictions on the label.

The City of Burnaby strongly recommends that chemicals be used as a last resort, advising proper lawn care as the first step, and the use of native nematodes as another option. We urge landscapers, strata councils, and homeowners to reconsider using Merit.

––END––

2005 Byrne Creek Watershed Status Report

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers have released their 2005 Byrne Creek Watershed Status Report (4.4MB PDF file).

The report includes several indicators of the health of the creek and its surrounding watershed, and represents hundreds of hours of volunteer data collection.

Check it out, we're proud of it!

Fresh Coho Fry in Byrne Creek are Cutthroat!

Yumi and I netted one of the new, small fry that we've been seeing in Byrne Creek the last few days. It was a tish longer than 3cm. Initially we thought it was a coho, but debate with other streamkeepers and research in identification guides makes it a cutthroat trout.

Yumi took this photo of it before we released it.

Lots of Good Bugs in Byrne Creek

Yumi and I checked out Byrne Creek carefully again today and saw lots of caddisfly larva! We saw a total of 16 of them while we were looking for fry, ranging from u/s of Tag 517, all the way down to just above the stop log at the upper end of the sediment pond, and even below the gravel pile in the sediment pond. There were also loads of mayflies, including beneath rocks in the gravel pile in the sediment pond.

Caddisflies and mayflies do not tolerate pollution, so things are looking good!

Victoria Day Byrne Creek Observations

Yumi and I spent a couple of hours this lovely afternoon poking around along Byrne Creek. A few observations:

The most interesting was a small coho fry in the sediment pond just below the gravel pile. There were lots of larger coho fry in the 5-6+cm range, however this one was distinctly smaller, perhaps 3.5-4cm, and swimming alone. This makes us wonder if we got late coho spawners that we missed. We had a similar phenomenon last spring, with batches of small coho fry appearing months apart. Hm..... We're going to keep a sharp eye out to see if we spot any more small coho babes, or if this one was just some strange runt of the litter.

NOTE: All of the fry that we initially thought were late coho are more likely cutthroat trout... Live and learn :-).

There were lots of cutthroat and coho smolts in the sediment pond as well. Their numbers have been increasing over the last few weeks. Interesting to see how they move about the system. The incoming water was slightly soapy and there was oily film on the surface.

Saw lots of tiny stickleback at the upper end of the overflow pond, and more at the lower end.

We also saw a coho fry at Tag 531, and at least half a dozen at Tag 532. This is d/s of the Hell Hole, but above the Hedley outfall.

Somebody built a fire on top of the roots of the big cedar near the Hell Hole again. This time they dragged woody debris out of the bush. There were broken beer bottles and a can of fire starter. We've broken up fire rings there several times, however I think we need to clean up the area and cover the burned roots with earth. I think the dead coals and ashes attract more use, and Parks has never done anything about it.

There were lots of people walking the ravine, and we did some PR work, pointing out fry etc. Met one middle-aged fellow and his wife who said they had recently discovered the ravine and were so impressed that they sent an email to Burnaby Parks telling them how much they liked it! They had heard of the '98 toxic spill into Byrne Creek and were happy to hear that we were getting spawners back and that there were lots of fry.

There were lots of mayflies beneath stones wherever we looked in the ravine.

We saw a 12cm crayfish just below the Southridge culvert in shallow water, and it was acting strange, showing no fear and moving in a tight circle in the bright sunlight. Closer observation showed it was injured, with the antenna and eye damaged on the side it was constantly turning away from.

Here's a photo that Yumi took:

The Morning Glory is really starting to take off along the Brynlor trail. We pulled some off of young maples and salmonberries.

Water temp at the footbridge (Tag 516) was 12C, and at the lower end of the SedPond (Tag 514) it was 13C.

An interesting afternoon!

Educational, Entertaining Streamkeepers' Conference

Yumi and I attended Workshop 2005, a BC streamkeepers' conference that is held every two years. This time it was at the North Vancouver Outdoor School near Squamish.

It was the first time we attended the workshops and we had a great time despite the rainy weekend.

The event started off with registration and displays on Friday evening at the Totem Hall of the Squamish Nation. It was an impressive facility, and the banquet there on Saturday night was great.

Saturday and Sunday there were numerous interesting and educational workshops on the beautiful grounds of the school, and things wound up with a presentation of Mark Angelo's impressive RiverWorld show.

Since we work on an urban stream, we were encouraged by the "Saving the World" workshop, in which Department of Fisheries and Oceans Community Advisor Tom Rutherford spoke of the importance of rehabilitating such watersheds.

He said he is often asked why he spends so much time working on urban watercourses to which only a few salmon return to spawn. The bottom line is the educational opportunity. He said up north you may find relatively pristine watersheds with 100,000 spawners and 100 human residents. In urban areas you have creeks with 100 spawners, and 100,000 people -- and it is people who need to learn and change for salmon to survive.

Gladstone Students Tour Byrne Creek

Several Byrne Creek Streamkeepers took over 40 students from Gladstone High School in Vancouver on a tour of the creek this afternoon. It was a gorgeous day, and many of the participants were amazed at the beauty of the ravine.

As we walked the ravine loop, we stopped periodically and discussed various issues and what streamkeepers do. We covered CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design) and its impact on the riparian zone, impacts of development on urban streams including loss of pervious surfaces leading to flooding and erosion, the spread of invasive plants species and ongoing illegal dumping of organic matter in parks, hazard tree monitoring and removal, etc.

I emphasized that there are different points of view on many issues, and we try to keep a balance and open minds. I also imparted the lesson that life is politics, like it or not, and that citizens can influence city hall :-).

I can blather on about these topics for hours, however I tried not to bore the kids to tears...

Coho Smolt Release

A class of grade 4/5 kids, Byrne Creek Streamkeepers and our DFO community adviser Maurice released 3,000 - 4,000 coho smolts (yearlings) into Byrne Creek today. The kids were great, as was their teacher, Angela Dodd.

Here's Maurice checking out what the kids had learned about salmon while I flank the herd :-).

After everyone had left, Yumi and I went to the settling pond to see if the coho were moving downstream, and sure enough, there were hundreds of them coming down to join remnants of the chum fry that we released last week.

The coho would pile up at the bottom of the culvert running under Southridge Dr., and then, sensing the danger of the open area ahead, they'd mill about, gradually gaining the numbers and the courage to make the dash into the settling pond. Unfortunately, as we sat there watching them, trouble appeared in the form of a somewhat scrawny heron.

It sailed right in and landed in the pond just four or five meters away from us, and immediately began whacking smolts.

The heron gobbled 13 smolts in less than ten minutes while we watched with a combination of fascination and horror. Should we have shooed it away? What a call to make. We let nature run its course...

Here it's got one nearly ready to slide down its gullet.

Run coho, run!

Edmonds - Byrne Creek Skytrain Station

On March 14, 2005, I emailed a contact at TransLink with the idea of renaming Edmonds Skytrain station Edmonds - Byrne Creek Skytrain station after I noticed that several Skytrain station names have had second parts added to them.

The person I contacted liked the idea and forwarded it up the ladder, however six weeks later I have yet to hear from anyone :-). I still think it's a great idea, and am contemplating mounting a more organized campaign...

Why become Edmonds - Byrne Creek Station?

- Byrne Creek runs within a few meters of the station.

- Hundreds of people pass Byrne Creek every day as they walk to the station, whether they are coming from the east or the west.

- Byrne Creek drains the largest watershed in south Burnaby.

- Byrne Creek Ravine Park is the largest ravine, and one of the largest parks in south Burnaby. It's a forest that is key to maintaining urban biodiversity.

- Translink promotes green values and the benefits of mass transit. What better connection than the most productive stream in south Burnaby with active runs of coho and chum salmon in an urban environment?

- It is the closest station to the new, high-tech, green, Byrne Creek Secondary school that is under construction and will open this autumn.

- Developers of townhouse and high-rise projects near the station tout the beauties of Byrne Creek in their advertising.

Seems like a shoe-in, dontcha think? :-)

Streamkeepers Help Edmonds Clean Sweep

A group of Byrne Creek Streamkeepers and other community volunteers spent this morning cleaning up areas near the creek as part of the annual Edmonds Clean Sweep in southeast Burnaby.

We picked up enough garbage and pulled enough invasive ivy to fill two dumpsters to overflowing! Thanks to the City of Burnaby and its staff for helping to organize the event and providing the dumpsters. And thanks to the other community groups that cleaned up the streets in the Edmonds neighborhood!

We also planted 50 trees near the creek downstream of Edmonds Skytrain station. It was dirty and fulfilling work :-).

Here's a shot of the ivy team. And yes, those large log-like pieces of plant matter are ivy! They are the bottom ends of ivy that were crawling up firs and cedars. We "girdle" such climbing ivy by cutting it all around the base of the tree it is attacking. Amazing how this invasive species runs rampant and chokes the life out of native plants and trees. This is the same stuff that people use to decorate their yards....

Byrne Creek Salamander

A group of Byrne Creek Streamkeepers out pulling invasive ivy in Byrne Creek Ravine park as part of the Edmonds Clean Sweep this morning found a cute salamander.

I've never seen a salamander in the area before. Here's a photo that my wife Yumi took.

Burnaby South Green Team Pulls Ivy

Several Byrne Creek Streamkeepers met a group of students from the Burnaby South Secondary Green Team this afternoon for a creek tour and ivy pull.

As we walked we discussed issues such as invasive plant species, impervious surfaces in the watershed leading to flooding, urban biodiversity etc. When we got to the footbridge at the bottom of the ravine, we pointed out the salmon fry in the creek.

We then got down to work and pulled a bunch of invasive ivy. Thanks to everyone who came out!

Feeding Fry in Byrne Creek

There were loads of fry throughout Byrne Creek again this morning. There were hundreds between Meadow and Byrne bridges.

We spent ten minutes watching a group of coho fry that are hanging just downstream of the footbridge at the bottom end of the ravine near a midsize cedar tree. The have been quite unafraid the last few times we've observed them. You can watch them rising to the surface to snap up stuff floating downstream. Very cute!

They let us squat within a few feet of them while they focused on stuffing themselves.

They blend in with their surroundings, however if you look closely there are three in this photo.

Byrne Creek Invasives Removal, Planting

Byrne Creek Streamkeepers got permission from the city to remove some invasive plant species in certain areas of Byrne Creek Ravine Park and replant with native plants, so a crew of volunteers spent three hours this morning yanking ivy, clipping blackberry, and planting cedars, firs and alders.

It was wet, dirty, and very satisfying work!

South Slope Fry Release

Yumi and I helped grade 1 and 2 students from South Slope Elementary release chum fry into Byrne Creek this afternoon.

The kids and their teacher, Gary Thompson, raised the baby salmon from eggs in the DFO "Salmon in the Classroom" program. It was our