Salmon Steward

18 2017 psf.ca L iving in the fast-developing Lower Mainland of southwestern British Columbia, one might think that natural resources like our iconic salmon are soon to be just a distant memory. But contrary to common belief, here on the West Coast, salmon continue to survive. Sometimes they thrive and once in awhile, they even surprise. Salmon have successfully dealt with ice ages and can certainly survive human beings, if we o¦er a little consideration. While it can be relatively easy to push salmon out of a portion of their habitat, if given a decent chance, they can recover and come back to their ancestral homes. This message needs to be repeated — over and over again. After working with DFO as a biologist for 30 years, I have seen how a community of committed and dedicated "salmon people" united by purpose can bring a watershed back to life. a broken Watershed The Brunette River Watershed encompasses five municipalities: Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody. It contains some of the most heavily urban-impacted streams in southwestern British Columbia and has a long history of intensive industrial and residential development. Dredged, channellized and dammed – all of these large river drainage projects resulted in the loss of Brunette Chum salmon runs at least 80 years ago. But on a fall day five years ago, for the first time in living memory, Chum found their way back into a small stream (upper Still Creek) of the watershed and were actively spawning. The first steps to recover the Brunette Watershed were made in the 1960s and 1970s by municipal and B.C. governments to reduce pollution discharges. The Brunette Basin Watershed Plan later provided a vision for further restoration of this river system. restoring chum to an industrial river By the late-1970s, Elmer Rudolph and other volunteers with the Sapperton Fish and Game Club had partnered with the newly launched DFO Salmonid Enhancement Program (SEP). Their 35-year journey together would ultimately lead to the return of Chum salmon to the upper Still Creek on that fall day in 2012. Community advisors work as a key conduit between DFO and volunteer streamkeeping groups. In the Brunette Watershed, first Bryan Allen, then Gary Taccogna and for the last 26 years, Maurice Coulter-Boisvert have supported the broader community and worked side-by-side with streamkeepers to bring salmon home. The Brunette recovery program would not have been what it was without Maurice. For almost three decades, he was that guy in the rain, on the river and at the meetings who worked tirelessly with the many eager partners to make the program a success. During the next three decades, important projects were undertaken by the community and government stakeholders to overcome barriers for salmon returning upstream to spawning grounds. In the lower watershed, a fish ladder was built to bypass an impassable lower-river weir (a barrier designed to alter river flow). In 1998, a new fish ladder was constructed that allowed Chum salmon passage past the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway, which crosses Stoney Creek. The new ladder provided access to three kilometres of excellent spawning habitat that had been inaccessible since the rail line's construction in 1890. And it partnered the railway company, and Jennifer Atchison and the Stoney Creek Environment Committee, in a joint e¦ort for salmon. By the end of the 20th century, Chum salmon had full access to their entire historic spawning range in Stoney Creek. "here they come!" Year by year, decade by decade, various restoration projects helped restore Chum salmon back to the watershed. The first modern-day observation of Chum spawning within the Brunette River Watershed occurred in 1982, when 30 A story of brunette river sAlMon restorAtion Matt Foy VOLUNTEER, NICOMEKL ENHANCEMENT SOCIETY & RETIRED BIOLOGIST, DFO Maurice Coulter-Boisvert issues instructions via megaphone at a Chum release event in Eagle Creek. Who cares about salmon? Matt Foy on the banks of the Upper Chilliwack River.

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