After decades of restoration efforts, a previously-damaged local creek is now home to a bevy of tiny chum salmon.
This morning, Mark Angelo, World River’s Day founder and BCIT Rivers Institute chair emeritus, was joined by a group of daycare children and his grandson, Tucker, to release 20,000 juvenile salmon into Burnaby’s Guichon Creek. The release is a testament to the improved health of the creek’s ecosystem, thanks to an ongoing restoration project.
“I first saw the creek in the early 70s – back then, it was barren, lifeless,” he said.
The former Fish, Wildlife and Recreation program head at BCIT has spent over 40 years advocating for the creek and remained dedicated to seeing Guichon return to the way it was described to be in the 1920s and 30s – full of life.
In 2014, trout were released into the restored upper part of the creek and plans were announced to daylight the section of Guichon Creek flowing beneath the campus. Angelo believes uncovering the remainder of the creek will make it easier for the chum salmon to return to Guichon to spawn.
“To think back to what the creek was once like … and to see it now as a beautiful, natural, green oasis on campus is a great example of how we can in fact restore nature if there’s a will to do so,” Angelo said.
The once-forgotten drainage ditch will continue on as a healthy fish habitat, with BCIT’s support, according to Angelo.
“Guichon Creek is, without question, a wonderful example of urban stream restoration, and it’s a place I greatly enjoy going to with my grandkids.”
