West Vancouver's McDonald Creek is taking a step towards becoming the salmon-bearing stream it once was before the area was an enclave of condo towers and houses.
West Vancouver Streamkeepers are forging ahead with a plan to open up the creek estuary that had become almost impassable for spawning salmon.
Shoreline work meant to preserve the waterfront and protect it from pounding storm surges has had an adverse effect, making the estuary inhospitable for smelt, said John Barker, Streamkeepers president.
The water is generally too shallow for spawning salmon to make it upstream except during the highest tides - which only last two to three hours during a few days a month, according to Barker. The situation is a bit like only opening the door to a hospital maternity ward for a couple hours a day while women in labour wait outside. "In between that, you've got mid-range tides and the fish can't get in. They're milling around at the mouth. The seals get them. The otters chase them," Barker said. "The ocean's got to come and meet the creek mouth in order for fish to get in."
To remedy the situation, contractors will strategically place boulders in the estuary to create an S-curve channel that will be deep enough.
The project is meant to recreate the success of a similar one on Lawson Creek just 300 metres away.
"The fish loved it. It was like a magnet," Barker said.
When returning salmon runs make it past the mouth of McDonald Creek, they'll be greeted by a salmon rearing pond designed by the streamkeepers last year, which also is having "phenomenal" success, Barker said. Beyond that, the group is eyeing one last barrier to fish at Fulton Avenue, which is next on the project list.
"If we can get fish passing Fulton Avenue, there's great habitat upstream from that for several blocks and that will be more spawning habitat and more rearing habitat," Barker said.
About half of the funding for the $125,000 project is coming from the federal Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnerships program, which West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country MP John Weston came to the creek to announce last week. The rest comes from private donations and about $10,000 worth of in-kind donation of District of West Vancouver staff time.
"West Van Streamkeepers is the type of organization to which our federal government is committed, whose members are working along the shores of lakes, rivers and streams across this country to protect and restore fishing habitats for future generations," Weston
