Volunteers with a B.C. conservation group have begun work aimed at giving young salmon in North Vancouver’s Lynn Creek a helping hand.
Heavy equipment was on site Thursday for work to help restore about 150 metres of off-channel habitat critical for salmon spawning.
The idea is to make log jams that create protective pools in the sides of the river with the right size of gravel necessary for juvenile fish to thrive, North Shore Streamkeepers director Glen Parker explained.
“Salmon like cooler water rather than warmer water, so it’s shaded, fed by cool water, lots of bugs. All those kind of things that salmon need as juveniles to grow,” he said.
“The eggs have to kind of live in the crevices between the rocks and the baby salmon have to be able to swim out of the crevices in the rocks.”
The Streamkeepers did similar work in 2018, which proved effective for salmon spawning and rearing. However, since then the river’s natural evolution has blocked waterflow to the side channel.
That’s led to salmon fry getting trapped in their rearing pools during summer when water is low, and needing rescue when temperatures rise.
Parker said the work the group is conducting won’t have a huge effect on overall salmon populations, but that it does have an important impact on the public’s relationship with the fish who hold a critical role in the ecosystem.
“We’re in an urban environment, and how many places can people walk and look down and see salmon?” he said.
“Its value isn’t in the numbers, it’s in the education and the connection that people get to the salmon.”
To help complete the project, the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation donated more than 70 boulders, while the cities of Chilliwack and Vancouver donated 100 logs.