Families look on at the Maple Creek Streamkeepers table, ready for a salmon dissection demonstration. (HSWS photo)
The annual event Salmon Come Home event hosted by the City of Coquitlam and the Hoy-Scott Watershed Society (HSWS) took place on a very wet Sunday (Oct. 20). Approximately 1300 residents geared up and came out anyway to take part in learning about their watershed and about the salmon lifecycle.
The heavy rain and high water flow dampened the ability to see salmon in the stream for the most part, but several chum salmon were spotted throughout the day in the lower-lying creek areas along Hoy Trail.
The event’s expanded area, allowed for families to enjoy a ‘watershed walk’ between two festival sites, the main site behind Pinetree Community Centre situated next to a Hoy Creek Linear Park trailhead, and the feature site, the Hoy Creek Hatchery. Along the watershed walk between both locations, HSWS put out interpretational signage for the public to enjoy information about plant-life, insects, birds and other animals of the watershed.
Naomi Higo, Institute of Urban Ecology Coordinator for Douglas College provided hourly guided tours along Hoy Trail between the two sites assisted by Lani Lehun of Hoy/Scott Watershed Society.
A welcome with Chief Ed Hall. (HSWS photo)
Chief Ed Hall of Kwikwetlem First Nation offered words of welcome and acknowledged the Society’s loss of HSWS founding member, Chris Hamming in 2019.
HSWS members gathered to pay tribute to Earl Elliott, the recipient of the inaugural Hatchery Manager’s Award presented by Rodney Lee.
Angela Brown’s coho tent provided fun and dry retreat from the rain, as children’s gathered inside the inflated fish to hear stories before suiting up in nylon zoo costumes for a parade along the trail.
Hoy/Scott Watershed Society volunteers had the hatchery on full display and provided talks in front of the rearing pond which houses the young coho fry which will be released this coming May at Salmon Leave Home.
The expanded layout focused on the ‘watershed walk’ which is Hoy Trail, between Pinetree Community Centre and the Hoy Creek Hatchery. (HSWS photo)
Maple Creek Streamkeepers provided salmon dissection for all to view the inside of the fish up close.
The Wild Salmon Creative Cafe kept hearts warm with music provided by several local performers, and hands and bellies warm with Spirit Bear Coffee. Food trucks, BC Taco and Bannock Queen kept everyone well fed. Creative Cafe musical performers were Elaina Buenaventura, Julia DePieri, and Bobby Ravensdaughter,. Metis artist, Pat Calihou gave a carving paddle demonstration.
Creative Cafe artists helped brighten moods on the wet cool day!
Other contributors to the event were: Articipation; Burke Mountain Naturalists; City of Coquitlam Urban Forestry (Bad Seed); City of Coquitlam Environmental Services; Coquitlam River Watershed Roundtable; Coquitlam Riverwatch; Friends of DeBoville Slough; Hyde Creek Watershed Society; Maple Creek Watershed Streamkeepers; Port Moody Ecological Society; VanCity Pinetree Branch; Kwiketlem First Nation; and the Minnekhada Park Association.
An event favourite! Angela Brown’s inflatable coho provided a dry spot to hear stories before children and parents suited up in the nylon zoo costume for a parade along the trail. (HSWS photo)
Thank you to all of our youth volunteers that assisted to make this day a success! (HSWS photo)
Interpretational signage along the ‘watershed walk.’ This exact location is where several salmon were spotted on the day. (HSWS photo)
With the heavy rain behind us and current cool clear weather, it makes for idyllic conditions for salmon spotting at both Scott and Hoy Creeks.
Hatchery volunteers have begun their broodstock collecting. Salmon spawning time runs through to mid-December.
A chum salmon spotted in Hoy Creek on Oct. 27, 2019 (Photo: Lilian Elliott)
“Hoy-Scott Watershed Society (HSWS) is a volunteer-run non-profit society that operates a small salmon hatchery beside Hoy Creek, and conducts a salmon enhancement program in partnership with the City of Coquitlam, and with technical expertise from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The group stewards the Hoy and Scott Watersheds, promoting public awareness and education, and is involved in watershed habitat restoration and preservation. ”