Keith Kozak

Founding Member Acknowledged at Salmon Leave Home

Founding member and the Hoy/Scott Watershed Society’s first president was acknowledged at Salmon Leave Home on May 14, 2023. From left to right: Fin Donnelly, MLA; HSWS president, Kyle Uno; and founding member, Keith Kozak holding his certificate of acknowledgement.

Hoy/Scott Watershed Society was formed and registered in 2002 with a mandate to promote watershed restoration and help raise awareness of our shared responsibility for the care of the creek and its surrounding habitat. Founding members who signed the Society document were: Keith Kozak, Linda Gorsline, Chris Hamming, Andrea Tubbs, and Shawn Tubbs.

Twenty-one years later, on May 14, 2023, during the Society’s Salmon Leave Home festival, Keith Kozak was honoured for his major contribution. Setting up a society from nothing is an arduous task and we’re grateful for the time and commitment put in by our founding members.

Keith was the Society's first president. So much goes into the operations of a society, and Keith put in countless hours leading stream cleans, tree planting, salmon rearing, and time networking with the City, DFO, and environmental groups, as well as checking that area developers were ensuring the safety of the salmon.

Keith speaks about the formation of the Society and the work of the group in educating the public on the sensitivity of the habitat, as well as ensuring the return of Coho and Chum salmon to Hoy Creek.

Keith was acknowledged and thanked by the current president, Kyle Uno. “We would not be here today without your efforts. As a token of our appreciation, we present you with this certificate and gift.”

This photo was featured on the cover of The Tri-City News. Seen left is Keith Kozak, holding a Coho salmon, as a family looks on on the shore of Hoy Creek, Coquitlam.


Salmon Released by the Public at Hoy Creek Hatchery

A girl releases a Coho smolt into Hoy Creek at Salmon Leave Home at Hoy Creek Hatchery. (HSWS Photo)

Hoy/Scott Watershed Society (HSWS) held its annual Salmon Leave Home event on May 14, and was pleased to return to a public release of the approximately 18-month-old Coho smolts that have been living in the outdoor rearing pond since last May. This was the first time since 2019 that the public was able to assist with the salmon release, due to the pandemic.

The Society moved the event time to the afternoon to give families time to celebrate Mom (it was Mother’s Day). Weather conditions were hot with a high of 32C, but despite that, a steady stream of people came through the Hoy Creek Hatchery area. To the delight of many, wild Coho fry were visible from the footbridge.

The community had the opportunity to carry a bucket of Coho smolts to Hoy Creek for release; take a peek at the six-month-old Coho fry in the hatchery’s Capilano trough room; meet the volunteers and learn about the Society; make a Mother's Day greeting card using leaves; play the Plinko game and get salmon past predators to saltwater safety; sign a Farewell to the Coho Grads of 2023 card; sign a pledge to protect the salmon; and explore Hoy Creek Linear Park.

After a Land Acknowledgement by HSWS president, Kyle Uno, the MLA for Coquitlam-Burke Mountain, Fin Donnelly provided a few words before Kyle presented Keith Kozak, the Society’s first president, with a certificate of appreciation and a gift. Keith spoke about the early years of getting the Society up and running.

The event was supported by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, with Isaac Nelson overseeing the fish release.

The Society would like to thank all its volunteers for the time spent supporting the event, and the community who came out to help. A special thank you to the event sponsor, the Fish & Wildlife Compensation Program!

Salmon Leave Home 2023 'unofficial' photo: Thanks to our HSWS volunteers who were manning our areas of the event so that some of us could gather for a group photo with our special guests.

Back row, left to right: Tyler Storgaard, Isaac Nelson (DFO), Hannah Tonsaker; Matthew Watts; Henrietta Hamming (wife of the late Chris Hamming, HSWS founder); Robbin Whachell; Keith Kozak (founding member/HSWS first president); and Rodney Lee.

Front row, Fin Donnelly, MLA; and Kyle Uno, current HSWS president.



Founding Member, Linda Gorsline Acknowledged for Her Contributions

Linda Gorsline outside the hatchery office during Salmon Come Home 2011. (HSWS Photo)

In November the Hoy/Scott Watershed Society honoured Linda Gorsline. A gift and a certificate of appreciation were mailed to her to thank her for her many years of service and the work she did to help form and keep the Society together. Linda moved away from Coquitlam in May 2014 after being a volunteer at Hoy Creek for twenty years.

“Honouring Linda and her role with the Society is most fitting because she was part of the group that founded the Society,” said past-president and former hatchery manager, Rodney Lee. “She served as secretary and treasurer at various points over the time she volunteered. Linda’s sole dedication and commitment is the reason there is a Society still here today. When I joined the group, she always worked hard to ensure the Society and hatchery were operating. Whether it was the administrative aspects, coordinating with the City of Coquitlam, helping manage relations with our DFO community advisor or helping with the day-to-day tasks with rearing salmon, Linda would be there to ensure the work was completed! The last thing Linda would want is recognition but there is no one more deserving!”

Society History

Linda, who now lives in Ontario, sent us her reflections on her time in Coquitlam and on how she became involved. “I moved into the Jefferson building in September of 1993. Almost every day I walked at least part of the trail, which at that time was a simple narrow path. Sometimes alone and sometimes with a neighbour – up the trail, across Pinetree, around Lafarge Lake, and back down to Hoy Trail.”

“It was in the fall of 1994 that the City of Coquitlam and the DFO held a small gathering and had displays where the hatchery building now sits. There was a list, and they were asking people interested in helping with the creek to sign up. I was later contacted and met with a small group of like-minded people.”

“The rearing pond had been repaired and we were given salmon fry from the Port Coquitlam Hunting and Fishing Club to place in the pond. The building was not completed (or started) at that time. The food and the key to enter the pond were kept in a locked, walk-in dumpster. I started feeding with other volunteers, but only on weekends when I was not working in Burnaby.”

“During either 1994 or 1995 the City combined two volunteer groups, ours at Hoy Creek and one from the Scott Creek area to become Hoy/Scott Watershed Streamkeepers. Eunice Hodge was a member of the Scott Creek group.”

“We did not work on becoming a society until late 2000 or early 2001. Keith Kozak was the new Society’s first president and Chris Hamming, Eunice Hodge, Keith and I met several times at Keith's home to complete the forms to become a society.”

At the time our financial position was in a disorganized situation. The president before Keith Kozak had also been the treasurer. We found no paper trail to support the lack of funds. Once I had retired I took over the duties of secretary and treasurer and we changed banks, required two signatures on cheques, cancelled the debit card and reestablished good relations with the DFO - our main source of funding.”

The Hoy Creek Hatchery building was completed in 1997.

HSWS’s First President Reflects on Linda’s Contribution

Keith Kozak, who became president in February 2002 shared the following, “I first met Linda in about 1999, who at that time, was regularly contributing her energy and personal time to the group's growth, our community outreach programs, not to mention, regular visits to the hatchery for day-to-day maintenance. Her volunteer efforts and dedication were nothing less than impressive and inspiring. Linda put in countless hours to the enormous task of forming the Hoy/Scott Watershed Society. She was also a vital support system for the group. Other volunteers, such as Chris Hamming, Tim Tyler, Shawn and Andrea Tubbs, Evelyn Anderson, Eunice Hodge, and Suzanne Richards (high school teacher education coordinator) contributed significantly as well.”

“Linda Gorsline was a visionary, “ Kozak continues, “and like myself, felt the Hoy/Scott Streamkeepers group had the potential to expand its involvement with the community through education, environmental preservation, and establish effective bonds with local government. Linda Gorseline was incredibly motivated, but nonetheless, calculated and well prepared in terms of reasonable mandates, funding, and costs.”

“Before 2002, the streamkeepers group was in difficult times in terms of its financial status. and existence, and had relied on municipal funding to support portions of its operational expenditures. In November 2001, the City of Coquitlam officially requested elections for president and other executive positions, as well as restructuring. As usual, Linda worked with these challenges becoming a focus of motivation towards other volunteers so to improve and rebuild our group. Following our elections in February 2002, Linda worked tirelessly dedicating her accounting skills, to designing fiscal strategies for hatchery projects, including planting programs, sensitive riparian protection projects, and contributed dozens of hours in creating the Hoy/Scott Watershed Society’s constitution and bylaws.”

“Linda regularly attended meetings with Fisheries and municipal officials. She contributed enormously her thoughts and ideas towards a variety of projects involving the group. I relied on Linda as a significant support system with the group's new beginning following 2002. Linda was difficult to keep up with, her energy and motivation towards the greater good of the Hoy/Scott Watershed Society is truly admirable.”

Thank you, Linda!

The concrete salmon that sits adjacent to Hoy Creek at Hoy Creek Hatchery was put in place in the early 2000s.

For further history on the Hoy/Scott Watershed Society check our fonds held at the City of Coquitlam Archives.