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.