Hoy-Scott Watershed volunteer Kyle Uno holds up a chum salmon for others to see at Salmon Come Home 2015. (Photo: Ed Paulino / HSWS)
The salmon are coming! Join the City of Coquitlam and the Hoy-Scott Creek Watershed Society to celebrate the return of the salmon to Hoy Creek at the annual Salmon Come Home at Hoy Creek Hatchery on Sunday, October 23rd from 11 am to 3 pm. Bring your family and friends to participate in this exciting community event which attracts thousands of people to view spawning chum salmon in-stream, and learn about this amazing fish through educational demonstrations and displays.
Enjoy music, children's crafts, costume parade and story telling with Angela Brown, prize fish pond, face painting, music by CKPM FM 98.7 The Point, and the Creative Café and guest artists will be serving up fun and Spirit Bear Coffee.
The free, family event runs rain or shine and provides a great opportunity to learn about the Hoy-Scott Watershed Society's salmon enhancement program, as well as the work of many other local stewardship groups who attend.
Hosted by the Hoy-Scott Watershed Society, and the City of Coquitlam who will have their Bad Seed/Urban Forestry; Park Spark; Solid Waste and Recycling; and Water Conservation Departments out. Other participants include Articipation; BC Salmon Marketing Council; Burke Mountain Naturalists; Coexisting with Coyotes; Coquitlam River Watershed Roundtable; Coquitlam Riverwatch; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC; Kintec; Maple Creek Streamkeepers; Port Moody Ecological Society; and Kwikwetlem First Nation.
Hoy Creek Hatchery is located off of Princess Crescent, west of the City Centre Aquatic Complex and the Pinetree Community Centre in Coquitlam. Parking is available at City Hall or at Douglas College David Lam Campus where you can enjoy a short walk inland to the hatchery via Hoy Creek Trail. To find the exact location simply Google "Hoy Creek Hatchery."
Hoy-Scott Watershed Society has been in operation since 2002 and is a volunteer run society that operates a small salmon hatchery, and conducts a salmon enhancement program in partnership with the City of Coquitlam, with technical expertise from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The Society also works to restore and maintain the riparian habitat in the watershed by removing invasive plant species and re-planting with native plant species. Learn more about the Society at hoyscottcreeks.org
Salmon Come Home is environmentally-themed and designed to promote public awareness about conservation and spawning salmon that migrate back to Coquitlam. For more information on Salmon Come Home, please visit coquitlam.ca/enviroevents
