Pinetree Secondary School Assists in Invasive Plant Removal

Pinetree Secondary School students helping clear invasive Himalayan blackberry along Hoy Creek (Photo: Kyle Uno / HSWS)

Hoy-Scott Watershed Society spent another morning removing invasive Himalayan blackberry with the enthusiastic help of students from Pinetree Secondary School on April 1st, 2017. An area along Hoy Creek was cleared. Work was wet, muddy, and prickly with the thorny brambles.

"The students from Pinetree Secondary have been very helpful with our work in the riparian area," said Rodney Lee, Vice President, Hoy-Scott Watershed Society. "Rain or shine, they come out and get muddy with us; and many hands make light work.  They provide a welcomed and appreciated contribution!"  See more photos on the HSWS Google Photos page.

Wet, muddy and prickly work, as Pinetree Secondary student clip the invasive Himayalan blackberry along Hoy Creek. (Photo: Kyle Uno / HSWS)

Aside from the salmon enhancement program, Hoy-Scott Watershed Society works within the riparian area to enhance the creek system. Invasive plants can overtake native plants. Healthy native plants ensure the health of the creek, protecting the water from heavy sunlight, ensuring cooler temperatures for fish and bug life.

To get involved with the Society, click the "Get Involved" button on the upper right-hand-side of our website, or email the Society at hoyscottwatershed@gmail.com

Salmon Leave Home to be held Sunday, May 7th

Join the Hoy-Scott Watershed Society on Sunday, May 7th for Salmon Leave Home at the Hoy Creek Hatchery which is located in the woods behind Douglas College north of Guildford Way in Coquitlam.   Salmon Leave Home provides the community the opportunity to help release coho smolts into Hoy Creek.  The salmon are approximately 17 months old and can range in length from 4 to 8 inches. Since their incubation, they have been living in a freshwater stream environment at hatchery.

The annual event takes place from 11am to 2pm and will go 'rain or shine'.  Society volunteers will net and bucket the fish from the rearing pond, and children of all ages will carry the buckets a short distance to the creek to release the salmon.

From there, the smolts begin their journey to the sea via Hoy Creek, then Scott Creek, then Coquitlam River, then the Fraser River, and finally into the Strait of Georgia at the Pacific Ocean! 

This free family event will also offer educational activities, and music will be provided by 98.7 The Point.

The Hoy Creek Hatchery is located on Hoy Creek Trail, west of the City Centre Aquatic Complex at the corner of Pinetree and Guildford Way.

Hoy Trail has a several entrances:
- Walk in from Princess Crescent;
- Walk in from behind Douglas College;
- Walk in from Guildford Way (between Johnson and Pinetree);
- Walk in from Walton Avenue, or behind Walton Elementary;
- Walk in from the foot of Lasalle Place.

To find the exact location simply Google, "Hoy Creek Hatchery."

Stay notified via our Facebook page and be sure to invite your family and friends!  Our event hashtag is #salmonleavehome, so if you attend, feel free to tweet or share, and check out what others are posting with our event hashtag.

(Photos from last year)

Hoy-Scott Watershed Society members release chum salmon fry

HSWS members met at dusk to release the chum salmon fry. Rodney Lee, hatchery manager (seen center) provides direction.

On March 19th, members of Hoy-Scott Watershed Society met near dusk at the Hoy Creek Hatchery to release 26,363 chum salmon fry.  This was an historic moment as the society has not raised chum salmon since the mid-90s. Fry were netted into buckets in the Capilano trough room, and hand carried to be released into Hoy Creek.  The process was led by hatchery manager, Rodney Lee.

"The 2016 brood stock season was super busy with our hatchery introducing a program to rear Chum salmon in addition to the Coho salmon that we've traditionally raised," said hatchery manager Rodney Lee. "The really warm October had creek temperatures in the 13C range which made for quick incubation early in the season, but then we had the really cold temperatures (creek temp lows under 3C) throughout much of the winter which really slowed development."

"We have approximately 12,000 Coho fry and the last alevins are beginning to 'swim up'.  We will be shutting down and cleaning out our incubators for the season."

"Our Coho fingerlings from the 2015 brood stock season have really started their Spring growth.  With water temperatures rising, their metabolism increases, and they eat at lot more and grow rapidly.  We are focusing on getting them to target release weight in anticipation of our Salmon Leave Home event on May 7th."

Photos were taken by society members: Nathen Blower, Lilian Elliott and Arno Hazebroek

See all our photos in our Facebook album HERE.

Laptop computer donated to Hoy-Scott Watershed Society

Photo: Robbin Whachell / HSWS

A big thank you to Hoy-Scott Watershed member, Lilian Elliott who donated her laptop computer to the Society. It will be used for public presentations.

Lilian and her husband Earl have been active members of the society since 2006.

Accepting the donation on behalf of the society is Kyle Uno, Treasurer.   The presentation was made at our monthly meeting at Coquitlam Library on March 15th, 2017.

Thank you Lilian!

Coffee and Collaboration at February HSWS Meeting

Stewart Brotchie receives a box of Spirit Bear coffee from Jay Peachy after a presentation by Jay at our recent meeting

We'd like to thank Jay Peachy, of the Wild Salmon Caravan for presenting at the Hoy - Scott Watershed Society's monthly meeting on February 15, 2017. Jay has been involved in our previous festivals by providing entertainment, and art-related activities, as well as Spirit Bear coffee.

After his presentation on the breadth of the services he and the Wild Salmon Caravan offer he presented the Society with a generous donation of Spirit Bear Coffee!

"I'm happy to support the good work the society does for the salmon and the community," said Jay Peachy.

Groups or persons wishing to present at one of our meetings, or who may have an idea for a collaboration, can email us at hoyscottwatershed@gmail.com.

Albino chum discovered at Hoy Creek Hatchery

An albino chum salmon fry seen next to normal chum fry

Hoy-Scott Watershed Society's hatchery manager, Rodney Lee discovered a rare albino chum salmon fry this past week while assessing fish in the incubation room at Hoy Creek hatchery in Coquitlam.

Last year we found a conjoined twin coho fry. 

Hair Ice a Beautiful Discovery in the Watershed

Hair ice or frost seen in Hoy Trail, Coquitlam, BC, Canada (Photo: Robbin Whachell / HSWS)

Walking along Hoy Trail on a chilly zero-degree snow-less January 2015 morning, Hoy-Scott Watershed Society (HSWS) member Robbin was delighted to spot Haareis or “Hair Ice” which is an ice or frost formation. 

"I was picking up trash along the trail and at first thought it was dropped Kleenex tissue. I went to pick itup and was amazed at what I saw," said Robbin. "I was so excited to keep spotting it, I even called a man over who was walking his dog."

Hair ice is said to only grow on humid winter nights when the temperature is just below 0°C. When there is no snow it's easy to spot, but many pass it by thinking it is simply snow.

Hair ice spotted in January 2017 along Hoy Trail (Photo: Robbin Whachell /HSWS)

“Hair Ice is ice that grows outward from the surface of the wood, as super-cooled water emerges from the wood, freezes and adds to the hairs from the base,” says Dr. James R. Carter, Professor Emeritus, at Illinois State University, who wrote about Hair Ice on his website(HERE) and interestingly enough, many of his photos are from Vancouver Island, Canada.

“… the hairs of ice do not grow from linear fissures in a stem but rather appear to come out of pores in the wood.  As such they are similar to hair on a head,” writes Dr. Carter.

In 2015, BBC wrote about the mysterious ice formation, saying that scientists have discovered that the formations are actually caused by a fungus called Exidiopsis effusa found on rotting wood.

See more photos of hair ice and watch a time-lapse video of it forming HERE.

We encourage the community to keep an eye out for hair ice when they are in the watershed.

Hair ice pushing out from inside a twig(Photo: Robbin Whachell /HSWS)

Hair ice in the early morning along Hoy Trail, Coquitlam, B.C. Canada (Photo: Robbin Whachell / HSWS)

Happy Holidays from Hoy-Scott Watershed Society

Snow at Hoy Creek(Photo: Robbin Whachell / HSWS)

Happy Holidays!  2016 was a great year for us!  Here's just some of what we accomplished at the Hoy Creek Hatchery:

FISH (Coho) MARKED (clipped): 6,068
FISH (Coho) RELEASED in May:  18,732 (13,336 fry; 5396 smolts)
EGGS HARVESTED* by mid-December: Est # of 65,889 (Coho: 30298, Chum: 35,591) - this is our first year raising both chum and coho since the mid 1990s.

We take this time to welcome our 2016 new HSWS members: AJ, Sarah, Tiffany, Lily, Jamie, Tyson, Carlos, Etienne, Ivo, Isabella, Daniel, Maurice, Tyson, Simone, Shannon, Patrick and Ashley, and thank all of our existing members and supporters such as the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the City of Coquitlam, Kwikwetlem First Nation, Pacific Streamkeepers Federation, Pacific Salmon Foundation, 98.7 The Point radio, Coquitlam Foundation,  and Vancity.

You can read all our 2016 happenings and news HERE.

We hope to see you at our Salmon Leave Home event on May 7th, 2017!

"Get to know your watershed. Salmon and their habitat can’t protect themselves - we need to care and advocate for both. Visit a stream, talk to your local stewardship group, and view the fish and habitat. Understand the issues. Monitor and report suspicious activity." - HSWS quoted in the Tri-City News

From from all of us at Hoy - Scott Watershed Society we wish you every happiness this Holiday Season and throughout the coming New Year...

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.  Learn more at our website: hoyscottcreeks.org

Local MLA tours Hoy Creek Hatchery

Jodie Wickens after her tour of the Hoy Creek Hatchery in Coquitlam

On November 29th, Jodie Wickens, MLA for Coquitlam-Burke Mountain stopped by for a tour of our facility. Throughout the year we provide tours by special arrangement based on our availability, since we are a volunteer-run society.

Curious about all the things the Hoy-Scott Watershed Society gets up to? Do you want to view our salmon enhancement program and the Hoy Creek Hatchery (seen here)? Want to join us as a volunteer?

We invite you to our next Open House on the first Saturday of everyone month from 12 noon to 1:30pm.

If Saturday is not conducive for you, please email us at hoyscottwatershed@gmail.com and we'll do our best to accommodate.

Hoy / Scott Watershed Society is a non-profit group that runs a small salmon hatchery, and conducts a salmon enhancement program in Coquitlam, BC, Canada

Hoy-Scott Watershed Exhibits at Hyde Creek Salmon Festival 2016

Lilian and Earl of HSWS manning our station at the Salmon Festival. Kyle and Robbin also assisted.

Members of the Hoy-Scott Watershed Society volunteered their time to share information about our group at the Hyde Creek Salmon Festival on November 13th in Port Coquitlam.

It was wonderful to see so many chum salmon in Hyde Creek.

It was a great event for engaging prospective volunteers and creating more public awareness about all we do!

Presenting at the Hyde Creek Salmon Festival in Port Coquitlam

See more photos here on our Facebook page.

Children enjoyed colouring salmon at our table...

A barred owl and turkey vulture on display at Port Coquitlam's Salmon Festival