Just wanted to thank Mike Fraser from the Chilliwack office for his response to my call about the gravel operation near Sweltzer Creek. On Jan 13, I took a drive to check out the Vedder as I had heard that it was flowing colored from below On The Way store. I noticed that the gravel pit operating near Sweltzer didn't seem to have any sediment controls in place to stop the runoff from making its way into the creek and down into the Vedder. There was a lot of silt flowing directly into this "Home of the Endangered Sockeye." The next day, I called the DFO office to report what I had seen, thinking they would already be aware of the situation. They weren't but the officer I spoke to said he would go check it out that same day.
Well, I heard back from him today. He called to personally thank me for my report and to fill me in on the situation. He did check on it that same day, he collected very good samples and had the operation shut down. The pit was shut down for 3 days while the operators dealt with the situation. They have now built all of the appropriate settling ponds, ditches and silt fencing that was recommended by an environmental monitor and are in operation again.
Mr. Fraser told me that DFO will be watching them from now on and that he was impressed with how the company dealt with this properly and immediately. (my only question is why they wouldn't have done the work before there was a problem...)
Anyhow, I'm very impressed with the way that the officers involved handled this situation and I just wanted to pass along the info in the hopes that everyone else on this forum might be more inclined to report any violations they might encounter. (I think Mr. Gadsden's political activism may be rubbing off on me).