Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Rodney]

I received an email from the Stoney Creek Environment Committee today regarding an update on the health of Stoney Creek. Just a bit of background information on Stoney Creek. Located in Burnaby, it is a tributary of the Brunette River, which drains into the Fraser River. It is one of the few remaining urban streams in the Lower Mainland. The Stoney Creek Environment Committee is a group made of volunteers, including local residents, biologists, anglers, etc. It is one of the few groups that I have supported because their goals focus on public awareness, stream monitoring and classroom education. Each year, SCEC hosts an event called the Great Salmon Send-off in May. During the event, kids accompanied by parents are able to release chum salmon into Stoney Creek (See article)

The email today addresses an ongoing problem that threatens Stoney Creek and its inhabitants. In addition to replying to this email, I thought that I would throw these questions/requests for assistance up to generate more feedbacks and offers. Others may have ideas that I am unaware of. This is a group that constantly needs volunteers and a great project to support since Stoney Creek is very close to home for many of us. If you wish to volunteer, please phone 604-420-9132 or 604-516-0277, or send me an email at info@fishingwithrod.com and I'll forward your contact information to the group.

The Stoney Creek Environment Committee is trying to deal with poor water quality in the Stoney Creek watershed. For several years our resident volunteer Vladimir Soukhatchev (Ph.D Fisheries Biology, and Water Quality Biology) has been actively conducting water quality tests on Burnaby Mountain. The results are staggering, with many instances of Ministry of Environment violations. These violations occur in the form of chloride saturation, which are the result of salt saturated rain and snow run-off directly entering the storm drains. The data demonstrates that the majority of contamination is entering the system from the SFU salt-shed. The salt-shed houses road salts which are used as deicers for icy road conditions. I have personally seen the impact the pollutants have on the quality of the water. Vladimir Soukhatchev has been conducting a biological assay on Chum Salmon to ascertain the physiological and developmental impact of the chloride contamination (see website). The research is fascinating and new results are generated frequently. As a prominent member of the BC fishing and Salmon conservation community, can you help us eliminate or reduce the contamination problem that the Stoney Creek watershed faces?

Also, as we are still actively conducting research to strengthen our conviction that the contamination source is coming from SFU facilities, we are expending resources faster than we have in previous years. In short, we are spending so much on research that the financial security of the Great Salmon Send-Off may be in jeopardy. In light of your position in the fishing and conservation community, do you know any organizations, institutions, or interest groups that may contribute funding for the Great Salmon Send-Off and the continued investigation into the deteriorated water quality in the Stoney Creek watershed?

Just a heads up. Whenever this type of topic is brought up, many often choose to lay blames and point fingers. We know the problem, we are seeking for solutions, so start brainstorming if you have some good ideas that may be helpful to SCEC.

[Rodney]

May 13, 2009

Simon Fraser University will spend more than $1 million to help protect Stoney Creek, one of the Lower Mainland’s most productive salmon and trout streams:

http://www.sfu.ca/pamr/media_releases/media_releases_archives/media_05130901.html

http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/peacearchnews/community/44553802.html

[chris gadsden]

Good news, thanks to John from this forum and all the others that worked so hard to make this happen. I heard news reports about this on CBC's Early Edition this morning as well.

It proves if you persevere you can make a difference.

Once again, excellent work.

[chris gadsden]

SFU seeks emergency funding to help Stoney Creek salmon run

Simon Fraser University is asking the provincial government for emergency funding to move a salt shed that's been polluting a salmon-bearing stream on Burnaby Mountain, east of Vancouver.

Concerns about the salt were raised by volunteers from the Stoney Creek Environment Committee, whose rehabilitation efforts had helped chum and coho salmon return to the creek every fall to spawn, and cutthroat and steelhead to return in winter and spring

But in recent years, the group noticed salmon returns in the creek were lower than expected, according to spokesman Alan James.

"We expected more of them to return, so we started looking to see whether it was a water-quality issue," James said.

Tests eventually revealed high salt content in the water — something that can hurt salmon fry — which the group linked to a wooden shed where SFU stored its road salt.

SFU's chief facilities officer Lee Gavel said the university now has a responsibility to fix the problem, perhaps by next winter. But moving the shed is expected to cost $1 million, equivalent to the university's entire snow-removal budget for a year.

"The solution would appear to be to move that whole facility for handling salt and sand to a fully enclosed new building which will meet current standards," Gavel said.

The university is also committing to use less salt next winter by mixing it half-and-half with sand, Gavel said.

[fishyfish711]

If SFU does actually buck up and rectify a problem they may have possibly created then good on them. It is so good to see a corporation if you can call it that admit to having created a problem and are willing to be part of the solution to fix the problem.

 Now has anyone heard if any action has been taken or better yet any fish replaced from this one:



CN Rail faces five charges in Cheakamus River train cargo spill
Glenda Luymes, The Province
Published: Saturday, August 04, 2007

CN Rail is facing five charges related to the devastating train derailment that decimated the Cheakamus River salmon population two years ago.

If convicted, the national rail company could be forced to pay more than $3.5 million in fines, provincial Environment Minister Barry Penner said Saturday.

"The charges reflect just how seriously we view the spill. "It was a terrible situation, " he said.


Two years ago Sunday, nine CN rail cars flipped off the tracks north of Squamish, spilling 40,000 litres of toxic caustic soda into the Cheakamus River. The chemical compound stripped the river of oxygen, killing about 500,000 trout, salmon and other fish.

"It still makes me anxious just thinking about it. I had been evironment minister for six weeks and that was not a good phone call to get," said Penner.

CN Rail spokesperson Kelli Svendsen couldn't comment on the charges, except to say two fall under the federal Fisheries Act and three under the B.C. Environmental Management Act.

"We're reviewing the charges," she said. "What's really important for us is the recovery."

A few months after the derailment, CN implemented a new "safety action plan" and began increasing train inspections, buying new safety equipment and improving its enforcement of safety regulations.

So far this year, there have been 53 main track accidents, compared to 79 in 2005 and 63 in 2006.

"We're seeing a 20 per cent reduction so far," said Svendsen.

CN is also remains involved in recovery efforts on the Cheakamus River.

Penner said the rail company has already been assessed about $200,000 for river clean-up costs under provincial environmental legislation. He said he expects the companies involved in the recent oil line rupture in Burnaby will also receive invoices for the clean-up in that situation.

Similar to the CN derailment, both the Transportation Safety Board and the Ministry of Environment will be investigating the oil spill.

Penner could not comment on if and when charges could be expected in the oil spill incident.

gluymes@png.canwest.com


Any updates??

[4x4]

When we lived in Burnaby in 1987 -1991 Stoney creek was across the street from my home. I used to walk it regularly with my kids and look at the small Cutthroat and Sculpins 50 yards from my house. Go for a longer walk in Salmon season and we saw Coho and Chum spawning.

Stoney Creek has had more than just the above posted problems. Industrial dumping and on 2 occasions that I can think of, home owners pools being drained into the creek. A neighbor a few houses up at the time got busted for this and it made the news.
People have no clue the damage they can do in their own back yard. The bug life that fry and other animals depended on for quite a stretch of the creek took a long time to come back.