NORTH SHORE STREAMKEEPERS SOCIETY – 2015 SEP 16 MINUTES

Present (23) Barbara Frisken, Chair, Karen Munro, Ron den Daas, Jan Lander, Bob Gelling, Sandie Hollick-Kenyon, Sharee Dubowits, Richard Boase, Angela Negenman, Doug Hayman,   Brian Comey, Dick Pearce, Joyce Mathieson, Tacha Hyde, Dolores Parker, John Reynolds, Jane Paddon, John Oostindie, Julia Alards-Tomalin, Deanna MacTavish, Tara Matthews, Fiona Wright

Guest speaker: Paul Berlinguette

Regrets: Zo Ann Morten, Graham Knell, Janet Dysart

Action Items

• Meeting Room Bookings
• Mosquito Creek near William Griffin parking lot – opportunity for benthic monitoring using NSSK methodology to determine if the gravel placement is helping increase productivity.
• McCartney Creek near Ellis St – observation of fry during bridge replacement suggests opportunity for new NSSK membership interest in this important creek.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Sep 20 – Open House Seymour Hatchery

Sep 26 – Friends of Hunter Park Invasive Plants Pull and Native Planting. 10 am – 12 noon, meet at Tennyson Rd entrance

Sep 27 – Rivers Day at Mosquito Creek, 12 noon to 4 pm, West 16^th St & Fell Ave

Sep 28 – Council Meeting and NSSK presentation – 7 pm, District Hall – wear your vests!

Oct 2 — Invasive plant and garbage removal at MacKay Conservation Pond, Lloyd & Welsh, 9 am – 1 pm, NSWP

Oct  3 – KWL staff volunteer day, 10 am – 2 pm (though not a public event, KWL would be happy to have NSSK members that would like to help out and/or provide some local knowledge and interpretation during event – please contact Patrick Lilley at 604-293-3121 or cell 604-812-2578 or email at PLilley@kwl.ca so they can expect you. (KWL 999472 proposal attached)

Reed Canary Grass – Paul Berlinguette
During the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Reed Canary Grass was one component of the hay brought in to deal with low snow conditions. Unlike straw, hay contains seed heads which can germinate. Reed Canary Grass was identified on the old Yew Lake trail decommissioned by NSWP (North Shore Wetland Partners) in 2011, in Cypress Provincial Park. Since 2011, NSWP observed how quickly the Reed Canary Grass (RCG) has spread in the ski area and creek headwaters as well as along the Cypress Bowl Hwy and we have been trying to get the problem recognized since most of West Vancouver creek headwaters are in the park. NSWP is anti-herbicide and hopes to increase awareness and improve management of the Reed Canary Grass problem before herbicides are used. Reed Canary Grass prefers wetted environments, like streambanks and wetlands; its density is increasing and there are newer herbicides approved for use in and near water. Reed Canary Grass is hard to manage, decreases biodiversity and can contribute to flooding. It is displacing cattails and other plants at Ambleside /Sway’ wey. Grouse Mountain has a bigger RCG problem than Cypress Bowl does. Reed Canary Grass (RCG) density has been increasing in Mackay conservation pond over the last few years. Formation of a working group to tackle the problem on the north shore should be a longer term goal since WVD & BC Parks do have it on their invasive plant list.

Graham Knell, NVD approached us this summer to help with invasive plant removal to prepare for an Oct 24th planting date for TD bank employees who are donating time and native plants to the area; Mackay Conservation Pond, Northwest of Lloyd at first and the adjacent ephemeral wetland North east of Lloyd at first. Graham also expressed concern about the rapid spread of RCG.

We sent in grant applications to Van City and MEC for funding to help manually remove the invasive species, Reed Canary grass and the Yellow Iris, in particular, as well as analyze the soil and vegetation to determine the impacts from storm water runoff; effluents from the automobile industry, past and present. The plan is to determine levels of toxicity to get base line to determine how best to mitigate & move forward with restoration.   Preliminary testing of Mackay, Mosquito, Lynn and Seymour estuaries done through a SFU/BCIT partnership indicates presence of metals. The same partnership will provide significant in-kind funding for the soil/vegetation analysis. Grant funds would be used to pay 2 scientists to collect and analyze the samples. NSWP will share the data with local stakeholders, and the NVD storm water planning process. The longer term goal would be to find ways, such as an oil grid separator and/or bio-swale /bio-filter, to help mitigate the negative impacts of storm water inflow into these wetted area which may be accessible to fish at high water since one coho fry was found in the area last year when gee trapping was done by some Vancouver Island Students.

Graham Knell from NVD planted a few Wapato plants in Mackay Conservation Pond in the past. The plants are doing well and density is increasing.  Wapato was a staple food for local First Nations and is an important traditional plant that requires an ephemeral type wetland to flourish. The vegetation analysis will include the Wapato so it will be possible to find out how the plant has been affected by storm water runoff. There is a potential for a future project supporting food sustainability if the Wapato is not negatively affected or soil and water conditions can be improved by further restoration.

October 2nd – 9am – 1pm will be the first of a few volunteer events to work on invasive and garbage removal for this project. All events will be posted on the North Shore Streamkeepers and Pacific Streamkeeper Federation noticeboards.   Paul & Fiona

Attached to these minutes – “Reed Canary Grass”

MUNICIPAL REPORTS

City of North Vancouver (Angela Negenman)

Integrated Stormwater Management Plan – Thank you for your input and support of the ISMP process—special thanks to those that attended the walking tour at Heywood Park, held September 2. If you are interested in participating in future ISMP stakeholder workshops, please contact the City at ISMP@cnv.org or the District at ISMP@dnv.org. The next workshop will be scheduled for November.

2015 Instream works – The City is anticipated the following instream works for this summer’s instream window;

1. Mosquito Creek gravel removal at the Marine Drive Bridge – postponed to 2016
2. Wagg Creek erosion mitigation near foot bridges (downstream of last year’s in-channel works) – postponed to 2016
3. Stormwater outfall erosion mitigation at Williams and 18th – complete
4. Fell intake works by DFO – heavy works at Mosquito completed.  The new intake is in place and diversion weir constructed. Al Jonsson built several weirs downstream.  Al is looking into importing fines to top-dress and seal the second to last weir.

Rivers Day at Mosquito Creek Park – Invitation to Celebrate Rivers Day with the City of North Vancouver, Evergreen and other community groups!

Invasive plant pull (including a holly walk) & native planting event at Mosquito Creek Park (near 17^th St. and Fell Ave.) on Sunday, September 27, 2015 from 12 pm – 4 pm

High School Students will be given a signed letter confirming volunteer hours. Tools, plants and light refreshments will be provided.

1621 Hamilton Avenue – As a component of the development at 1621 Hamilton Avenue, the bridge has been removed and instream habitat restoration is nearing completion, with planting anticipated in the next few weeks. The maintenance period for the instream works is 3 years and for the other landscaping associated with the development is 2 years.

North Vancouver District (Richard Boase)

Our Water Act approvals from the Province were late arriving this year.  In addition the more intensive review of applications by the Province now includes a significant waiting time which is in the order of 45 or 120 days.  This continues to challenge DNV staff with their in-stream work planning and budgeting.  This has resulted in the DNV still with remedial work to finish as a result of the November 2014 flood. The late approvals could mean that work planned this year may be delayed. Work that will be completed this year’s includes;

Lower McKay – Gravel and sediment deposited during the 2014 November flood and in previous years reduced the capacity of the creek channel to safely handle flood flow. This created a need to remove some of the accumulated sediment.  A number of staff changes at the DNV and the delayed approval schedule resulted in the work being started during a pink year. This was contrary to previous agreements with senior government and was missed by the DNV.  Realizing our mistake the DNV immediately withdrew operations form Mackay Creek with the result that no in stream work was actually conducted.  A very small amount of dry gravel above the water line was removed in the only day of operation. The DNV has committed to building additional checks in our review system to ensure this does not happen again.

Mosquito Creek – Under Water Act authorization the DNV removed about 48 loads of gravel from the debris basin behind Evergreen Pl. on Mosquito Creek.  With direction from DFO we placed approximately 18 loads of gravel back into Mosquito Creek in the reach beside the William Griffin parking lot.  Gravel was placed as close to the concrete weir structure as possible.  The DNV notes that this reach would be a good spot for NSSK methodology benthic monitoring to determine if the gravel placement is helping increase productivity.

Kilmer Creek By-Pass – Flood related work on infrastructure along Kilmer Road where the creek crossing is located will continue. This work is mainly installing debris traps and grates to catch debris and prevent the culverts from blocking. Two or three locations are planned for this year.

Thames Creek – Work done to install debris racks at two locations upper Mountain Hwy & Fromme Rd.

McCartney Creek – DNV repaired a flood damaged pedestrian bridge just west of the Ellis St road end. The fish salvage identified over 30 Coho fry in the reach by the bridge.  These were all wild fish.  DNV identified a possible opportunity for new NSSK membership interest in this important creek.

The District has awarded a contract for Water Quality and Benthic sampling work on multiple DNV watersheds.  The contract is intended to supplement current work on Integrated Stormwater Management Planning (ISMP) projects that are currently underway.  Water and benthic invertebrate samples will be used to assess conditions of creeks during both dry and wet season scenarios. The DNV has committed to sampling the Hastings Creek Lynn Valley Town Centre (LVTC) outfall at East 27^th St. this year.  LVTC outfall will be the first to be monitored and this should be done in a week or two.

Safety fence request by NSSK is going to be installed at the Hoskins Rd. Hastings Creek crossing. Work is being coordinated by the DNV Operations Centre and is targeting installation in October 2015.

Nutrifor Pilot project – The DNV, in partnership with Metro Vancouver is looking for sites to conduct testing on the ability of Nutrifor to stimulate re-vegetation of difficult planting sites.  Nutrifor is a bio solid fertilizer product generated by the regional waste water treatment plants.  Nutrifor was successfully used in the restoration of the Metro Vancouver Maplewood Creek water main project.

Sediment and Erosion Control Challenges – The DNV continues to face challenges in maintain compliance with sediment and erosion control on construction sites.  In particular single family sites continue to be the main source of complaints.  The DNV is working on ideas for new methods and programs to reach out to new builders with information on requirements for sediment and erosion control.  The target is to affect better controls on site rather than relying on downstream controls such as catch basin inserts or filter cloth.

The DNV is planning to implement a performance based inspection system.  Developers and contractors with documented good performance in environmental inspection like sediment & erosion control may not be inspected as often. The DNV hopes this will provide incentive for better practices.

Roche Creek estuary restoration.  This project is just west of Cates Park.  The Roche Creek estuary is being completely restored, with fish passage baffles under Dollarton Hwy installed by the site developer, Polygon. This project has potential to provide access to Coho spawning areas in the watershed above Dollarton Hwy.

KWL (Kerr Wood Leidal) consulting engineers are doing a “Corporate Volunteer Day” at Griffin Channel on Saturday, October 3, between 10 am to 2 pm.

Brookridge Creek – A small stream in a steep ravine with the headwater behind Highland church in Edgemont Village will be reconnected to the main stem of MacKay Creek in Murdo Frazer Park. This would allow Coho into this reach for the first time in 50 to 60 years. The work is to be funded via development taking place near Edgemont Village.

FISHERIES

Seymour River (Sharee Dubowits)

• Seymour Salmonid Society has focused most of its efforts on the Seymour River Rock Slide Response Strategy
• the December 2014 rock slide has likely created an impassible fish barrier in the lower canyon of the Seymour River
• to test whether or not the slide is indeed impassible we have implemented a radio and acoustic tagging study of seaward-bound juveniles and upstream-migrating coho and steelhead adults
• to date no fish have been recorded passing the rock slide – either juveniles or spawners and we are working on the assumption that the slide is not passable
• the response strategy involves two phases: a lower river fish salvage and a canyon fish rescue and transport
• the lower river fish salvage is underway with the use of wing nets, hoop nets, tangle and seine nets
• seine net efforts have been most successful of late
• the canyon fish rescue is still in the planning phase

DFO Community Advisor (Sandie Hollick-Kenyon) Metro Vancouver hosted 2 evening open houses regarding the Seymour River slide that occurred last December.  These 2 events were well attended by the public, a summary document can be found at this link: http://www.metrovancouver.org/services/parks/ParksPublications/TrailConnectionsMeetingSummary-June%2024-25-2015.pdf

A short video of the slide can be viewed at this link: http://www.metrovancouver.org/media-room/video-gallery/Issues/3937654995001

Traps nets were placed in the river in June and monitored throughout the summer and fall.  Very warm river water temperatures and low flows resulted in limited fish movement.

Coho Festival took place on September 13—attendance was good considering how windy and cool the day was.  Thanks to everyone who attended and volunteered for the day.

Pinks in good numbers are showing up in many local streams.  It’s really great to see these fish returning back in such strong numbers.

Pink eggtakes are underway at Tenderfoot Hatchery to collect eggs for Burrard Inlet streams.

Seymour River Hatchery open House is this coming Sunday, September 20^th.

Very low flows on Mosquito Creek this summer resulted in concerns in the Fell off-channel habitat.  The intake box was cleaned of debris and gravel and flows improved.   Modifications were made to the intake later this summer that should alleviate this problem in the future.  While a machine was in the area, weirs were added downstream to help retain gravel and improve spawning and rearing opportunities.

MEMBER’S REPORTS

Friends of Hunter Park (Janet Dysart) Community Invasive plants pull and natives planting 10 am – 12 noon on Saturday September 26. Come and learn about your neighbourhood park. All Ages welcome! Meet at Tennyson Road entrance just inside the park. Wear suitable clothing and bring garden gloves—other tools supplied. Bring your own water; refreshments supplied; coffee donated by Waves, Lynn Valley. Rain or Shine! Supported by North Shore Streamkeepers, Lynn Valley Community Association, and DNV Parks Dept.

Hastings Creek (Doug Hayman) We did a fry trapping this past weekend which is later this year due to hot weather and low waterflow.  We did not want to cause more stress on the fry. We trapped 15 crayfish, one of which was blue. There were lots of fry in the creek this year; Bob took some nice photos, but other than 2 coho fry, one just above the Bubble Pool and one at the end of segment 4, the coho fry & cutthroat trout  were around the traps and not in them. We were thinking possibly the number of crayfish in the traps, or not having secured them so they did not open or maybe a smaller gauge was needed. Lesson learned.

While Jan & I were cleaning the ladder at Hoskins we saw two adults come out of the tunnel and dart back before we could identify them. We walked down the trail on the other side of the road to the 2^nd bridge and saw 5 pinks.

The ladder from Donavan’s pond is now done and looking great.The one thing that bothered some of us is that the contractors did not put the lake back to its former level. Someone did block off the exit, leaving fish passage, which did raise the lake somewhat.

New construction going on at Mill House on Mountain & Harold has been a problem with lots of dirty water going to Hastings Creek, but seems to have improved after their last cement pour. Let’s hope they keep ‘on it’ as I for one, am getting tired of reporting them.  Also the outfall from behind 3242 Tennyson St was running brown again on Saturday when we came to retrieve the traps. It seems to be an ongoing problem.

Mackay Creek (Brian Comey, president N.S.F.& G Club) There isn’t much happening in the hatchery right now because we don’t get the chum eggs until late October or early November.

All the action at Mackay is in the creek. I first noticed 20 coho and 3 pink salmon in the creek September 7^th but I hadn’t checked for a few days prior. On September 11^th when I checked there were a good number of pinks and a few coho. Today when I walked the creek I saw a lot of fish holding in pools and others fighting their way up the creek. Sandie saw about 40 pinks last week. This has been really rewarding for me with the numbers of returning fish that I have never experienced before in Mackay Creek.

We will hopefully see a good return of chum salmon in mid-November.

The wind storm that blew through the lower mainland did a lot of damage to the forest surrounding Mackay Creek. It downed several trees and tore off branches. It even blew down two trees that I had nesting boxes on. The City workers put one of the boxes aside that I was able to recover but another one disappeared.

Upper Mackay Creek (Ron den Daas) A healthy population of Coho fry has been developing in Upper Mackay Creek over the last few months. Groups of Coho fry, now juveniles can be found in most pools through the entire system. The new river bed formed by the creek jumping the old banks last autumn is also full of fish including crayfish and cutthroat trout.

Certain areas of the creek that were cut off from the main stem of the creek during the low flows this summer still had Coho fry surviving in them though these fish did not develop at the same rate as the Coho that were in the main stem of the creek.

Morten Creek (Doug Hayman) It looks like we are going to be able to start the project for our new water supply. We will meet on Tuesday the 22nd at 10:00. We are thinking of putting a bulkhead fitting in the square tank, connect the valve, and dry fit some of the piping. Also dig a trench in the bank at the lower end to put the plastic pipe into.

This Sunday, the 20^th we will have a talk about “how to protect salmon” and a do native plant planting for NatureKids (Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre) and their parents as part of their Rivers’ Day. We will also be doing a sample weight of our fry in the pond (a special event for this interested group).

We have had some excitement with 2 blue coho smolts in our pond that did not leave last spring. I have never seen a blue coho although one of my grandsons caught one in Port Hardy.

It would be good if the District put another garbage can at the bottom of the hill at Inter Rivers Park for dog walkers. Their dogs seem to go as soon as they start down the hill, then gets left in a bag for someone to pick up, or gets tossed in the bush.

DISCUSSION OF OTHER CREEKS AND CONCERNS

LVTC (Lynn Valley Town Centre) Outfall (Barbara Frisken) There will be regular monitoring of this outfall by DNV. With regards to question whether the District has any mitigation plans for the outfall, there are none by the District itself. DNV mentioned that each new development is adding ‘green structure’ with the goal to improve water chemistry and hydrology. When asked if more could be done to improve creek from outfall, DNV stated that bio-swales are most effective at source as there is less volume to work with.

Presentation to Council (Barbara Frisken) Presentation is set for Monday, September 28. Group was asked for three main messages we want to give to Council.

• Tree cover
• Construction work practices/cleaning of catch basins
• More pervious surfaces/ISMP

McCartney Creek Walk (by email) (Glen & Dolores Parker and Jordan Manley) Attached to these minutes is the result of walk on June 5, 2015 for 1 pm to 4:30 pm. Walk started at the estuary pools in Windrige Park ending just past the Mt Seymour Parkway. In total, over 1000 fish and sure there were ones not seen. “McCartney Walk…” attached

BUSINESS

Finance (Karen Munro) the bank balance is $2,136.46. There is one cheque that has not gone in yet.

.NEXT MEETING –  Wednesday, Nov 18, 2015  – 7:30 to 9:30 pm, District Hall, 355 West Queens Road, North Vancouver

• DFO VIOLATION REPORTING: OBSERVE, RECORD, RECORD (ORR) 604-607-4186

A SPILL OF ANY TYPE Environment Canada – use EMBC number below

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT B.C. – 1-800-663-3456   www.embc.gov.bc.ca/index.htm

CITY OF NV – Operations Division 604-987-7155 (8 am – 4:30 pm Monday to Friday) or After-Hours Emergency Line 604-988-2212 (after 4:30pm, weekends & Holidays).

• President: Barbara Frisken, 604-985-9497, frisken@gmail.com
• Secretary: Jan Lander, #109 – 1155 Ross Road, 778-838-1103, lander@shaw.ca
• Pacific Streamkeepers Federation: Zo Ann Morten 604-986-5059, pskf.ca
• North Shore Streamkeepers Web Site: nssk.ca
• Message board http://disc.yourwebapps.com/Indices/232171.html
• District Web Site: dnv.org/Services/Environment/District Information
• City of North Van:: Angela Negenman 982.3932 anegenman@cnv.org, www.cnv.org
• Community Advisor: Sandie Hollick-Kenyon- 604-666-0743,
• Email: Sandra-Hollick-Keynon@dfo-mpo.gc-ca
• Hastings Creek: Doug Hayman 604-987-0434, pastoys@yahoo.com
• Lower Mackay Creek and North Shore Fish and Game Club incubation facility: Brian Comey, bmcomey@hotmail.com
• Upper Mackay Creek: Ron den Daas, ecosystem@shaw.ca
• Morten Creek: ZoAnn Morten 604-986-5059, zmorten@shaw.ca
• Seymour River: Sharee Dubowits, 604-288-0511; volunteering@seymoursalmon.com or seymoursalmon.com