A generation ago, it was nothing but a ditch collecting toxic leachate from North Vancouver’s municipal dump and directing it into Lynn Creek.
But after more than 30 years, the work being done on a tiny tributary by the Morten Creek Salmonid Enhancement Project may be key to making one of the North Shore’s mightiest creeks a thriving salmon habitat once again.
In the late 1980s, the District of North Vancouver built Inter River Park on top of the landfill, and the garbage leachate that would sit in the nearby ditch was redirected to the Lions Gate Wastewater Treatment Plant where it belongs. Volunteers with Zo Ann Morten’s group dug the ditch out into a small channel, which now bears her name, fed by natural spring water.
On the other side of Morten Creek is a small-scale hatchery, which consists of little more than a shipping container and the cargo box of a moving truck. From there, the group has been fertilizing, hatching and releasing upwards of 30,000 chum and 6,000 coho salmon into creek for the last 30 years.
Lynn Creek itself is the endpoint for all of the stormwater with all of its land-borne pollutants from Lonsdale Avenue to Lynn Valley, which is less than ideal for young salmon. Morten Creek provides a critical place for them to stay until they’re good and ready for their ocean migration.
“So she [Lynn Creek] is getting water that doesn’t belong to her – too much water and too dirty of water.… There’s not a lot of quiet waters, and so we wanted some rearing habitat somewhere where the fish could just have a nice quiet life,” Morten said. “Turning a leachate ditch into anything other than leachate ditch is a bonus.”
Volunteers from the group have just installed a new steel bridge connecting the north end of Inter River Park to their to salmon enhancement project on the other side. The old wooden one was so well loved by the dogs peeing on it, one of the main support posts rotted.
More than a way to reach the enhancement project facilities, the bridge serves as a viewing point for a creek that is, at times, teeming with fish activity, drawing in other wildlife – otters, bears and raccoons.
“We’re doing it on purpose to allow greater visibility and a great opportunity to interact and see the water,” she said. “It gets most people very excited… They just can’t believe it. Seeing a fish in the wild, or seeing something in the wild, people just love it.”
Because of the incredible journey they follow in their life cycles from the creeks to the ocean and back again to spawn another generation, salmon inspire us in a way that other species don’t, Morten said, adding that a moment on the bridge can bring a therapeutic rush of optimism and renewed commitment to do right by the species swimming underneath it.
“Salmon, when they come back, they make us feel hopeful. They make us feel like maybe we haven’t wrecked the whole world,” she said. “[It’s] the next generation. There’s just that hope and that resilience for tomorrow.… Every time that we see a live salmon in the creek, there’s hope.”
Morten foresees in another 10 years, maybe they won’t have to continue fertilizing eggs and depositing fry into the creek. Previously, the group used to help keep runs of salmon going on Hastings Creek, but since they installed fish ladders there, the salmon can do it on their own.
The wider community can assist in the project by volunteering, chipping in a few bucks, or just simply by keeping themselves, their dogs and their household chemicals out of the waterways and habitats the project has been working so hard to save.
Morten said when they see Lynn Creek alive with wild salmon, they’ll know the job is done and they can disassemble the very portable hatchery, pull out the newly installed bridge, and move on to another creek where they are more needed.
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