FVWC - Bringing Nature Back One Yard At A Time

Feature Story Tuesday October 25, 2011

Bringing Nature Back One Yard At A Time

Fraser Valley Watersheds Coalition is doing great environmental work in the community

Craig Hill/Voice photos

Steve Clegg (white) and members of the FVWC donated their time Saturday Oct. 15th to help restore riparian areas alongside the Hope Slough in Chilliwack.

t's not often than one runs into environmental heroes, but on Saturday October 15th, the Fraser Valley Watersheds Coalition (FVWC) brought in their hero stewards and did something they do several times a year — a tree-planting of riparian areas along Hope Slough.

The planting took place in the 5000 block of Yale Rd E. along Hope Slough after the group gained permission of land owners to plant native trees and shrub species on the water's edge.

The event involved a dozen residents including Chilliwack Senior Secondary students who worked hard preparing the area for it's newest horticultural residents.

Organizer Rachael Drennan told the Voice they were planting over 500 trees and shrubs on Saturday.

"Our land owner has generously allowed us to come in on his property and plant a number of native riparian species mostly like currants, dogwood, willow and cedar," she said.

The FVWC purchased the plants from Birch Grove Nursery in Agassiz using compensation dollars from the City of Chilliwack.

Their goal is to help bring awareness to owners of property with riparian areas and land that borders the waterways, so that they can restore Hope and Camp River sloughs to a more natural state.

The FVWC would love to improve riparian areas from the sloughs all the way into Chilliwack, but they need willing landowners. Free plants and landscaping? Who wouldn't want that?

"We're looking for people who want to have trees and shrubs planted, then we're game, we're in," she said with a smile.

Drennan was happy with the turnout and said she expected more to turn up around noon.

Because the best time to plant is in the fall, the FVWC plans to continue the planting program 5 or 6 more times this season and 3 or 4 times in the spring.

"This land owner really likes the flowering red currant, so we chose a number of those to plant here, they're quite beautiful, and Saskatoon berry, a good food plant and then lots of cedar and maple because it was already here."

The FVWC is also concerned about fish species, so from April to October they conduct monthly water quality monitoring tests in the sloughs.

"We measure dissolved oxygen conductivity, PH and the temperature so that we have an idea of what's going on," said Drennan. "Summer are the toughest months for the fish when the water gets quite warm and we just want to have an idea of what they're dealing with."

The group also has a pit stop for minnows, where they basically trap, count and identify the fish prior to releasing them again.

Drennan thinks that the dredging of Hope Slough is an "unfortunate necessity that needs to be done."

She said the City came onto the property they were planting earlier this year and removed some of the sediment and grass as part of it's flood protection program.

"You want to remove the sediment and grass because you want the water to flow through and the City is quite good at doing the minimum as required, and they do it during the fisheries window because it takes some time to do it."

For the full report of the FVWC's riparian project go here.

For more information on how you can help visit www.fvwc.ca

See the full-size photos below.