Winding behind a shopping mall, assaulted by oil spills and littered with junk, Colquitz Creek seems an unlikely candidate for an environmental success story. But thanks to the efforts of dedicated people, salmon are swimming up the stream to spawn.
Last week, volunteers at the counting fence behind Tillicum Centre parking lot tallied 449 coho salmon and two cutthroat trout in one day, more than were counted all of last year. It’s good news for a waterway that has faced many threats over the years.
Colquitz Creek meanders from Beaver Lake through parks, residential areas, farmland and commercial sites before emptying into Portage Inlet. Along the way, it picks up sometimes-dangerous runoff from homes, storm drains, farms and light industry.
Between November 2011 and December 2012, at least five spills contaminated the creek with heating oil, insulating oil from power lines, hydraulic fluid and diesel.
With all that punishment, it’s surprising that the salmon can survive, but survive they do.
Teams of volunteers have been working to improve habitat and count the fish in Colquitz, as well as nearby Craigflower and Swan Creeks. It’s a project with highs and lows.
While salmon numbers are strong in Colquitz this year, they are weak in Craigflower — well below the 1,300 fish counted last year.
It has taken decades of work by volunteers, governments and industry to clean up the waters around Greater Victoria. To keep the recovered streams healthy, all of us have to think about the pollutants we are flushing into our streams.
“Out of sight, out of mind” will kill an irreplaceable resource.
