At about eight kilometres long from its headwaters at the University of Victoria to its mouth near Willows Beach, Bowker Creek emerges from underground only around three kilometres of the way.
Residential, commercial and agricultural uses forced the waterway into a largely subterranean existence over many years, but an effort to revitalize and “daylight” it — or return it to the surface — has taken over in recent decades.
That effort is being celebrated Saturday 1 to 4 p.m. with the inaugural Bowker Creek Biodiversity Day, put on by the Friends of Bowker Creek Society at the Kings Community Nature Space, a park-like area near the intersection of Richmond Road and Haultain Street that features a prominent section of the creek.
The site was preserved after a public campaign.
Deanna Pfeifer, one of the organizers of Saturday’s free, family-friendly event, said a portion of the creek — named after John Sylvester Bowker, who settled in the region in the 1860s — still runs beneath Shelbourne Street and Hillside mall.
“Because of urban development most of it was buried as a storm sewer,” she said.
The creek makes it to the surface in several spots, including near Lansdowne Middle School, around the nature space and at Oak Bay High School before reaching the ocean. A tributary flows in the open near Cedar Hill Recreation Centre.
Pfeifer, a retired nurse, got to know the beauty of Bowker Creek when she discovered the nature space just down the road from Royal Jubilee Hospital, and has been one of its champions ever since.
“I think it’s really important for people’s mental health to know that there is this incredible space that has so much to offer.”
She said the creek has benefited from a 100-year action plan promoting its restoration, known as the Bowker Creek Blueprint. Approved by Victoria council in 2011, the plan is supported by Saanich and Oak Bay, as well.
“It’s becoming more important and has more meaning and significance because of all that we’ve been going through this last decade, with the densification and the climate change,” Pfeifer said.
The municipalities are behind the daylighting of the creek “as opportunities arise,” she said, while volunteers have helped the cause with invasive-plant removal from the creek’s environs.
Pfiefer said that the growing biodiversity of the creek is front-and-centre at the nature space, with owls, bats and many other creatures.
“The Rocky Point Bird Observatory did a bird survey and identified 50 different species of birds along Bowker Creek,” she said. “And along this biodiversity corridor we have sticklebacks, river otters, great blue herons and a lot of crayfish.”
Fisheries and Oceans Canada approved the placement of approximately 30,000 salmon eggs in the creek in 2021, and their return could start in 2024.
A salmon was spotted in the creek several years ago near the ocean, Pfiefer said. The creek at one time was home to coho and cutthroat trout.
Among the participants at Saturday’s nod to the creek is the Bald Eagles Band, an acoustic trio whose leader, Ron Carter, is a passionate supporter of creek restoration, she said.
Representatives from Victoria, Saanich and Oak Bay councils will attend, with Saanich Mayor Dean Murdock scheduled to address the crowd.
Florence Dick of the Songhees Nation is giving an Indigenous acknowledgement.
Nature crafts for children will be available and displays will show the future vision for the creek, Pfeifer said.
The creek will also provide the backdrop on Sunday at the annual Bowker Creek Brush-Up, an art show and sale running 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It will feature artists and musicians set up along the creek from Hampshire Road to Armstrong Avenue.
Access the event from the back of Oak Bay High School.
>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]
