Brooklyn Creek Watershed Society (BCWS) has received a donation of $5,000 from Tree Island Yogurt to support ongoing habitat restoration work at Birkdale Farm.
Tree Island Yogurt sources some of their milk from Birkdale Farm and this donation reflects their commitment to be stewards of the natural environment that is instrumental to their livelihood.
BCWS has embarked on a four-year project to restore habitat along the 1.6 kilometres of Brooklyn Creek’s six-kilometre length through Birkdale Farm, owned by Guy Sim. Last year, BCWS received a grant from Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF) to conduct habitat improvements along the lower 450 metres of the stream, just upstream from Guthrie Road. This year, BCWS was successful in obtaining a $24,000 grant from PSF to work on the section immediately upstream. In addition to the donation made by Tree Island Yogurt, this project received donations of spawning gravel and rock from LaFarge Canada Inc. and Leighton Contracting Ltd. for the next three years valued at $12,000.
These donations are very timely. Each spring, BCWS sets up and monitors a fish fence to count fish exiting the stream, particularly coho smolts. In the lifecycle of the coho salmon, eggs are laid in the fall and the resulting fry spend their first year in the creek, exiting to saltwater in their second year as smolts. This year marks a milestone whereby over 2,700 coho smolts exited the stream in May 2023, demonstrating Brooklyn Creek is a significant fish-bearing stream and identifying it as a stream worthy of protection and enhancement measures.
This work could not be accomplished without the co-operation of the landowner, Guy Sim, funding from PSF, professional works by Current Environmental Ltd, and the countless volunteer hours committed to the project. This is a wonderful partnership that is reaping huge benefits to the watershed and our community.
The Brooklyn Creek Watershed Society is a registered non-profit society guided by a small group of enthusiastic volunteers dedicated to the protection, preservation, and restoration of the Brooklyn Creek Watershed through community stewardship and education. It is funded solely by donations and relies on the contributions from others to fund its restoration work.
To make a tax-deductible donation, become a volunteer to support future efforts or for more information about this project, visit https://brooklyncreek.ca.
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