Quieter days followed in July. Too quiet for some of us. So, Eric, Dave, John, Jake, Clive and Doug decided to go ahead with coho habitat restoration, a project that was already laid out years ago in our land use contract with the City of Port Moody. There were a couple of discussions with Mark Johnson, our DFO Community Advisor, before I left for Europe. Mark was thrilled by the thought of restoration work for Coho as were most of us. Of course, the time was perfect: the fisheries window was right there. In the middle of August, with lots of volunteer effort, a rather large pond was dug (too large? Maybe that's why they wanted me out of the country?) The habitat that was created during my absence was just phenomenal. If you haven't seen it yet, come and visit the hatchery. The outflow of our rearing pond was turned into wonderful pools for our chum and coho salmon. Thanks a lot you guys for your hard work. You've created a perfect habitat for our fish.
Right now, we have just enough water for the returning spawners. And everybody gets antsy to watch their exciting arrival. The first fish arrived three weeks ago and was stranded in an isolated pool in Noons Creek. We rescued her and transfered her into our newly created habitat. The female is smart enough not to be seen, but she is still there and fully alive. Try your luck to spot her! We also might be lucky enough to get a well drilled next week by Wesbuild Development Company. Dave Bullus, the construction manager at Wesbuild, has tried to get a contractor out on site all summer long and without success. Recently his conpany hired another contractor who, hopefully, will be more reliable.
We also started our school progam again for the fall season. With a little bit of luck we might not need our new tarps all the time?! On the last weekend we hosted a water quality workshop sponsored by BC Environment. Volunteers from different streamkeepers groups from the Tri-City area attended the workshop. The course was taught by Liz Freymann from BC Environment. We all enjoyed this great workshop. In June the Department of Fisheries and Oceans published a new module for the Streamkeepers Handbook -- Module 14: An Introductory Handbook for Instream Habitat Restoration Projects. We keep a copy in our field lab if anybody is interested in studying it.
Unfortunately, one of our very enthusiastic volunteers, Doug Bennie, again had a stay at the hospital. We wish him a quick recovery and hope to see him back at the hatchery soon. I hope you all enjoyed the summer break and I'm looking forward to a productive fall.
Jutta Haunerland
Background
The Ecological Interpretive Centre (PMEIC) is one of several projects on the agenda of the City's Civic Projects Committee and a task force appointed to help steer this project through all it's stages.
Work, so far, has included collection and analysis of models, types, functions, and needs for the centre and involved visits to several centres in other jurisdictions, interviewing staff and collecting data regarding their effectiveness, visitor records, management structure, and operating costs.
One aspect of this work has been to assemble the necessary information to assist the task force in weighing the values and costs of all possible options while expressing the ecological needs of the Port Moody community and their unique esturine environment.
In this connection the task force consulted with the Port Moody Ecological Society (PMES) which already provides, from its small hatchery building, many programs which ideally are more appropriate to a specific interpretive centre, and in addition, by discussion and expansion of those needs by task force members and affiliated organizations.
Review of possible locations on City owned land was also undertaken by Municipal staff.
The task force reviewed all the collected data and out of this have come a number of preliminary observations and conclusions which formed the agenda for a workshop held at the City Hall on June 15,1996, attended by representatives of such bodies as The Vancouver Aquarium and District 43 School Board. Objective, options, and feasibility studies were presented and fully discussed with some very useful contributions.
Following this workshop the task force has recommended that the project is now ready to move to the next stage and that the detail process should be initiated.
Preliminary Preferences
Statement of Objectives
Preferred Functions and Preferred Space Requirements
Preferred Location
The preferred location for the PMEIC is the triangular woodland park which contains the present Noons Creek Hatchery, a facility which will be closely linked with PMEIC. Siting would be governed by current Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Ministry of the Environment recommendations relating to proximity of Noons Creek, which is an active salmon habitat.
Preferred Management / Organization
As a civic project the City of Port Moody are deemed to be responsible for the development of this project and the appointed architect will work with the Projects Committee and City staff to develop the concept and detail design, construction drawings, including all related engineering investigation and detail design.
The management structure of the facility is presently under discussion and the current preference is for an Independent Board to oversee and manage the facility.
Vision The building should be friendly, using natural materials in a logical and workable fashion. The architectural design should help the visitor comprehend the plan organization as well as having zero site impact. The plan of the building should encourage the possibility of chance encounters between the users. Because of its ecological connection, the building in its use, structure, materials, location, and orientation should exploit the principles of energy conservation in passive form and demonstrate this where appropriate. The building will be planned to satisfy certain functional expectations but also recognize that some of these area likely to change as the organization develops. Decisions affecting structure and services must allow for expansion and include changes to be easily accommodated.
