Jim Mattson - water quality manager

Our dedicated volunteers work throughout the year and welcome new members to participate in any way they can.

We also encourage school and community groups to engage with us through volunteering or by undertaking one of the many courses that are offered throughout the year.

Saturday Programs

1. Hatchery: hands on experience including feeding the fish, collecting eggs, administration, and whatever other work is required to ensure the smooth operation of the hatchery.  Ideal for volunteers, work experience for high school and post secondary students.  Open between 9am and 11.30am, dependent upon weather conditions.

2. Water Quality Laboratory:  collecting water samples from five of the local Port Moody creeks then returning to the hatchery to testing to ensure the water quality is maintained at a high standard.  Training is provided.

Estuary Exploration for Grades 1 to 3 (1.5 hours)

Introduces the student to the Estuary, a place of edges where fresh water meets salt, where plants and animals must live in a habitat which is both wet and dry, salt and fresh, warm and cold. Students learn about food webs and habitat through games and by observation.

(Note: Kindergarten programs are also available by arrangement. Following games and felt board activities introducing aquatic habitats, children will investigate a pond habitat and discover for themselves who is living there.)

Salmon Cycle for Grades 4 and 5 (2 hours)

Noons Creek Hatchery is a teaching hatchery which releases tens of thousands of Chum and Coho fry annually. Students will learn about the life cycle of the salmon both in the hatchery and in our creeks and ocean.

Stream Science for Grades 6 and 7+ (2.5 hours)

Scientists measure the health of a creek in many ways: by its temperature, its pH, by what is dissolved in it whether seen or unseen, and even by what lives in it! Students make these measurements for themselves, and in the process not only learn how to collect data, but discover what makes our urban streams healthy or sick, bountiful or barren. This program can also be adapted to middle and high school students.

Streamkeepers Workshop (1 or 2 days – Weekends)

One or two days, 9:30 am to 2:30 pm

The Pacific Sreamkeepers Federation is a Non-Profit Society helping streamkeepers take action through support, education and building partnerships. Working in cooperation with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Capilano College, the Federation facilitates streamkeepers training.

As a Federation member, Port Moody Ecological Society offers streamkeeper-related training at the Noons Creek Hatchery. Our fully certified trainers currently teach Modules 1-4, 7 and 11 from the FOC Streamkeepers handbook.

Module 1: Introductory Stream Habitat Survey

Module 2: Advanced Stream Habitat Survey

Module 3: Water Quality Survey

Module 4: Stream Invertebrate Survey

Module 7: Streamside Planting

Module 11: Juvenile Fish Trapping and Identification

2-day workshop: $100 per person or $90 if group is larger than 14 participants

1-day workshop: (any two modules): $70 per person or $80 per person if group is larger than 14 participants

(Streamkeepers handbook not included. Certificates will be issued for Streamkeepers and Legal Sampling Workshops upon course completion, which includes payment in full.)

Water Sampling Station Tours

These tours provide a marvelous way to discover our area and to learn the reasons for water sampling.

The best part is that YOU can participate in the sampling process.

These tours combine an educational experience with the great outdoors.

Tours each three weeks, rain or shine. Come for a hatchery tour and coffee before we leave.

R.S.V.P. Phone: 604-469-9106

General Tours

Hatchery Tours – 1 hour, $25 per group.  Please call to book a tour in advance.