Cleaning up the Urban waterways

From the Times Colonist, October 5, 2005
Friends of the Gorge aim to raise environmental awareness

The still waters of the Gorge Waterway reflect autumn’sgolden colors. Beneath the surface, there is beauty, too. No more discarded shopping carts and garbage – community cleanups have returned the Gorge to a healthy waterway with river otters, seals, coho salmon and herring.
But members of the Gorge Waterway Action Society want to do more to protect and enhance the urban waterway, which winds its way through four municipalities from the Johnson Street Bridge to Portage Inlet. On Tuesday, outside South Bay Pub, they launched a new project called Friends of the Gorge to raise environmental awareness among water front property owners.
“The fish are back. The wildlife is back in abundance,” said society director Henry Kamphof. “for our next initiative, we thought let’s take a look at the shoreline and all of the waterfront owners and help them to be better stewards of the waterway.”
Friends’ biologist Killy Lloyd said the Gorge is home to a migratory bird sanctuary and a huge bed of native oysters.
“There’s a run of coho salmon that spawn in Colquitz Creek. There’s also a run of herring that spawn in the eel grass in Portage Inlet. We’re trying to preserve habitat for all these creatures.”
As part of the outreach project Lloyd has talked to 50 waterfront landowners about restoration plans. She has also given them low cost but effective tips to improve environmental stewardship along the waterfront.
“Waterfront owners are frontline caretakers of the Gorge,” said Lloyd.
The biologist is advising people not to mow their lawn down to the water but to establish a buffer of native vegetation such as Indian Plum, ocean spray, Nootka rose, salal and red-flowering currant along the foreshore. A buffer will hold soil in place and attract wildlife.
“Arbutus, Douglas Fir, all kinds of native shrubs do well on shoreline. They help preserve habitat and filter out pollutants that may be coming off the land,” said Lloyd. She also encourages people to remove invasive species like blackberry, ivy and scotch broom. These plants choke out native plants and spread rapidly.
Lloyd hopes Gorge gardeners will put away their chemical fertilizers and pesticides and use organic fertilizers and environmentally friendly pest control products.
“We hope to get some public demonstration sites up where the public can come and see the kinds of things we’re working on and things they can do on their own property to promote good environmental stewardship,” she said.
Propery owners could consider removing concrete seawalls, if one borders on their property.
Four of the 50 homeowners have been offered a conservation plan tailored to the needs of the property. Kathy Grymaloski, who moved from Minnesota to a waterfront home on Portage Inlet in August, met Lloyd when she came knocking on her door. Grymaloski’s property has 25 metres of waterfront. Her lot is covered in grass with very few trees.
“My husband and I had visualized that some day we would get rid of the grass. We knew it wasn’t eco-friendly,” she said. “Kitty came along to house one evening and mapped out what our backyard could look like with eco-friendly trees. She gave us a beautiful drawing and she did a lot of work on the property. We’re doing away with the grass and we’re going to go ahead in spring with her plan.”
Friends of the Gorge project has received $10.000 from Vancity, $10,000 from the Vancouver Foundation, $5,000 from the Real Estate Foundation of BC and City of Victoria has donated $4,375. Councillor Denise Savoie said the city is very proud of a project at 508 Selkirk it shares with the society and The Land Conservancy.
“Community-driven initiatives are better than any amount of regulation,” said Savoie. “This project will show that each person can make a difference.” For information call 250 361 5447.

........

The Colquitz River is across the road from my house and is surrounded by blackberries now. This does keep people from dumping their garbage right in the River, but we have had to report neighbours for dumping garbage in the blackberries. We tried talking to them, but to no avail. The fact that our Colquitz is the only water way left in our metropolis that is now a salmon breeding place means nothing to them. I wish Saanich would post big signs so they get the idea. We would like to keep this a nice place, unlike their homelands which they have moved away from because they have fouled their nests there.