UGLY BUG BALL - June 23, 2012

This year's Ugly Bug Ball was at a new location, but still in Surrey.  And what a location it is! A Rocha's Brooksdale Environmental Centre is a stunning former estate that has wonderful heritage buildings, farms and fields.  A contingent of members descended on the facility to join fellow Streamkeepers and Salmon Hatchery operators.   Photos by Cliff Kelsey and Linda Dore.   Click on an image to enlarge it.

We were greeted by one of the locals when we arrived.

We were free to wander the huge former estate and catch up with news with old friends.

This is a view of the stables.

Everyone gathered under our big Hyde Creek tent for the welcoming speeches.

It is good to be appreciated for the community work we all do.

And with the speeches over it is time to bring out the cake!

Enough with the photo ops, let's cut the cake.

Maurice does the honours.

After the ceremony, some members went for a walk and saw some interesting things.

Linda comes across the Little Campbell River quite literally.  We were told that five species of Salmon come up this little river.  As well, the pond nearby has a rarity called the Salish sucker.

A remnant of the ice age, the Salish sucker is found only in a few small lakes and streams in and around Puget Sound in Washington State and in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley.

 

It wasn't long before the forecast rain started and that brought wind and lightning as well.

Even the Llama was not pleased.

Soon the rain let up and we got back to socializing.  Sam enjoyed the eagle display that was setup by David Hancock. 

 The dinner was superb and it capped off the evening.

The only downside was when Sam lost the wine cork in the bottle while trying to get it off for his father.  

 Later in the evening, we enjoyed the warmth of a big fire.

Many thanks to the Community Advisors of the Lower Mainland and the Pacific Streamkeepers Federation for hosting the SEP Volunteer Thank-You Extravaganza.

Spring happenings at Hyde Creek

Spring is a busy time because it means releasing the Coho smolts from the pond after their 18 months with us.  We then have to clean the pond in order to ready it for the young salmon in the troughs.  As well, this time we will also be releasing thousands of those salmon in creeks up in our watershed.  This all requires lots of volunteer help and we get that from our members.

Click on an image to enlarge it.

Shane readies the pump to drain the pond.

After the pond is mostly emptied, Nick and Tony prepare for a large vacuum truck to remove the rest.

The unusual configuration of piping was necessary because of some water still entering the pond as it was emptied.

 Shane pressure washes the pond bottom.

 While cleaning the pond we did find some small eels which were quite interesting.

 Finally cleaned and ready for a new batch of young salmon.

Our next task was to put about 10,000 young salmon in the watershed above.

It is surprising how fast they have grown since hatching.

Time to get them ready for a trip up the hill.

We collected the eggs in mid November and three months later they fully developed little salmon.

Into an oxygenated container they go.

We made stops at Smiling Creek and Hyde Creek

What was once forest was now very urbanized.

Terry places them in a new surrounding.

This section of Hyde Creek took a little effort to get to.

 We checked out some man made locations for our young salmon.

 After hours of hauling salmon, you can get doggone tired.

 We were invited to an RBC Blue Water Day event in Poco and had a great time.

 The staff and customers enjoyed our display.

 To help with our well fund, we were presented with a donation from the Poco branch of RBC.

Recently we invited Mayor Greg Moore to our facility to thank the City of Port Coquitlam for their generous contribution to our well fund.   Yes, it has been a busy spring so far.   Thanks to all who helped out.