Building an ecosystem

Squamish Stream keepers contemplate how salmon will pass a large rock while traveling upstream.

In Bratt creek, the Squamish Streamkeepers Society is trying to establish a new spawning ground for coho and steelhead salmon to aid the overall health of the species.

Streamkeepers usually identify problems that cause salmon and other fish species to die off in their historic habitats, and either remove obstacles or create solutions that enable fish to return to their habitat. Creating a salmon run that never existed is a new endeavor for the Squamish society.

While exploring streams along the Sea-to-Sky highway a few miles north of Squamish, Dr. Jonn Matsen, co-chair of the Squamish Streamkeepers society, found what he thought would be some good spawning gravel upstream in Bratt Creek.

“We’ve never created a [salmon] run before, can you imagine?” Matsen said of the task.

To create a salmon run in Bratt Creek, the streamkeepers are using the current low water levels to walk up the creek in waders, removing fallen branches and rearranging rocks along the river bed. When the water levels rise with the snow melt in the spring, the salmon will be able to make it to the gravel beds.

To get salmon familiar with Bratt Creek, and wanting to come back, the streamkeepers have transplanted thousands of fry from Swift Creek. Swift Creek dries up every year and doesn’t provide ideal habitat for young salmon to mature for one to three years before leaving for the ocean. Bratt Creek holds water year-round and runs into a lake where salmon used to spawn.

Matsen hopes the salmon will travel a little further upstream than they used to before spawning. Somewhere in the past, possibly due to highway construction, access was cut off and the fish stopped coming.

It’s been a couple years since they started transferring fry into Bratt Creek. Last spring, two coho managed to make the trip to the spawning grounds. In spring 2014, the streamkeepers are hoping for their first major return.