Salmon Saturdays enhance the capacity of volunteer stream stewardship groups while providing ongoing opportunities for citizen engagement in stream enhancement activities, raising community awareness, encouraging stewardship group members to engage in public participation processes with decision-makers, and improving aquatic ecosystems and watershed health.
DESCRIPTION
Encompassing 13 major watersheds with nearly 2,000 km of watercourses, the Township of Langley is home to an abundance of productive ecosystems providing salmonid rearing and spawning habitat. However, it is also a region under increasing pressures from human activities, as continued rapid development is expected to result in the population doubling within the next 20 years. Urban development and human activities have reduced the availability of adequate habitat, thereby impacting the productivity of wild and hatchery salmon stocks. Langley is unique in that it still contains abundant groundwater resources, over 700 km of wild salmon streams and natural areas supporting numerous species of wildlife. Coupled with strong heritage values and rural richness, there is much to conserve.
LEPS acknowledges a general lack of citizen understanding and awareness about the presence of salmon habitat in Langley, the role of citizens in protecting salmon-bearing streams, and the impact of daily actions on watersheds. To address this lack of understanding and to increase citizen awareness, LEPS hosts Salmon Saturday events, offering learning opportunities and participatory stewardship activities. These events improve salmon habitat and engage the community in a series of regularly-scheduled environmental stewardship events. Generally held on the third Saturday of each month, these events partner with local stewardship groups and community partners, building community capacity while engaging citizens in activities to effectively address challenges related to sustaining healthy salmon populations. Through Salmon Saturdays, LEPS provides ongoing opportunity for citizen engagement in stream stewardship activities to raise community awareness and improve and enhance salmon habitats and watershed health. Our primary target audience for volunteer project participants in 2011 will be families (adults with school-aged children) and youth (secondary and post-secondary students).
EVENTS PROPOSED FOR 2011 INCLUDE:
-Streamside Invasive Species Removal- this event will remove invasive plant species encroaching on the banks of the Salmon River, hosted in partnership with the Salmon River Enhancement Society.
-Juvenile Salmon Release- this event will provide participants with an opportunity to release juvenile chum salmon into Yorkson Creek, hosted in partnership with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Yorkson Watershed Stewardship Committee
-West Creek Wetlands Walk and Invasive Species removal- this event will remove invasive plant species in the West Creek Wetlands and provide participants with a tour of this non-yet publically accessible, 160 acre, ecologically-rich future parkland. Hosted in partnership with the Glen Valley Watersheds Society and Metro Vancouver East Area Parks.
-Streamside Garbage Clean Up Event- this event will remove in-stream trash and non-natural debris from Bertrand Creek, hosted in partnership with the Bertrand Creek Enhancement Society.
-Streamside Treeplanting Event- this event will install native trees and shrubs along the Nicomekl River, hosted in partnership with the Nicomekl Enhancement Society and Township of Langley WaterWeeks.
-Greener Cleaners Workshop- this event will offer participants an opportunity to make their own all-natural eco-safe and salmon-friendly home cleaning products, with a focus on eliminating the use of household hazardous chemicals.
-Storm Drain Marking Challenge- this month-long event will challenge individuals, families, community organizations and corporations to mark stormdrains in their neighborhood. Prizes awarded for greatest effort and most drains marked.
-Salmon Meet and Greet- this event will provide participants with an opportunity to view spawning and juvenile salmon in the river and learn about salmon lifecycle and anatomy through a salmon dissection.
-Dogs 4 Salmon- this event is designed to turn dog walks into eco-safe and salmon friendly occasions, encouraging dog owners to be the eyes and ears of their local creeks during walks and prevent their dogs from harming salmon by not playing in local streams during sensitive salmon-spawning times. Salmon-friendly dogs whose owners participate in this project receive a pet package, which includes a bandana imprinted with the Fisheries and Oceans “observe-record-report” hotline, biodegradable dog-waste bags, and organic dog biscuits. Hosted in partnership with Township of Langley Recreation, Culture and Parks and Metro Vancouver East Area Parks, with in-kind contributions provided by local pet stores.
-Minibeast Mania- this family-friendly interpretive event will showcase the creatures of the river - juvenile salmon and trout and benthic macro-invertebrates. Participants will discover why these creatures are important, what they tell us about the health of the river, and what humans can do to help them survive. Hosted in partnership with the Little Campbell Watershed Society and the Semiahmoo Hatchery.
-Salmon Friendly Gardens Seminar- this full-day event brings expert guest speakers to present on eco-safe and salmon friendly lawn and garden care, with a focus on eliminating the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers.
-LEPS will also host a display booth at a variety of community events to promote Salmon Saturday events, offer children’s activities related to salmon ecology/lifecycle, and share information about reducing the impact of daily actions on watersheds. These booths will be staffed by the project coordinator with support provided by youth volunteers.
OBJECTIVES
To deliver an on-going series of activities to engage families and students in learning opportunities and participatory stewardship activities, leading to increased community involvement in environmental stewardship initiatives
To partner with local stewardship groups, first nations, the Township of Langley and community organizations to engage families and students in watershed stewardship, raising community awareness and addressing challenges related to sustaining rearing and spawning habitat for salmon
To offer the opportunity for citizens to understand how their daily practices affect salmon, and facilitate commitment to behavior change through adoption of salmon-friendly lifestyle practices
To provide information about, and encourage community members to engage in, governance processes open to the public
To improve and enhance local salmon habitat
METHODS
PARTNERSHIPS, PLANNING AND PROMOTIONS
LEPS will use face to face meetings, telephone and email communication to liaise with community partners to schedule dates and times for each Salmon Saturday events and finalize details and promotional opportunities. Promotional handbills advertising Salmon Saturday events will be created using MS Publisher and will be color-printed in-kind by Langley Townships’ Corporate Print Centre. This promotional material will be circulated to community centers, libraries, churches, elementary and secondary schools, post-secondary institutions and other identified locations in Langley; and will also be distributed via the LEPS office and at community events. Promotions will also be carried out using the methods described in section 6.2. Through existing connections and referrals, LEPS will contact community organizations that could potentially be involved as volunteer participants (e.g. Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, Parent Advisory Committees, First Nation groups, home school networks, multicultural organizations, faith-based groups, garden clubs, Community Services, etc) to promote Salmon Saturday events and encourage volunteer participation.
COMMUNITY EVENT DISPLAY BOOTHS
LEPS will seek out opportunities to host display booths at community events, such as Earth Day, Arbour Day, Langley Healthy Living Festival, World Oceans Day, Canada Day Celebrations, Langley Children’s Festival, Langley International Festival, Campbell Valley Country Celebration, BC Rivers Day Festival, the Cranberry Festival and others. The display booth consists of a tent displaying the yellow ‘Think Salmon’ logo and website, two display boards- one promoting the Salmon Points Reward Program and one promoting LEPS activities and watersheds of Langley. A series of brochures are displayed, available for taking home. These include:
* (DFO)Home Tips for Clean Streams, Are you Killing Your Fish
* (LEPS)How to be a Salmon Friendly Gardener, How to Make your Home Salmon Friendly, brochures of each Langley Stewardship group, promotional Salmon Saturday event handbills, LEPS brochure and current newsletter
* (Metro Vancouver) Some Solutions Make More Sense, The Choice is in Your Hands, Better Solutions, Use Water Wisely, Here’s the Dirt Guide to Composting
* (Township of Langley) Residents Guide to Groundwater, Water Management Plan, Household Water Conservation
* (BC Ministry of Environment) Living Water Smart
* (Greater Vancouver Invasive Plant Council) Help Stop the Spread of Invasives
* (Recycling Council of BC) Product Care- Leftovers?
An interactive activity takes place, such as benthic invertebrate investigation (when appropriate), make your own Greener Cleaners, the life-sized salmon board game, salmon roulette, a salmon hat craft, or other. LEPS staff and community volunteers staff the display booth and interact with citizens. Key message points are focused on the following:
* Salmon share our neighborhoods, and we all rely on healthy watersheds
* Our everyday actions can impact the local ecosystems that salmon rely on
* Residents can make a difference and take simple steps to protect our waterways
SALMON SATURDAYS
As each Salmon Saturday is different, each event has different requirements when it comes to coordination, including but not limited to: site visit and preparation; communications with partner organizations and community volunteers; booking appropriate presenters; approaching local businesses for donations; ordering plants; arranging for trash or green waste pick up; arranging maps; gathering tools and supplies; and promotions.
Every Salmon Saturday event includes a display table offering pamphlets and brochures on topics appropriate to the activity, giveaways (such as stickers, posters, key chains, coloring sheets, etc) and current information on public participation processes and venues for engagement with local decision makers. Information about the Township of Langley’s Water Management Plan and the BC Ministry of Environment’s Living Water Smart are available. Information about the Salmon Points Reward Program (a separate LEPS-hosted project that enables citizen understanding of negative impacts to watershed health and facilitates commitment to behaviour change through adoption of salmon-friendly lifestyle practices) will be available and participants will be encouraged to enroll as ‘salmon chums’, joining a community of citizens invested in reducing their environmental impact to benefit salmon and watersheds. A ‘Salmon Saturday’ banner is displayed, which includes the FSWP logo. Prior to the start of each Salmon Saturday event, participants are required to sign in, and encouraged to join the LEPS monthly mailing list to receive newsletters and updates on current events. Salmon Saturdays begin with an introductory presentation that provides information on LEPS, watershed ecology, the Salmon Saturday project and sponsors, and information pertinent to the activity being undertaken, including safety precautions.
BENEFITS
This project enables LEPS to achieve our vision of engaged citizens contributing to healthy watersheds, and contributes to restoring and maintaining healthy and diverse salmon populations and their habitats for the benefit and enjoyment of citizens, by fostering community engagement in, and responsibility for, salmon and watershed sustainability. LEPS strongly supports the vision that individual and community involvement in salmon management decision making, in turn, will sustain the social and cultural ties between people and salmon. These ties will ultimately lead to more successful implementation of conservation plans and better protection of wild salmon over the long term. This project plays a vital role by raising awareness and inspiring residents to engage in sustainable actions in the home and community, and to become more aware of and involved in watershed governance initiatives. Increasing knowledge and mobilizing action within citizenry makes them more aware of how daily actions have the potential to affect their watershed, and therefore increases their power to incite change. Over the long-term this equates to an active and engaged citizenship living more sustainable lives with lesser impact on local watersheds. Increased public engagement is key to facilitating long term stewardship and protection of Langley’s habitats.
EMAIL
PRINT
