PARTICIPATE

Participate at Home

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Ways to Participate At Home

Salmon need water in the rivers, streams and lakes of our communities. The best way to help salmon is to use less water. Using less water in our daily lives leaves more water for salmon, which means healthier salmon.

Here are 10 easy suggestions to think salmon at your home:

1. Speed up your shower
2. Save a toilet flush once a day, especially at night
3. Fix appliances, connections and pipes that leak water
4. Replace old, inefficient appliances with new, energy-efficient ones
5. Load your dishwasher full before running it
6. Use your legs! Leave your vehicle at home and get on your bike or walk around your community
7. Hunt down energy waste in your home: turn off lights, check for drafts at windows and doors, keep the thermostat low, replace incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent light bulbs
8. Install a low-flow shower head
9. Wash your car on the grass and let the water runoff filter through the soil, or use automatic car washes that recycle water and dispose of detergents properly
10. Sweep paved areas instead of hosing them and you’ll prevent pollutants and debris from entering storm drains

Ways to Participate If You Live Near a Stream

Turn Your Dogwalks into Salmon-Friendly Occasions. Learn more about Dogs 4 Salmon.

Keep streams shaded; don’t remove growth that reduces shade. Trees and bushes keep the water cool for fish and help stabilize the banks. Don’t remove streamside vegetation within at least 15 m of the stream.

Download more Home Tips for Healthy Streams from Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Yard and Garden Tips

When draining hot tubs or pools, direct the water slowly into the ground or sewer system. Never drain water into streets and storm drains. Chemicals such as chlorine are toxic to salmon and other animals.

Download more Lawn & Garden Tips from Fisheries and Oceans Canada

A Citizen’s Guide to Low Impact Development
When urban development covers the land with buildings, concrete, and asphalt, less rain soaks into the soil. The water stays on the surface and runs off quickly into streams, ditches, and storm drains, which also empty into streams. The result is “urban runoff.”

Grow a Salmon-Friendly Garden

Whether your garden is two feet or two kilometers from the nearest creek, stream, lake or harbour, it affects salmon. Everything that runs off your property into storm drains eventually washes through their habitat. Salmon friendly gardens are beautiful, healthy and easy to maintain. They work with natural processes to grow plants with minimal irrigation, fertilizer and pesticides. These gardens keep pollutants out of streams and lakes, where they can harm salmon habitat. They also save time and money. Here are some tips for growing a salmon friendly garden:

- Plant native or drought-tolerant plants.
- Use a mulch mower and fertilize your lawn without chemicals.
- Water heavily once a week during the early evening hours when water evaporates less.
- Pull weeds by hand or learn to live with them instead of using pesticides and herbicides.

See more at Salmon Friendly Seattle

Download a brochure on Salmon Friendly Lawns from Mid Vancouver Island Habitat Enhancement Society