Pitt Meadows’ Katzie Slough will be tidied up this weekend in an effort to restore it’s wild salmon habitat.
The Watershed Watch Salmon Society, Katzie First Nation, and Friends of Katzie Slough are co-hosting a volunteer cleanup of the area on Sunday, July 22.
A BBQ lunch will be provided, along with snacks and all necessary cleaning equipment.
Lina Azeez, with Watershed Watch Salmon Society, wants volunteers to connect with the slough.
“The focus of the cleanup is to bring light to the impact of our human waste and do our small part to help people reconnect with the Katzie Slough and understand the importance of it.”
Azeez said the cleanup will explain the history and future of the Katzie Slough.
Watershed Watch has been working on the slough for approximately four years. The goal of the group is to see the Katzie Slough be used again by fish.
The slough is just one part of the Pitt Meadows waterway that needs to be restored to its original state.
“Our ultimate goal is to see fish passage be reintroduced,” said Azeez. “The Katzie Slough is symptomatic of something that is happening across the Fraser region. There are 1400 kilometres that are blocked by pump stations and dikes, and the Katzie Slough is about nine kilometres of that.”
Another human-caused problem has been the homelessness crisis. Last year’s clean-up was cancelled due to concerns from the city that there would be needles present.
“People tend to gravitate to the Katzie Slough and underneath the Golden Ears Bridge. There were concerns we’d come across needles at the slough. Sometimes it’s the most degraded areas that people who are really hurting tend to gravitate towards, and it creates this cycle that’s hard to get out of,” said Azeez.
To make the event happen this year, Azeez said a Maple Ridge resident is doing a sweep of the area a couple days prior to the clean-up to discard used needles.
Azeez said the city was on board with the idea, and Mayor John Becker may attend the clean-up. Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows MP Dan Ruimy will also be present.
• The clean-up runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m on Sunday. Volunteers will meet at Meadowtown Centre, 19800 Lougheed Highway in Pitt Meadows, at the Dunn Avenue entrance by the JYSK.