“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.” – John Lennon
Scott Magri of Pitt Meadows thought his dream of restoring Katzie Slough was one he had alone.
He imagined clean water replacing a dirty irrigation ditch, a vibrant aquatic ecosystem replacing a depleted one, coho fry that over-wintered here when the Katzie harvested wapato, their wild potato, and trout returning to the Pitt River without being ground up by the old Kennedy Road pump station. But when Magri broached the idea with the City of Pitt Meadows, he was told it was impractical and too costly.
One could be forgiven for abandoning a dream in the face of nay-saying, but Scott hasn’t. The reformed drug addict’s mission to heal the stream that put trout on a bullied teenager’s fishhook, endured, and was embraced by supporters – a few at first – and now, many.
Today, I’m standing on the foot bridge at Kennedy Road talking into the camera of Ben Togerertz and Nathan Loewen. They ask why I got involved in the Katzie Slough Restoration Project.
Magri’s dream, I tell them.
Scott and I canoed the slough – the first in decades because of limited access – and found a magical, lost world. We’ve shown locals the slough by canoe three times since, collecting mounting garbage at the edge of private property. Some was ordered cleaned up by Pitt Meadows when we provided pictures.
Togerertz, Loewen, and Jenefir Smalley, who’ll I’ll meet later, are students in BCIT’s Fish, Wildlife, and Recreation program. They learned of Magri’s dream through Lina Azeez of Watershed Watch Salmon Society, an early supporter.
Azeez and volunteer Timo Hess, organized canoe trips – another on April 30 – and a third shoreline cleanup May 21. Azeez’s given talks about the slough’s potential. It’s brought public awareness to restoration effort. The video I’ll be part of will be posted on the WWSS website.
When Smalley joins us, she’s accompanied by Farhan Umedaly, with Vovo Productions, a West Van environmentally proactive company that uses drones (Last Stand for Lelu) to make documentaries. What he films today will become a podcast. “I heard about the project and just wanted to do something good for fish.”
He’s not charging a fee.
“It’s a worthwhile project. And, what goes around, comes around.”
You could say that about Scott’s dream for Katzie Slough.
“That project was the inspiration for a larger Watershed Watch vision called the Connected Waters Initiative,” says Azeez.
It’s a timely call to reconnect sloughs and tributaries cut off from the Fraser River’s historic salmon-rearing and spawning grounds. Hundreds are neutered by antiquated pumps and flood gates not designed to sustain fisheries. Reconnecting them, says Azeez, could expand the wild salmon population in B.C. exponentially.
“These waterways are severely restricted by flood boxes and gates. Their reconnection would help restore more habitat for salmon.”
The videos will pressure city, provincial and federal governments to contribute money and improve the rules needed for restoration of salmon habitat, a Justin Trudeau promise. Part of that framework, says Azeez, “are new fish-friendly flood gates that open and close with the movement of the tides. The one installed at Spencer Creek in Maple Ridge a few years ago has increased the fish survival.”
Magri says a constant flow of clean water is key to restoring Katzie Slough. It could happen with changes at Kennedy Pump Station.
New flood gates, which move water with the tides, create more historical types of flow, says Ross Davies with the Kanaka Education and Environmental Partnership Society.
“They’d extend the quality water season, provide the oxygen needed to encourage coho fry to move up the slough, reduce invasive plants.”
It’s likely they’d also make the dream of a healthy slough held by so many now, a reality.