"Committed to the restoration of wild Pacific salmon in mid Vancouver
Island watersheds through habitat restoration and community engagement"
Yellow iris is a beautiful plant that takes over and destroys wetlands. Read about how volunteers from MVIHES and other conservation groups are eradicating yellow iris in Shelly Creek.
Watch the volunteers in action in the Shaw GO! video on youtube.
MVIHES has completed 10 years of stream habitat restoration projects on Centre Creek, a tributary of the Englishman River Watershed. The goal was to restore habitat for coho salmon and other salmonids lost to stream bank erosion and sedimentation of the creek bottom. At the request of the Pacific Salmon Foundation, we re-visited all of the restoration sites.
The strategy included collecting large tree stumps and fallen logs, then securing them in place on the stream bank with cables. These structures, called Large Woody Debris (LWD), are a natural way to protect the bank from erosion, plus narrow the stream channel to create deep shaded pools. Pools are places where fish like to hide, or hang out to stay cool on hot summer days.
Rock was also added to the stream banks and creek bottom to protect against erosion and create riffles/spawning habitat.
On January 20, 2016 Dave Clough, the biologists who developed the restoration project, along with several MVIHES volunteers, conducted an assessment of the past decade of work. We were very pleased to learn that the rock and LWD structures are still in good condition. PLUS, the objectives of preventing steam bank erosion, and creating riffles and deep pools for fish habitat have been achieved. A very good outcome indeed!
Press Release: November 4, 2015 from MVIHES
Shelly Creek, a small tributary of the Englishman River, is getting some well-deserved attention these days.