More than $370,000 will be required to repair and rebuild the Oldfield Creek Fish Hatchery damaged by landslides. The hatchery is appealing to the public with a GoFundMe Campaign to raise attention to the severity of the situation, Prince Rupert Salmonid Enhancement Society, stated on Feb. 28.
“We cannot fulfill our mandate and operate the hatchery because of this landslide. We need to remove the debris, investigate, and repair our water line infrastructure,” Beth Armstrong-Bewick, president of the society told The Northern View.
She said the creek feeding the hatchery and its water systems were damaged last September when heavy rains drenched the region, resulting in the emergency release of thousands of coho and chinook fry. More than 1,000 cubic metres of trees and debris lodged behind the dams leaving no water running down the creek in three different channels.
This is causing concern for the safety of the hatchery, volunteers, the public, and Wantage Road below, Armstrong-Bewick said.
“[The landslide] took out our water system. We have a gravity-fed water system from Mount. Hayes … It’s been slipping for years.”
A series of dam systems with wooden cribs has been feeding the hatchery intake system located at the bottom, she said, and “has not been operating at its best.”
Each year there are issues where the society has to dig out the intake system due to the build-up of sediment creating blockages.
“The society has been working with various partners including the City of Prince Rupert, DFO, McElhanney, Westrek and Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF) to create a plan that ensures public safety, protects the environment, and will ensure a safe and effective resumption of the Hatchery’s work, to sustain healthy populations of pacific salmon for generations to come,” the GoFundMe brief states.
The more than 40-year-old fish hatchery is a volunteer-driven, non-profit organization that has been contributing to Salmon conservation, enhancement and public awareness in the Prince Rupert region.
The society runs various programs in the community and follow a set of ecological objectives, including increasing the salmon population in local streams and increasing community awareness of enhancement and stream stewardship. As well a foundational effort is to educate the community on Salmon and their roles within the ecosystems and environment.
“In the last couple of years we have raised 200,000 to 250,000 fry in this area … Salmon is part of our life here and has been for thousands of years.”
“The GoFundMe Oldfield Hatchery Revitalization Project started a couple of weeks ago, (Feb. 15) and our target is to raise money from the community to help with the first phase which is the debris removal,” the society president said, adding a quote has already been obtained from a local contractor.
The fundraising goal is $50,000.
The second phase will require an engineering assessment for water pathways as everything will need to be rebuilt she explained, and the third phase will be to replace the waterlines.
“In all likelihood, we will be shut for a couple of years. But if we can get this all figured out we can then swing back into production,” she said.
K-J Millar | Editor and Multi-Media Journalist
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