>> Dorothy Field
Did you know there was once a small lake called Harris Pond in the low spot at Vining and Stanley? And that a creek drained the pond, running through Fernwood, Hillside Quadra, and Burnside Gorge, before it emptied into Rock Bay? If you put your ear to one of the storm drains, you can hear it gurgling in its culvert.
In the late 1800s, rivers and creeks in towns and cities around the world had become polluted dumping grounds and carriers of cholera and other diseases. The initial solution was to put them underground and forget about them, but that didn’t solve the problem of storm water and flooded streets and basements. Those of you who live along our creek may know this all too well.
Another question: are you aware of the great work of daylighting and cleaning up Bowker, Cecelia, and Colquitz Creeks? Well, daylighting is coming to a neighbourhood near you! The Rock Bay Creek Revival has received a My Great Neighbourhood Grant to lay the groundwork for daylighting bits of our creek. Besides daylighting, we hope to add bioswales and rain gardens along the creek’s route. The grant will support community engagement, art making activities, and community celebrations featuring music, art and drama. We will also be installing permanent signs to identify the spots where daylighting will occur.
The city agrees that daylighting our creek is do-able at Alexander Park in Fernwood and at Blackwood Park and Wark Park in Hillside-Quadra, though it will take some years to complete the project. These spaces remain green because they were too swampy to build on.
The idea of connecting the neighbourhoods that share the watershed is a holistic way of acknowledging our underlying earth and water systems. Besides the three neighbourhoods mentioned, the creek also drains North Park and Oaklands, and our liquid connection to the Gorge Waterway makes us part of an aquatic network amazingly rich in bird and sea life.
The Rock Bay Creek Revival group continues to lead stream walks along the path of the creek, pointing out water-loving trees and low spots in the pavement that indicate the creek’s unseen presence. We’ll also be hosting film showings, talks, and activities that promise to be fun for all ages.
If you’d like to know what’s happening, or if you’d like take part in a small or large way with this project, email Dorothy dotter@seaside.net. We’d love to have you join us.
