Our members were busy in 2023! Here are some of the things we were doing to protect and enhance our watershed.

2023

Removing Gorse along Firehall Creek in coordination with the CRD

Presenting trail & swale design opportunities to Langford

Getting a grant from the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation Board

Learning about developing green infrastructure programs

Making connections with other environmental groups

Community mapping of the watershed

Developing plans for stream assessments and monitoring

Indexing and sorting 34 years worth of records and data

Identifying and flagging environmental concerns to the appropriate authorities

Surveying the Coastal Cutthrout Trout in collaboration with expert provincial biologists.

  • Coordinating with a team of UVic instructors and students to facilitate community mapping of the watershed

  • Meeting with Deborah Curran, a UVic professor in environmental studies and law, for information on developing green infrastructure programs

  • Removing invasive plants along Bilston Creek in Willing Park in coordination with the City of Langford and their Earth Day celebrations Pilot project removing Gorse along Firehall Creek in coordination with the CRD

  • Developing plans for stream assessments and a water monitoring program for the various creeks in the watershed. The priority is to monitor the basic conditions necessary for the life cycles of Coastal Cutthroat Trout, including water temperature and turbidity, dissolved oxygen, pH and conductivity.  We are working to find funding for more expensive testing such as nutrient levels, heavy metals, PAHs, PFOS, 6-PPD-Q, PPCPs and alkylphenols.

  • Applying for (and getting approval!) for a grant from the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation Board that will help us put up informational signs and begin habitat restoration in riparian zones in the Luxton area.

  • Presenting trail & swale design opportunities for ecologically friendly green stormwater infrastructure to Langford Mayor Goodmanson and the Director of Engineering

  • Contracting with an archivist to index and sort the 34 years' worth of records and data that has been collecting in our files

  • Making connections with other environmental groups, community residents, and regional staff and elected officials

  • Identifying and flagging environmental concerns to the appropriate authorities

  • Organizing informal walking tours around Firehall creek, Hewitt creek, and other areas in our watershed

  • Collaborating with expert provincial biologists to survey the Coastal Cutthroat Trout population in Metchosin and Bilston Creeks, including genetic testing to determine whether ours is a genetically unique subspecies.

Photos courtesy of Dylan Simpson and Kara Delbrouck

An intact wetland in the ‘Shed

Photo provided by the Metchosin Foundation;
Alex Harris photographer