THE FISHERMAN, AUGUST 24, 1998
Surrey project a nursery for the future
Chances are that most readers just turned over to the next page when they saw the story in the newspaper last fall saying that forest giant Interfor would have to compost 300,000-400,000 seedlings that were surplus to its tree planting operations. But not Ross Wetzel.
For Wetzel, a Johnstone Straits
'There's a lot of potential here for the community and for schools.'
— Ryan Chan
gillnetter and currently the head of the stream stewardship training program for the Surrey office of the Community Fisheries Development Centre, the story kickstarted an idea he'd had sitting at the back of his mind for some time.
Why not use the seedlings as the basis for a nursery project to provide trees for stream rehabilitation projects? That way, projects doing replanting alongside streams to provide fish cover and protection from soil erosion would have a ready source of trees.
But still, what do you do with thousands of seedlings?
Enter fisherman Bob Zilcosky.
"I phoned up Bob and told him that I had about 17,000 trees that needed a home," says Wetzel, noting that Interfor's donations of trees was arranged by Trees Canada. "He told me to bring them on over."
For Zilcosky, a long time Fraser River gillnetter, the gesture was a way of putting something back into the fishing industry that has provided him a good living over the years. But it was even simpler than that, he says. "It's like someone phoning you up and saying they need a place to stay. This project needed a place to get started."
That was barely six months ago.
But already the T. Buck Suzuki Community Riparian Nursery is taking shape, filling the available ground of Bob and Dorothy Zilcosky's five acres in Surrey.
Spurred by Wetzel and CFDC co-ordinator and fisherman Paul Kandt — both of whom are directors of the T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation — the Foundation took on formal sponsorship of the project to help get funding and to assist in working with community groups. The nursery project is now part of the Foundation's long term plan for stream and habitat protection and restoration.
Since that original idea took flight, Wetzel, Kandt and others have put in a lot of hours getting community support and funding from wherever they can. The response has often been astonishing.
"When we first got the trees, we didn't know where to put them or how to put them," says Wetzel. "But we got donations of topsoi! from Gawley Brothers and later from Super Soils. B.C. Hydro has supplied hundreds of plants pots and so has the municipality of Surrey. Even the RCMP has provided free pots from their raids on marijuana growers," he chuckles.
On the funding end, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has kicked in $51,000 as part of its Habitat Restoration and Salmon Enhancement Program (HRSEP). Environment Canada is picking up the cost of a part-time co-ordinator through its Action 21 program.
Many of those working on the project come from the local stream stewardship training courses that Wetzel co-ordinates through the CFDC with funding from Human Resources Development Canada. Arrangements with schools in the community have also provided a couple of students working on
Nursery project co-ordinators and crew pose with the newly-designed sign. Back row, I to r, Ross Wetzel, Lori Kelly, Bob Zilcosky. Front, I to r, Bev Joly, Joe Danyliuk, Adam Mayhew, Ryan Chan, Paul Kandt.
wage subsidy programs for the summer.
For Joe Danyliuk, a 29-year old gillnetter who sold his boat Lorene in 1996 after 15 years of fishing Rivers Inlet and the Fraser River, working on the nursery project over the past few weeks has provided an opportunity get some training in a field that he's found
in high school, summer student Ryan Chan has already racked up a lot of experience in a school program that involves working directly with the municipality and the Coast Guard. His school, Len Shepherd Secondary, in north Surrey, has adopted Bon Accord Creek for salmon enhancement and he works in the municipality
still learning as they go.
So far, most of the trees are conifers but the greenhouse is one step on an ambitious plan to expand into dozens of other, deciduous species. "We'll be propagating all our native species, including shrubs that are found by streams," says Wetzel. "We'll get them from salvage, cuttings — wherever we
Bob and Dorothy Zilcosky with some of the first seedlings planted on their property.
really interests him — horticulture. "But I also wanted to do something that's connected to the fishing industry, " he adds.
Lori Kelly, who has previously worked in a nursery, welcomes the training that the project provides since she also hopes to get into horticulture. She previously worked in a company owned by her father, Raider Aluminum, a boat-building and repair outfit, that he finally sold a couple of years ago.
"But we don't see this a way for people to get out of the industry," Wetzel emphasizes. "It's also work that fishing industry workers can do in the off season and help sustain the fishery."
That's also a message that's getting into the community — and into the schools. Although he's still
with what's known as the Sharp Team, carrying out salmon enhancement in Surrey. "We're really actively involved with stream enhancement," he says.
"I never thought I'd get a chance to work on t a project like this," he adds. "There's really a lot of potential here to get the community and schools involved."
Out on the site, the work of establishing a thriving nursery is well underway. The seedlings have already been laid out in hundreds of neat rows, including one plot where the healthy plants are near-ing waist height. A house-sized greenhouse, with the glass roof already installed, is taking shape. In one corner of the structure, there's a well-thumbed copy of Plants in Canada—evidence that people are
can. We'll also be growing from seed."
The project itself will likely grow much the same way. For the moment, the donations of materials and the funding grants are crucial, but that's expected to change over time. "For the next year, we'll be reliant on donations but the idea is that it will mainly be self-sustaining in the future," says Kandt. There's also the possibility of addi-ti6nal features, including a demonstration stream, where schools and community groups can see how a stream should be maintained and protected.
"It's all beginning to come together," says Wetzel. "It shows you what can be done when there's the money and the people to get it started."