Deborah Harford is executive director of the Simon Fraser University–based Adaptation to Climate Change Team. Carmen Rosen founded the Still Moon Arts Society. They share a common interest in a creek in their East Vancouver (British Columbia) neighbourhood.
Community involvement in Still Creek has supported efforts by the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby, and the Metro Vancouver regional government, to restore portions of the stream channelled in underground pipes.
The process of “daylighting” re-creates the natural floodplains of streams and relieves pressure in culverts during heavy rainstorms, which are a consequence of climate change, thereby lessening the impact of flooding.
Restoring streams provides habitat for wildlife, as well as recreational space for the community.
For the last three Novembers, starting in 2012, chum salmon have been seen spawning in the Vancouver portion of Still Creek after an absence of 80 years, a phenomenon that was immensely gratifying to Rosen.