Keller Foundations Ltd. was charged with two counts of depositing harmful substance in connection with fish deaths on April 30, 2018.
John Barker was president of West Vancouver Streamkeepers at the time, which helps develop and maintain best practices for stream habitat protection. He said he was shocked to see dead fish fill the shores of Larson Creek, near Gleneagles Golf Course.
“It was a huge blow to us,” Barker said on Tuesday. “It’s hard to believe anything that survives from the plume that has passed.”
He said even the creeks in the creek were killed and he had doubts that the trout could bounce off the disaster.
A construction worker appears near Larson Creek in May 2018. The contractor, who worked for the Department of Transportation, was blamed for the death of 76 fish in the creek. (Rafferty Baker / CBC)
At the time, the Ministry of Transport said that the incident was the result of “a pressure test on some equipment using clean water and then the disposal of water inside the project site”.
“The water unexpectedly caused erosion to seep into the ground and cause turbid water to flow beneath the surface into a nearby culvert and then enter the Larson Creek,” the ministry said.
The charges against Keller Foundations Ltd. were sworn in on April 5 and filed in North Vancouver District Court.
Barker, who has since resigned as president of the West Vancouver Streemkeepers, has continued to monitor the case closely, checking in with the fisheries investigator assigned to the case almost every month.
“We were waiting for accusations to be made. It was not like there was a mystery that could have happened,” he said. “It’s just a tragic event that happened.”
John Barker, former president of West Vancouver Streamkeepers, inspects Larson Creek in May 2018 for any trace of trout killed there a week earlier. (Rafferty Baker / CBC)
With the news about the accusations, Barker says that he is happy to know that the incident “has not gone under the rug”.
“We are pleased to be here today, with some responsibility,” he said, adding that if the company is found guilty, he hopes any fines could lead to fish habitat restoration work.
As for the Larson Creek trout, Barker says they have surprisingly managed to avoid total eradication and are now in the process of slow recovery – he estimates that the trout’s habitat and population are now about 50 percent of what it was before. incident .
