Uncover Your Streams

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How to take action

• Determining the location of buried streams can be a challenge. Old photographs and maps of the area can help identify where creeks were, and help you relocate where they are now. Sometimes a stream will still run above ground in some places, and disappear underground in others. Look for culverts, sagging sidewalks, areas that seep in spring, and other signs that there is water beneath the ground.
• Local history books might reference the kinds of fish and other animals that were once found in that area and give a sense of the region's past, and what has been lost.
• Contact your city planning department about buried creeks and the benefits of daylighting them.
• Have patience. There are people who have been working for 15 years to daylight Brewery Creek in Vancouver, but they haven't lost their drive. Each day more people hear about their work, and the momentum builds.
• Have hope. Many cities have spent the time and resources needed to daylight even some of the most urban creeks and more are likely to follow. Some U.S cities, like Seattle, and Boulder, Colorado, have daylighted urban streams, bringing fish back, and creating a beautiful, diverse river system winding through the city.

Why it makes a difference

• Buried streams are dead streams, in the sense that they usually don't support fish or other aquatic life, and don't provide resources or habitat for other creatures.
• Restoring a stream's contact with soil, and its riffles and meanders, helps to clean the water it contains before it reaches the ocean or other large water bodies, protecting precious water and aquatic resources.
• With an increasing percentage of the world's population in urban areas, we need our cities to support biodiversity. Streams and stream banks provide rich and varied ecosystems for frogs, birds, berries, fish and more.
• Streams and creeks are places of natural beauty, offering a sense of calm and wonder in the rush of a town or neighbourhood. The sound of moving water can even soften the sounds of traffic.
• Some daylighted creeks become corridors for walking or biking paths, parks, constructed wetlands, and other green spaces.

For more information

• A River Never Sleeps focuses largely on Vancouver rivers, but the story is inspirational for anyone working to daylight streams.
• Wikipedia offers links to some more information on daylighting and a few success stories.