The Morten Creek SEP started in 1988 as a small rearing box on Keith Creek in North Vancouver, B.C. In 1990 it moved to its present location at the north end of the Premier Street landfill site. Our activities revolved around the "Life Cycle of the Salmon".

The Morten Creek volunteers, working alongside the District of North Vancouver, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), and with the aid of our sponsors, managed to transform Morten Creek from a ditch which carried leachate from the landfill site to Lynn Creek, into the salmon bearing stream that exists today.

With DFO and the permission of the City and District of North Vancouver, we introduced a small hatchery building and storage shed alongside the creek. The hatchery building is fully equipped for the spawning and care of coho and chum salmon. From this hatchery we outplant our salmon fry into Lynn Creek and its tributaries, where it has been determined that we are not competing with wild stocks. With the help of DFO habitat engineers and biologists, we installed a "jump box" in the lower reach of Hastings Creek and with the North Shore Streamkeepers we installed a fish ladder in the upper reach. The jump box and ladder were put in place to assist the migration of both juvenile and adult salmon. Salmon spawner Surveys conducted by the North Shore Streamkeepers on Hastings Creek show that formerly unreachable habitat is now accessible to spawning salmon. After closely monitoring habitat, accessibility and the survival from egg to fry, it has been determined that no further out planting of fry is needed in Hastings Creek, although Morten Creek volunteers and the North Shore Streamkeepers will continue to monitor the health of the stream and the life within it.

Morten Creek volunteers are also involved in all aspects of the hatchery and stream care. Foremost is the catching of our own brood stock from nearby Lynn Creek and from the Indian River, the spawning of these fish and the care of eggs, fry and in Morten Creek the smolts. Our volunteers are also involved in conducting stream invertebrate surveys, stream mapping, streamside planting, water quality studies, spawner surveys and creating overwinter habitat.

Our current target for enhancement is 30,000 chum fry per year.