Environment

Nature in the Old Millsite

Article & Photo Credit: Joanne Feenstra

There are some easy things to see when you’re walking through the old millsite. The recent past – asphalt, cement, sawdust, a decrepit but useful wooden bridge over Springer Creek, a 100 metre cement culvert that shoots water out into the lake. 

You’ll also see what’s present. In the winter, if you look down while you’re walking, you’ll see deer prints. This spring, in the last bits of snow, I saw bird tracks.  I don’t know what they are. They have a long middle, about two inches, with a spur on each side. I’ve seen rabbit tracks. There are trees; some twenty feet high. Shrubs, thistles, a mountain ash, an apple tree falling into the cement culvert, rosehips and prickly chicory.

In the spring, summer and fall, the old mill site hosts the village mascots – the ospreys. They return annually – last summer, they successfully raised three chicks on top of their skinny skyscraper.

The old highway above Slocan has been decommissioned for half a century. Through the tunnel, closer to Slocan, you see what remains of the asphalt; the double lines that must have been last painted fifty years ago. 

Further along, the trail becomes narrower, a one lane track where the moss and tree needles and saplings, because of less foot traffic, were allowed to grow and consume the road.

The same thing is already happened at the millsite. If you look down when you’re walking south of the 45 foot high osprey pole, you can see moss chewing up the asphalt pads, leaving crumbles of rock behind.  Moss grows where nothing else can. As moss decomposes, it forms an acidic solution that eats away at the asphalt and creates organic matter for grass, shrubs, trees. 

This moss on the millsite has survived winters, hot summers, and smoke. It is not going to give up so easily on its own plan to remediate the millsite. 

In 2020, Council zoned the lakefront part of the millsite Parks, Open Space and Institutional. The other part is still zoned Mill Industrial. What if it were all zoned Parks, Open Space and Institutional?  How much invasive change would it actually take to have a useable space, a park? Daylight the creek, create bank stability, clean up the waterfront, put boulders and grass in the waterfront area already zoned Parks. Take down the sagging chain link and drooping pressure treated board fences. Let moss and mushrooms remove toxins and create new growth. And then, just wait a bit for nature to work its way.  

Relevant Links

Living Lakes Canada

Mapping the way to restore an old sawmill site.

Empowering community groups with essential mapping of watersheds

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Slocan Waterfront Society

Springer Creek Ecological Restoration

A Slocan Waterfront Society Project
September 8, 2023

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Learn Locally

Slocan Lake Stewardship Society

As a science-driven organization, Slocan Lake Stewardship Society (SLSS) initiates and sponsors a wide range of aquatic, environmental, and wildlife research projects in order to continually expand our understanding and knowledge of all the ecosystems that impact the health of the Slocan Lake Watershed. 

Learn more about Slocan Lake and the work of the SLSS: https://slocanlakess.com/ 

Slocan River Streamkeepers

The Streamkeepers work towards protection and restoration of streams, streambeds and riparian zones fostering stream dependent biodiversity (with initial emphasis on the Slocan and Little Slocan Rivers). Our goals are to improve public knowledge on aquatic ecosystems, to improve stewardship of aquatic and riparian ecosystems, and to identify potential ecologically sound, effective restoration projects.

Learn more about their work: https://slocanriverstreamkeepers.wordpress.com/

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