Alouette River Management Society

🚧 Reminder: 224 Street Bridge Closure Today 🚧

If you're travelling in the area today, please note that 224 Street is closed at the bridge north of 132 Avenue while the City of Maple Ridge completes maintenance work on the North Alouette River as part of its flood prevention program.

📅 Today: Wednesday, August 5
🕕 6:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
🚗 A signed detour is in place for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians.

The maintenance work is helping improve flood protection, river flow, and the long-term health and resilience of the surrounding infrastructure.

Road Closure & River Maintenance Notice – North Alouette River.

The City of Maple Ridge is carrying out river maintenance on the North Alouette River as part of its ongoing flood prevention program.

Key details:
• 🚧 224 Street will be closed at the bridge north of 132 Avenue
• 📅 Tuesday, August 4 – Wednesday, August 5
• 🕕 6:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
• 🚗 A signed detour will be in place for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians.

The work is intended to improve flood protection, river flow, and long-term infrastructure resilience. Residents can expect increased construction activity, including crews, heavy equipment, and temporary staging areas near the river.
The City asks everyone to follow detour signs, allow extra travel time, use caution around work crews, and stay out of active construction areas.

All work is being completed under the required environmental permits and professional oversight, with consultation from environmental experts, local organizations, government agencies, and First Nations.

🌿 Looking for something to do tomorrow morning? Join us! 🧤

We still have room at our Adopt-a-Block Community Cleanup tomorrow at Pavilion Trail! Spend an hour making a real difference by helping remove litter from a local trail and protecting our rivers, wildlife, and community. It's a great way to get outside, meet new people, and give back to nature.

🗓️ Tomorrow – Wednesday, August 5
📍 Pavilion Trail
🕘 9:00–10:00 AM

No experience is needed, and we'll provide all the cleanup supplies. Just bring sturdy footwear, weather-appropriate clothing, and a reusable water bottle.

We'd love to have you join us! 💙

Register here: volunteersignup.org/MKJ9B

This BC Day, we invite you to celebrate by getting outside and exploring your local watershed:
🌿 Take a walk along a river or stream.
🐟 Visit a local park and keep an eye out for salmon habitat and wildlife.
🦋 Learn about the native plants and pollinators that call our region home.
🗑️ Leave every place a little better than you found it by packing out your garbage—or even picking up a few pieces of litter along the way.

From all of us at the Alouette River Management Society, have a safe, relaxing, and nature-filled BC Day! 💙

Volunteer Reminder! 🚨

Have you registered for one of our Adopt-a-Block Community Cleanups yet? 🌿🧤

We're looking for a few extra helping hands to join us at our cleanups this week:

📍 Wednesday, August 5 – Pavilion Trail
📍 Friday, August 7 – ALLCO Park

Every volunteer makes a real difference. Together, we'll help keep our parks, rivers, and wildlife habitats clean while giving back to the community we all love. 💙🐟

No experience is necessary, and all cleanup equipment is provided—just bring sturdy footwear, weather-appropriate clothing, and your enthusiasm!

If you've been thinking about joining us, now's the perfect time. Sign up today and help us make an even bigger impact!

We can't wait to see you there! 🌎💚 Register here: volunteersignup.org/MKJ9B

Did you know that Pacific salmon rely on several different habitats to survive? Every stage of their life cycle depends on healthy waterways, making connected watersheds essential for their survival.

🥚 Eggs: Adult salmon lay their eggs in clean, oxygen-rich gravel called a redd. The flowing water keeps the eggs supplied with oxygen while protecting them until they hatch.

🐟 Fry: Once they emerge, young salmon seek out slow-moving side channels, ponds, and quiet pools where they can find food and shelter from predators while they continue to grow.

🌿 Juveniles: As they get bigger, juvenile salmon explore streams and rivers before migrating to the ocean. Healthy streamside forests provide shade to keep the water cool, while fallen logs and overhanging vegetation create important hiding places.

🌊 Ocean: Salmon spend one to four years in the Pacific Ocean, where they feed and grow into adults.

🏔️ The Journey Home: Guided by an incredible sense of smell, adult salmon return to the very watershed where they were born to spawn, beginning the cycle all over again.

Every stream, side channel, wetland, lake, and forest plays an important role in supporting salmon throughout their lives. That's why protecting and restoring our watersheds is so important, not just for salmon, but for the countless other plants, animals, and people who depend on healthy ecosystems.

📸: Stunning Photography by Eiko Jones (www.eikojones.com)

Have you noticed bright orange or red berries growing along local trails this summer? Those are Salmonberries—one of our watershed's most important native plants!

🐻 They provide food for bears, birds, and other wildlife.
🐝 Their early spring flowers are an important nectar source for pollinators.
🌱 Their roots help stabilize streambanks, reducing erosion and protecting salmon habitat.

Next time you're out exploring, see if you can spot this beautiful native shrub and all the wildlife that depends on it!

📸 Have you found Salmonberries this summer? Share your photos below!

🐟❤️ The Sockeye Are Coming Home!

Alouette Sockeye Salmon are making their way back to the watershed! While we haven't seen the first fish arrive at the ALLCO Fish Fence just yet, we know they're already in the Alouette River.

Did you know? Alouette Sockeye are one of only six known populations in the world that require a lake to spawn instead of a river. Unfortunately, because the Alouette Dam blocks their natural migration, returning Sockeye are carefully captured and transported to Alouette Lake, by trap and truck, where they can complete their incredible life cycle.

However, occasionally a Sockeye makes it past the ALLCO Fish Fence and continues upstream to the Alouette Dam. These fish are safely captured at a second fish fence below the dam and quickly transported around the barrier into the Alouette Reservoir so they can continue their journey in the lake.

If you're enjoying the river this summer, please help protect these amazing fish:
🐟 Give salmon plenty of space.
🚣 Be respectful when tubing, paddling, or wading.
🚯 Pack out what you pack in.

Stay tuned! We can't wait to share the exciting news when the first Sockeye arrive at the ALLCO Fish Fence! 💙

🧤 Ready to roll up your sleeves and make a difference? 🧤🌿

Join ARMS for two Adopt-a-Block Community Cleanups happening NEXT WEEK! 💚

📍 Wednesday, August 5th (9 AM - 10 AM) – Pavilion Trail
📍 Friday, August 7th (9 AM - 10 AM) – ALLCO Park

Whether you're a longtime volunteer or it's your very first cleanup, we'd love to have you join us! Every piece of litter removed helps protect our parks, rivers, and the wildlife that call them home. 🦆🐟

✅ All cleanup equipment and supplies are provided. Just bring:
👟 Sturdy footwear
☀️ Weather-appropriate clothing
😊 A positive attitude and a willingness to help!

Together, we can create a cleaner, healthier community—one bag of litter at a time.

We can't wait to see you there! 💙🌎

Register here: volunteersignup.org/MKJ9B

A big thank you to our small but mighty team of volunteers! 💚🌿

Last week, a dedicated group of volunteers rolled up their sleeves and helped us tackle invasive blackberry along a Coho salmon rearing side channel in the Alouette Watershed. 🌊🐟

This small but mighty team showed that it doesn’t take a large group to make a big impact. With determination, teamwork, and a willingness to get their hands dirty, they helped remove invasive blackberry and restore important habitat for local wildlife.

Removing invasive plants like Himalayan blackberry is hard work, but it plays an important role in creating healthier ecosystems. Clearing these dense patches helps make space for native vegetation to return and improves the quality of habitat that supports young salmon.

💪🌱 Every root removed is a step toward a healthier watershed!