Noons Creek Watershed

Noons Creek Watershed
Summary

Forested riparian ecosystem. Forested corridor along the lower reaches of Noons Creek is surrounded by residential development. This corridor is narrow and is extremely susceptible to disturbances. This corridor has high species diversity, vegetation complexity.
Source is Cypress Lake. A number of contributing ponds develop during spring runoff.
Noons Creek mainstem is approximately 11.5 km, with West Noons Creek, the largest tributary joining Noons mainstem 1.5 km from Burrard Inlet, having a length of 3 km. Creek lengths vary between studies.

Ownership: City of Port Moody and various private owners.
Landuse: Commercial, Industrial, Parks and Recreation, Residential, CP Right of Way
Fish: Chum, Coho, Chinook and Sockeye Salmon; Rainbow, and Coastal Cutthroat Trout; Three-spine Stickleback. Largest salmon spawning stream within Shoreline Park.
Vegetation: Douglas fir – Swordfern; Western redcedar – Foamflower; Western redcedar – Salmonberry. Many sections of Noons Creek are forested, providing shading, woody debris and spawing habitat should the creek be passable to those points.
Wildlife : The upper reaches are inhabited by wildlife species typical of coastal forests. Within the urban areas there are human encounters with bears,.
Human: Commercial, Industrial, Parks and Recreation, Residential, CP Right of Way

Development has altered the hydrology of the creek and its tributaries through the increase in impervious surfaces and the redirection of flow into adjacent systems.
Many culverts along the mainstem are impassible to migrating fish.

Newly replaced dam at Cypress Lake is permitting control of base flows in Noons Creek.
Staff gauges have been placed in several locations along the mainstem to permit assessment of base flow control.
Dog access to the riparian corridor along this creek should be limited to minimize wildlife disturbance/ interaction.
Ongoing aquatic and riparian habitat restoration and protection need to occur