Norrish Creek, a salmon-rich tributary of the Fraser River east of Mission, is in crisis. Industrial-scale gravel mining by Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) has caused devastating and possibly unlawful impacts to fish and fish habitat. This vibrant ecosystem supports over 20,000 spawning chum and coho salmon. Now it has been destroyed by unauthorized gravel mining. 

Read our recent blog on the impacts of gravel extraction in Norrish Creek.

Watershed Watch Salmon Society, alongside the BC Wildlife Federation and the Norrish Creek Gravel Stewardship Group, are calling for immediate action to stop this environmental disaster. With the support of EcoJustice Canada, we are submitting two demand letters to the Federal and Provincial governments.

Watershed Watch’s Lina Azeez

The gravel extraction is causing water levels to drop in Norrish Creek. It is impacting the network of groundwater-fed tributaries, including Worth, Hawkins, Chilqua, Inch, and Railroad creeks, which are also drying up. Fertilized salmon eggs have died in dewatered spawning beds, and wetlands in the alluvial fan — a fan-shaped deposit of gravel and sediment where a stream spreads out— of the creek are vanishing. The damage isn’t theoretical—it has been documented extensively by retired DFO biologists and local citizen scientists.

An aerial photograph of Norrish Creek shows the large pools as a result of gravel mining.

Since at least 2022, Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) has escalated its gravel extraction activities in the creek, supposedly to protect the railway bridge. But what’s happening on the ground tells a different story. This is no routine maintenance—it is industrial-scale mining. Gravel pits stretch hundreds of metres upstream and downstream from the bridge. What was once limited, seasonal work has exploded into a full-scale operation, with hundreds of metres of the creek bed dug out, far beyond what would be required to protect a single bridge. One estimate puts the annual extraction volume at over 100,000 cubic meters, double what is permitted in the much larger Vedder/Chilliwack River, and done with far less public oversight. 

These actions are not just harmful, they are likely unlawful. No permit has been issued under B.C.’s Water Sustainability Act for this work, and CPKC’s claim of exemption due to federal jurisdiction has been firmly rejected by the Province. Moreover, the federal Fisheries Act prohibits activities that harm fish habitats without authorization, and DFO has acknowledged CPKC’s activities exceed the allowances of a 2021 Letter of Advice.

Watershed Watch, along with our partners and concerned citizens, is calling for immediate action:

1. Rescind DFO’s 2021 Letter of Advice to CPKC.
2. Issue federal and provincial stop-work orders.
3. Launch a full investigation into the cumulative impacts of CPKC’s activities on Norrish Creek and its aquifer.
4. Enforce the Water Sustainability Act, including administrative fines and remediation orders.
5. Commission an independent hydrological study of the watershed.
6. Suspend all new gravel mining proposals in the area until full public consultation and restoration plans are in place.

This is about more than gravel. It’s about protecting the remaining salmon streams in the Lower Fraser. It’s about upholding the laws designed to protect our shared natural heritage.

Send your letter today to demand action.