Sturgeon Creek Association surfaces once again
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Much like the fish it’s named after, a local neighbourhood group is returning to the surface after 30 years of being essentially lost to time — and being saved from extinction.
The Sturgeon Creek Association is a group of Winnipeggers with the shared goal of upkeeping and revitalizing the land along Sturgeon Creek, which feeds off the Assiniboine River and cuts through St. James and Silver Heights, then creeps past city limits and into the prairies northwest of Winnipeg. The group also uses Sturgeon Creek Park as a hub for community gatherings and volunteerism year-round.
The original SCA was active until the late 1990s, according to spokesman Tyler Crichton, and it has no online footprint. In fact, the only reason Crichton knows of its existence is through a book — Strong Currents: A History of Sturgeon Creek — commissioned by the group, that was shown to him by a neighbour (a former member) at an edition of St. James Community Coffee, a weekly summer event Crichton kicked off with his partner earlier this year.
“They did a lot of really cool work,” Crichton said. “They worked with the province and the green team at the time to make sure that the creek was being maintained.”
According to his research, the group was responsible for co-ordinating a fish ladder near Grant’s Old Mill, as well as several rock weirs in the creek, which are generally installed to control the flow of water.
“Learning all this stuff about what they used to do has been really, really cool for us, because we use all these things in the creek now, and they’ve been there for a long time,” Crichton said. “And, you know, growing up, sometimes you take these things for granted, because if you don’t you know, you don’t know.”
“Now I’m an adult, and I’m very passionate about Sturgeon Creek,” the Charleswood resident continued. “I wanted to do something, and I was looking for a group that was taking care of the creek, something similar to Friends of the Harte Trail that you see in Charleswood. But there wasn’t a group that seemed to exist.”
Crichton heard a few “rumblings” of a former group online, but it wasn’t until he began talking to his neighbour and flipping through the book that things really came together.
Photo by Emma Honeybun
The Sturgeon Creek Association kicked off a new era with a weed-picking event in the tall grass prairie at Sturgeon Creek Park, which it will aim to take care of going forward.
“They commissioned the book through a grant to have somebody come down and make sure that the history of the creek was preserved,” he said. “So then I come back to coffee next week, and I’m like, ‘Hey, do you know who Boyd (van Aggelen) is? The past president? I’d like to talk with him, because we have this cool idea about taking care of the creek.’ And he’s like… ‘Oh, he’s my neighbour.’”
After a hearty “have at ’er” from van Aggelen, Crichton kicked off the new era of the revived association with an inaugural weed-picking event on Oct. 25, when a group of community members picked creeping thistles growing in and around the tall grass prairie Sturgeon Park’s bee gardens, under the knowledgeable direction of a naturalist service branch worker from the City of Winnipeg.
Crichton was happy with the turnout, noting that he often forgets how much other people care. But the size of the group and the level of interest was less of a surprise to Joanne Marks, who had recently petitioned in the area to find out how nearby residents felt about people voluntarily tending to the area.
“Overwhelmingly, people were in favour,” she said. “They have their spaces to play, to walk, and people that live on the creek obviously don’t want their visibility affected. And so … we’re starting here, and depending on the interest, (we’ll see) how much work will get done and how fast.”
“People have been using the creek for hundreds of years, and we hope that people can use it for hundreds more,” Crichton said. “And we just want to help with some of the beautification and some of the nature. Help out some of the animals and make this space really beautiful for everybody.”
Photo by Emma Honeybun
While the original Sturgeon Creek Association disbanded about 30 years ago, Tyler Crichton and other members of the community are bringing it back.
The new era of the group is still in its early stages, but updates and planned events will be posted on Facebook and Instagram under @sturgeoncreekassociation. A formal website and an email address are in the works.