Canmore's Creeks and their Ecological Importance
Year-round, the two ribbons of water that border Spring Creek offer phenomenal nature viewing.
Year-round, the two ribbons of water that border Spring Creek offer phenomenal nature viewing. You just have to know what you’re looking for…and at! In late spring (near the end of April), observant fish-watchers might spot tiny brook and brown trout fry emerging from the gravel beds in which adult fish laid their nests of eggs (or ‘redds’) the previous fall. The brooks, which grow to only about 10 cm, will live in the creeks for life; but the brown, which can grow to enormous proportions, will head back into the Bow River after two or three years in the creeks.
Another denizen of the creeks – the mountain whitefish – deposits eggs in the fast-running main stem of the Bow River, but the fry quickly find their way into the shallow water of Policeman Creek to hide out for a year or two from their biggest predator: the adult brown trout.
In the fall, patient fish-watchers might see browns and brooks flashing upstream through the shallow creeks on their way to their spawning sites. Spring Creek and Policeman Creek teem with such insects as mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies – food for the fish as well as the waterfowl and shorebirds that call the creeks home. Among these are the mallard ducks that over-winter and congregate on the pond behind The Drake Inn. The teal-hooded male (the drake) and the drab brown female use the marshland and riparian zones along the two creeks to build their nests. In the quiet, slower moving waters of Spring Creek, you can often find mothers and their young ones darting in and out of the overhanging shrubs in spring and early summer.
Another frequently spotted shorebird is the dipper, whose name derives from its bobbing motion as it plunges its beak into the water in search of food. In late winter and early spring, its usual jik-jik-jik is replaced by its mating call, “one of the most incredible bird songs you’ll ever hear,” according to senior Fish and Wildlife fisheries biologist Jim Stelfox.
The riparian zone itself – the swath of native plants that grows alongside each bank and acts as a spongy filter for groundwater and surface runoff – provides a home for amphibians like toads and frogs and small mammals like squirrels and field mice. Larger mammals like beavers can be found closer to the Bow River.
The two creeks are often referred to as spring-fed, although Stelfox says that’s technically not true. The creeks are actually part of the Bow River’s historic floodplain, and their rise and fall are dictated by the swelling and ebbing of the river’s flow during spring melt from the snowpack.
Policeman Creek, about five kilometres long, has its headwaters near the north end of Canmore Golf Course, while Spring Creek, about 1.5 kilometres long, emerges from the ground right at the entrance to the community that shares its name. They merge at the south end of the property en route to the Bow River.
