I visited Mosquito Creek Park in North Vancouver, B.C. on April 19th, 2022 from 4:30pm-6pm. The weather was around 12 degrees Celsius. It is currently spring here in North Vancouver and the weather was sunny with a mix of clouds. This study area is a trail in North Vancouver, specifically upper Capilano area near Queens Road and Westview Drive. This location was chosen because of its convenient location near my neighbourhood. This size of the park spans 4.2 kilometres.
The vegetation is forested with an abundance of species, however the trail is a gravel pathway made of loose stones that spans the majority of the trail for convenient walking. Some species that I found on my journey through Mosquito Creek Park were the Periwinkle, Myrtle flower, English Ivy, moss areas on trees and on the ground, ferns such as the Polystichum Munitum, and some fungi in the Polypore family. This location is said to be a salmon habitat, however I have visited many times and have never seen any sign of an active salmon population. I do remember seeing some salmon when I was much younger, but have yet to spot them in the past few years. There is a large water runoff that is situated in the middle of the park. This watershed begins from the forested sloped between Grouse Mountain and Fromme Mountain, travelling all the way through the district of North Vancouver and Squamish Nation and discharges down into the Burrard Inlet.
Some questions that I thought were interesting to consider are
“Does the runoff affect what types of species can grow in this area?”
“Is the watershed beneficial or harmful to certain species?”
“Why do certain species flourish in parts of this trail but not others, and to what degree does human impact play a role in this?”
And “Is the salmon habitat declining in this area?”
