Eagle Creek is one of the most important creeks in

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It begins on

Burnaby Mountain Burnaby Mountain, elev. , is a low, forested mountain in the city of Burnaby, British Columbia, overlooking the upper arms of Burrard Inlet. It is the location of Simon Fraser University Burnaby Campus, the Discovery Park research community, and ...

where it is fed by a large watershed, runs through Montecito and the nearby

Squint Lake Squint Lake is a small lake in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. It is located southwest of Burnaby Mountain. Squint Lake is surrounded by Burnaby Mountain Golf Course. Squint Lake Park is a park to the north of the lake. Eagle Creek flows into ...

, and eventually flows into

Burnaby Lake Burnaby Lake is a lake located in Burnaby, British Columbia and is the focal geographic feature and namesake of Burnaby Lake Regional Park. The lake occupies of land, and is home to a large variety of wildlife. At least 70 species of birds make ...

Course

Eagle Creek begins as many tiny streams that drain the west and southwest sides of Burnaby Mountain. The lands on the mountain are protected as part of the Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area. Below the protected area, those tributaries of Eagle Creek that emerge from the forest flow through land that has been developed for residential purposes. At times the creek is culverted, at times it is channelized, and at other times it is allowed to flow almost freely. Here the dominant flora are those typical of disturbed sites in the Fraser Valley. The various tributaries are gathered together above and below Squint Lake, on lands which are currently the site of the Burnaby Mountain Golf Course. The collected waters of Eagle Creek are culverted under Broadway, and descend from the culvert into a deep ravine that runs uninterrupted to the

Lougheed Highway Lougheed is an Irish variant of a surname of Scottish origins, meaning ''head of the lake''. Lougheed or Loughead may refer to: Places * Lougheed, Alberta, a Canadian village * Lougheed Island, Nunavut, Canada * Lougheed Highway, part of British ...

. Aside from a service road at the bottom, and some concrete stormwater management infrastructure, the ravine is undeveloped. The flora there includes many of the same plants found on the mountain, with the exception of some of the more sensitive species, and with the addition of some exotics that have presumably escaped from residential properties along the upper edge. Below the highway, Eagle Creek runs through Charles Rummel Park, and then once again enters a residential zone, where it is mostly channelized, and occasionally culverted. Below Winston Street, the creek enters Warner Loat Park, where it flows in a bed that parallels Piper Avenue all the way into Burnaby Lake Regional Park. Once in the park, the waters of the creek do not have far to go until they are poured into Burnaby Lake, a short walk south of the Nature House.

Ecology

The entirety of the Eagle Creek watershed is in the coastal western hemlock biogeoclimatic zone of

. The protected lands of Burnaby Mountain, as well as the lands of Burnaby Lake Regional Park are forested with a second growth forest that primarily consists of

bigleaf maple ''Acer macrophyllum'', the bigleaf maple or Oregon maple, is a large deciduous tree in the genus '' Acer''. It is native to western North America, mostly near the Pacific coast, from southernmost Alaska to southern California. Some stands are al ...

red alder ''Alnus rubra'', the red alder, is a deciduous broadleaf tree native to western North America (Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana). Description Red alder is the largest species of alder in Nort ...

western hemlock ''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma ...

western redcedar ''Thuja plicata'' is an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to western North America. Its common name is western redcedar (western red cedar in the UK), and it is also called Pacific redcedar, giant arborvitae, w ...

, and

Douglas-fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

, with an underbrush of

salmonberry ''Rubus spectabilis'', the salmonberry, is a species of bramble in the rose family Rosaceae, native to the west coast of North America from west-central Alaska to California, inland as far as Idaho. Like many other species in the genus ''Rubus'' ...

, Indian plum,

red elderberry ''Sambucus racemosa'' is a species of elderberry known by the common names red elderberry and red-berried elder. Distribution and habitat It is native to Europe, northern temperate Asia, and North America across Canada and the United States. It ...

, and other shrubs and herbs. Mammals found here include the

Douglas squirrel The Douglas squirrel (''Tamiasciurus douglasii'') is a pine squirrel found in the Pacific Northwest of North America, including the northwestern coastal states of the United States as well as the southwestern coast of British Columbia in Canada, ...

black-tailed deer Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer that occupy coastal woodlands in the Pacific Northwest of North America are subspecies of the mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''). They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all r ...

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...

, and

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...

. Many birds and amphibians also inhabit the watershed. In areas which have been converted by residential development, exotic and invasive species predominate, including

English ivy English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

and

Himalayan blackberry ''Rubus armeniacus'', the Himalayan blackberry or Armenian blackberry, is a species of ''Rubus'' in the blackberry group ''Rubus'' subgenus ''Rubus'' series ''Discolores'' (P.J. Müll.) Focke. It is native to Armenia and Northern Iran, and wide ...

Salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

are a native part of Eagle Creek's ecosystem. Today, the fish are encouraged and protected by the actions of the Eagle Creek Streamkeepers.

Toxic spills

Eagle Creek has experienced a number of spills in residential areas that caused serious damage to the trout and salmon population, most recently in the summer of 2006

Photo gallery

File:Eagle Creek tributary Upper Aubrey St.jpg, Upper Eagle Creek tributaries at the end of Aubrey St File:Eagle Creek tributary Birkdale Pl north.JPG, An Eagle Creek tributary north of Birkdale Pl File:Eagle Creek tributary Birkdale Pl south.JPG, An Eagle Creek tributary south of Birkdale Pl File:Eagle Creek tributary Ednor Cr.JPG, An Eagle Creek tributary at Ednor Cr just north of Greystone Dr, Montecito File:Eagle Creek tributary lane nr Augusta.JPG, An Eagle Creek tributary in a lane off Augusta Ave File:Eagle Creek tributary Curtis @ Augusta.JPG, An Eagle Creek tributary at Curtis St and Augusta Ave File:Eagle Creek @ Greystone Drive.JPG, Eagle Creek at Greystone Drive File:Eagle Creek @ Philips.JPG, Eagle Creek at Phillips Ave and Woodbrook Pl, near Greystone Mall {{Watershed navbox , watershedtype = Drainage basin, Watershed , watershed =

Brunette River The Brunette River runs through East Burnaby, New Westminster and Coquitlam, flowing out of Burnaby Lake and to the Fraser River. According to a map and materials by Heritage Advisory Committee and Environment and Waste Management Committee of the ...

, waterway = Eagle Creek
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Lakes and waterways of Burnaby