Ron Ackerson of Williams Lake is wondering what is happening to Missioner Creek.
The creek, which flows through his yard in the 3000 block of Maple Street, has been running brown and muddy this week.
“It normally runs crystal clear,” Ackerson, who has lived there for more than 40 years, said Tuesday.
“I am really concerned because at the end of August and the first week of September Eastern Brook Trout will be trying to spawn there.”
Freshwater shrimp are also living in the creek, he said.
Through the years, Ackerson has been taking videos and photographs of the creek.
He and his wife have an acre and a half of property and enjoy many visitors including a resident doe and her babies, mallard ducks who return every year, also with babies, and most recently an orange tanager.
“We really love it here and this mud in the creek is driving me crazy,” Ackerson said.
“I have been calling everyone I can think of to try and find out what’s happening,” he explained, suggesting maybe someone who lives near the creek at other points will help him solve the mystery.
The Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources confirmed late Thursday after press time that its Compliance and Enforcement Branch is aware of the matter and investigating it, but because of the ongoing investigation it wasn’t appropriate to comment further at this time.
