Once, Guichon Creek was a free-flowing stream. Chum and coho salmon swam up the creek to spawn.

Then the city of Burnaby, B.C., grew up around the creek. Houses, office towers, and roads were built. Much of the waterway was paved over. In the 1960s, the B.C. Institute of Technology (BCIT) campus was built on top of the creek.

Enter Mark Angelo

Fifty years ago, Mark Angelo was a new teacher at BCIT. He heard there was a creek on campus — Guichon Creek.

“On my very first day I went to look at it,” he says.