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November 2013

Stream Keepers November

Luckily we had so much rain during September and early October flows may stay steady until the rains return. Due to the fog we feel it has been wet but this last few weeks has been very dry. With the flows seemingly stable we all ready have seen several Wild Chum returning to Bonnel Creek and Nanoose creek.

With what seem like lots of Wild Coho jumping along the foreshore the past weeks we are anticipating that we will get good returns on all the streams.

October brings opportunities to plant more trees around the watersheds where we think they may do good like one of the large gravel bars on Bonnel, for years we have planted Willow and Cedar trees only to see a few survive as the stream floods either bringing more gravel or eroding more away. Already over the years the channel has changed from the main flow a few years ago to a whole new channel since we lost the big log jam above. The bonus for the fish is that the new logjam below is awesome to say the least with lots of cover and food to sustain them through the summer months well protected from predation by the jam.

Last month we planted around 60 trees within the estuary, each year we plant more, and the Deer chew them along with the Beaver. It may seem pointless but when you walk down by the streams you slowly begin to see a nice Cedar tree poking up out of the underbrush or a beautiful Sitka Spruce rising above the expanse of Nootka Rose.

One such tree is Errol’s tree, a long time volunteer Errol wandered off one planting day many years ago just to see if the Spruce plugs we had would take lower down towards the beach. Well all these years later it now stands tall among the rose bushes. Following his lead we have planted more in similar ecosystems throughout the estuary and now wait for the day we notice them and have bragging rights to new volunteers.

Recently some may have noticed the hand made sign along Lantzville rd about  -Transition, The power of just doing stuff, You may think what does this have to do with Salmon? Well where do I begin at the beginning I guess, many years ago when I was commercially fishing to support my growing family I decided to give back and joined my friends from Snaw Naw As in there fisheries program. This led to forming the stream keepers later on, the first thing I noticed working with Snaw Naw As fisheries was how they were being led along by advisors from DFO. It was not long before I realised that most of what they were advising was following the industrial model of Fish factories by talking them into the installing a fish factory [hatchery also read monies available for hiring these self same advisors] under the illusion that this was the only way to go in saving and increasing the depleted runs of Salmon returning to local streams. As usual I soon realised that fish factories were the main problem as the whole idea was based on the industrial model which had been applied to everything man touched and more often than not was the main reason we had so many problems. Our kids eating nothing but processed food when at one time we had such abundance here on the coast I could not believe it had been allowed to slip away all in the name of so called jobs as we decimated the once mighty forest that once covered the whole coast providing the most important component of the Salmons life cycle, HABITAT.

It was not long before I realised if we continued along this model soon we would be in a state of crisis which we do find our selves in today with our Salmon.

The entire habitat gone replaced by more and more fish factories being placed on smaller and smaller streams all in a vain attempt to engage the public in Salmon. I knew deep down this was wrong after all Salmon had been doing there thing for thousands if not millions of years without modern mans intervention and as usual once man starts to manage nature things begin to fail. Okay enough of the rant and back to transition, I realised the only way to help the Salmon was to just do what felt right for the fish which surprising enough was -wait for it HABITAT yes the power of just doing stuff. When I was able to influence decisions around our local streams one of the first things was as little as possible interaction with the so-called powers that be and there so called advisors.

 If I had not we would have had fish factories on every stream and then that would have been the end of our wild Salmon forever. When we decided to do habitat work we went ahead without the involvement of any so called experts and followed the teachings told to me by the elders of both Snaw Naw As and my adopted family from the Kwakwakwakalla nation on northern Vancouver Island and the adjacent mainland. From these elders I learned the true meaning of stewardship and all it entailed. For the past 15 years stream keepers have just been doing stuff instead of awaiting permission from a failed system. Today we have the runs of both wild Coho and wild Chum returning in sufficient numbers to continue the genetic lines the fish have developed over the millennia to survive. So as you can see just doing stuff that benefits us all and above all else nature then how can you go wrong. So reclaim that vacant boulevard out front and plant some food producing shrubs and even dare I say it a veggie garden after all we collectively own all the district land in Lantzville so it is yours to do as you see fit as long as it benefits the community as a whole you can feel pride you are helping head us in a more caring and inclusive community.

Oh yes I can hear it now the uproar this could cause with the so called powers that be but remember this, those self same detractors are the self same ones who still support a failed system.

Be proud of you neighbourhood and the greater community at large and do all you can to help it flourish and you will find that as nature improves so does your own quality of life. Be proud to be a Lantz villager.

PS On the Salmon my tip this month is for you to spend 20 minutes or so and watch a short talk given by a man called Jim Lichatowich [ Google ] a prominent biologist from Oregon talking about our Salmon and where we collectively find our selves today after 100 years plus of the failed fish factory hatchery program. Oh yes I have already been told that “ He is from the US and therefore it does not apply to BC” as if the facts and the science does not apply because of a imaginary border, Salmon roam all over the Pacific and yes we do have the same problems as the US it is just that we still have some intact watersheds and wild Salmon left on our coast but for how long.

Empower yourself then you can make good informed decision about life.

Oh another thing Go out and plant a tree, alongside a stream or even just on the boulevard as long as it is not under any power lines and if so plant a shrub, take ownership and the village will flourish. Semi dwarf Apple trees feed people, berry bushes too. Would it not be nice to go for your walk and be able to pluck a Apple from a roadside tree, maybe the kids on the way to school instead of that candy bar or pop. Remember that one glass of orange juice contains up to 9 teaspoons of sugar unless you squeeze fresh.

October2013

Stream Keepers

During the past couple of months we have seen the weather revert back to the rainy season. Most creeks as of this writing are now flowing due to lots of wet weather over the past month and in particular the big storm we got last week. Luckily we just received the tail end with winds in access of 100 K per hour, which still brought a huge amount of rain to our watersheds. With all the excitement about the big returns of Pink salmon to the coast this year we hope to see a big run of Chum later this month. The Wild Coho are also returning to the coast and we also hope for good returns to all the streams we steward.

This is one of the most rewarding times of the year to be out and about in the watersheds with flows returning the habitat changes once again back to being fish friendly. Walking one stream today we followed my favourite bird for half the walk as she or he danced ahead of us taking the occasional swim underwater to catch an invertebrate then springing back onto a rock giving its distinctive call and in years past I have sat alongside a pool and mimicked there call and had one hop onto the toe of my wellie’s giving me the once over then off it went in search of more food.

The old Black Bear has been around rooting out the last of the grubs from stumps and rotten logs along the streams. We always relish encounters with the bear especially if we are real close.

The Bear has no fear until it realises what we are then they either climb into a nearby tree or vanish into the bush. This gives me a good opportunity to give a quick Bear awareness lesson especially if we have new members who have never been around Bears before. Most folk freak when they see a Bear until they realise that the Bear is more wary of the average human than they are of the Bear. Years of being shot at or hunted have trained the Bear to ovoid humans as best as possible as they know humans represent death. The Bear is a very smart animal and its job around the streams is well known carrying carcasses deep into the forest spreading nutrients around for the trees and shrubs. Also grub for those who cannot fish themselves as they feed on the scraps even down to the smallest bugs. Another good thing about the watersheds at this time is the huge abundance of mushrooms and if you know what is what, you can have feasts that would make even the best of gourmets jealous.

We are looking forward to later this month when we will see the first fish returning to our streams, all along the shore from Nanaimo to the head of the bay has wild Coho feeding of which you can sometimes catch a glimpse of as they jump and feed even right along the beach at Sebastion. With such early rain storms we should see fish earlier than last year especially for the Chum who make it back and sometimes find that when the high tide recedes are stranded in ever diminishing pools with the riffles dry between. These early Chum then become lunch for Bear and family along with all the other wildlife which descend on the streams at this time of year to join in the fall feast the spawned fish provide.  So as you can read now is the time to feast on natures abundance, take a baking glass dish pour in Olive oil to cover the bottom, do not be shy Olive oil is really good for you, next a nice bed of Sea Asparagus with a nice fillet of wild salmon laid on top then sliced Chanterelle mushrooms fresh from the forest, bake in the oven at 425 for 20 to 30 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillet, serve and enjoy. For a little kick I like to put some Mango Dub or Pineapple Express hot sauce [home made] on top before baking, Yum.

July 2013

Stream keepers

Another month rolls by and the nice wet weather continues to re-charge the watersheds bringing all kinds of nutrients and bugs downstream to the waiting newly emerged Wild Coho fry and what smolts still remain in the streams. A question asked the other day was “ How do fry and smolts adapt to the salinity of the estuary and the Salish sea at high tide when the ocean flows upstream” well here we go, most research has concluded that size is one of the factors in salt water tolerance, having said that fry can if introduced slowly to increased salinity adapt to a certain extent but will die if placed directly into saltwater until they reach the 7 to 8 cm size and when reaching around 9cm their hypo-osmoregulatory mechanism is fully functional which means that up until they gain size they can only survive with low salinity as in estuaries when tide flows in and out giving the freshwater a slow influx of salinity allowing the smaller fry to adapt over time. Of course once the fry reach the 9cm range they are now considered smolts and the majority will migrate directly into the sea while some may stay up to another year and then leave as 3 year olds spending another year before returning to continue the cycle. Now having said all that we now have another class of fry aptly named nomads who will freely move from stream habitat to brackish estuary waters then come fall will move back upstream into the headwaters for the winter leaving the estuary ecotone which is the transition between ecotypes, fresh to brackish or the tidal influence when high tide pushes back upstream turning the fresh to brackish. As mentioned before this is the important rearing area for fry to make the osmotic transition to the sea and most importantly for the fry a abundant source of Isopods, amphipods and yes the more common word bugs. So yes the fry can survive if all is well with the habitat, then comes the question why are some larger than others well the short answer is that those fry that move downstream into the ecotone have a higher temperature than the upper stream habitat hence the more abundant food and the increase in size noticed as they move back upstream to more freshwater habitat mingling with those who were more territorial and stayed in their habitat which they are able to defend some times quite aggressively.

Now having said that, here we go again, some fry have in studies been shown to leave the stream habitat as fry and return as adults wait for it, in only 2 years from exiting the stream. Now we have these same called nomads that move back into the stream habitat when conditions are right and spend the winter either in their natal stream or some times in non natal habitat, possibly from moving along the foreshore in the brackish water then migrating into another nearby stream to complete the freshwater cycle. Now you are totally confused here comes the simple answer, fish do what fish do and have been for thousands of years and other than what occurs in nature the biggest threat is loss of all kinds of habitat mainly due to mans activities in the watersheds. Just the other day as I was walking along the road I observed a neighbour exiting the ditch/stream and scurrying off into his yard when we approached leaving a strong smell of gasoline and what looked like a empty yogurt container with a greasy looking slick being swept away by the current so here is another case of knowing better but a case of what the hell who cares. He is not alone as many times I see the small stream that flows across Ware rd down through the back of the lumber yard and between the Cabinet store and the Chiropractors office sprayed with herbicide directly into the stream. This may solve your perceived problem with vegetation but the knock on affect it has on the ecosystems is immeasurable. So please be aware of other life than your own both plant and animal if you want a liveable world for our kids and their kids down the road. In regard to that note I would ask all residents to lobby the council for an herbicide and pesticide ban in Lantzville and think before you pollute and remember no matter how safe the corporations who manufacture the poison say it is it is still poison to all life yours included it just may take a little longer to kill you than it does to kill bugs and plants. [Read Cancer, ask the tens of thousands in Southeast Asia who have been dying and living with all the birth defects and cancers from Agent Orange for the past 50 years.]

For those who like to fish for there dinner there are lots of opportunities to catch some nice big Spring salmon out front around the Winchelsea Islands these days, these fish are probably heading into the Nanaimo River system so do not feel bad about catching them as they are probably hatchery fish, but remember to release any that are wild so future generations can experience wild fish. If you are lucky you may catch a white-fleshed Spring, which is either from the Columbia River system or from our own Harrison River. In my opinion one of the best eating Spring salmon you will eat.  Down at the beach please pick up any garbage you find especially those who choose to just drop there doggy bag where ever they want expecting either the Salish Sea to take care of it or someone else.

Febuary 2013

Stream Keepers 2013Febuary.

Happy New Year

Since our short break at the holiday season we met the first Saturday of January to do some winter maintenance which involved the removal of a couple of standing dead alder trees which over hung the trail into our lake and another couple leaning over our fish counting box. All the trees were already losing sections when it snowed and to prevent an accident we decided to cut them down to be on the safe side. This brought up the question of the trees values as wildlife trees. The obvious signs that wood pecker had been using the trees to the point that they were almost totally covered in holes where they had been removing various grubs from deep within the decaying wood. By now they were totally ridden with mycelium colonizing the decaying wood extracting as much and what nutrients and minerals the mycelium had decided to harvest and not only for its self but for other trees and plants that the mycelium had colonized. The big bonus for me was the nice big fat Oyster Mushrooms growing all over the trunks of the Alder. Great lunch and dinner treat. As we steward the fish as best we can we also try to educate volunteers to the connectivity of all life in the forest and yes you guessed it the one big connection is mycelium, networks of hypha some that have been estimated to be over 2,000 years old and spreading for miles feeding and regulating the organic matter and growth cycles of all the forest plants. Hypha have the ability to extract nutrients and minerals from other plants and deliver them to host plants which use the mycelium as scavengers roaming throughout the forest often for miles gathering what they need.

A healthy forest means a healthy watershed not only for our fish but also mainly for our selves for without the enviroment guess what we do not survive. The environment is so complex that with all the available knowledge we have we still only can hope to scratch the surface so to speak of trying to understand the complex web that makes for functioning ecosystems.

All this unseen life going on in the watersheds influences the marine ecosystem as all that water running down stream carries all types of nutrients to the ocean where it contributes to the health or of the oceans ecosystems. Take a walk along the shore at low tide and see for your self how complex life really is.

 Where is your ditch? How many know where their ditch goes, try to think of how your rain finds its way from your house to the ocean. Then think of what you spray and use around your home and how it also makes its way into the streams and into the ocean.

Lantzville could have a pesticide bylaw but as I was told

“The province did not do it so why would we” This is very narrow thinking for does not the overall health of our citizens and especially our children deserve better for the future than a severely depleted and polluted environment to live in. We talk of outdoor burning but spray wily nilly every plant we call weeds with carcinogenic chemicals stinking up the air for our neighbors to breath and leaching into our waterways and yes eventually our very own drinking water. If you are backyard burning watch the wind and only burn when it blows away from your neighbors or wait until they leave home for the day and no there is no need to burn plastic and other garbage just because you can whether it is in a contained barrel or out in the open.

We are lucky to have such large areas of forest to walk in and take in the magnificence of nature.

Remember when out in the woods or on the beach take out what you take in and as they say leave only footprints.

Lantzville at one time had a saying “If you want good neighbors be ONE”.

March 2013

Stream Keepers

Over the past month we have been busy walking our streams looking for Wild Coho to see how far up into the watersheds they are going. All streams walked showed good returns for these fish, which may continue right through the Xmas season. Trees have been planted along some of the stream banks where the riparian has been damaged in the past. Along the foreshore we have seen a large population of Sea Lions (Sea Wolfs) (100 to 200 animals) feeding on a large biomass of Herring, which has been moving along our shores for the past month. Along with the Sea Wolfs there has been a large flock of Mergansers also feeding along the shore. These birds seem to be feeding on Sand Lance (Needle Fish), which bodes well for the salmon next spring as they emerge from the streams to feed along the foreshore. Samples have been taken of the substrate to be sent to the lab for further evaluation as to the presence of their eggs which they bury in the sand between the high - high tide line and the low -high tide line, this is the two lines you see along the beach when one tide reaches all the way up the beach and the next one only comes half way, this tide is not to be confused with the low tide lines. One of the most important areas of the beach we seem to be losing due to the urge to have a view is the riparian trees, which provides very important shade for the foreshore. Without this shade the eggs can dry out before they hatch further depleting this important species of which our young Wild Salmon rely on to grow as they migrate and feed along the shore. One resident asked why do we not replant our beach accesses and provide some natural vegetation for at least that small section of the shoreline; I replied that he should bring his concerns to the council meetings and the Parks committee.

In the past I volunteered to replant the access at Huddleston and spent all winter replanting with native plants only to see them mowed down by the grass cutter. Hopefully over this winter I will be able to replant and next spring hopefully they will not get mowed down. A tree planted at the end of Harper Rd was cut down by the same staff member who later denied cutting it down and when another was planted it too was cut down and the explanation was “I did not know we were planting trees” obviously the tree had been planted so why would anyone cut it down?

May the new year bring you all good luck and happiness and hopefully you will think of what you can do to help our environment and what you as a resident can do to beautify Lantzville, planting the road right of way with flowers and shrubs or trees as long as there are no power lines above and if so only plant low growing trees and shrubs. Lets all work towards a Lantzville we can all be proud of.

Wild Salmon Poem

Estuary days.

Still the water sits

Sleeping

Ripples stir the surface

Cronk goes Heron

Mother Salmon calls

The return begins.

Rain falling soft and heavy

Nootka Rose hips sparkle

Tide pools slosh with Chum

Unfortunate stranding

Broken eyes stare upwards

Crow and Sea Gull lunch

Black bear crashing

Fish thrashing

More lunch.

Drizzle and smelly fish

Stinky decay

Lifeless eyes scan the sky

Raccoon comes for dinner

Fly’s buzz

Maggots emerge

Another day another Salmon.

December2012

Stream keepers.

A Jolly Holiday season to all and May the New Year be kind to all.

Over the past month we have been very busy helping the Wild Chum move up the streams. One stream has a Beaver dam about 4 feet high where the Bear was sitting and fishing. With no Chum moving beyond this point we managed to clear a small channel around the dam allowing the Chum to move further upstream. This Beaver dam was a very valuable addition to the stream during the summer months impounding water all the way back to the highway giving the Wild Coho fry and Trout’s valuable habitat during the otherwise dry summer and fall. The same on another stream but this time it was a large log jam from last winter that was blocking upstream passage. We had some advice telling us that we should get a machine in during the summer to remove the jam. Easy advice to give but logistically it would have caused more damage to the riparian zone getting the machine into the creek so it was dismissed as ill advised to go this route. Instead we were able to clear a small channel around the jam where the stream had decided it wanted to go. This channel was plugged with small woody debris and leaves which took a couple of attempts over two days to clear the debris and allow the Chum to move further upstream. By the time you read this we should have a good return of Wild Coho moving upstream on all the streams from the Englishman River to Bloods Creek. We will be planting more trees to replace the ones removed by the Beaver and planting some Willow and Red Osier to further vegetate the stream banks over the next few weeks.

We also took a walk along the high tide line at the estuary in Nanoose Bay to remove garbage and other debris accumulated over the summer months.

We are in the process designing and acquiring new signs for Bloods and Upper Knarston and should have them installed by the time you read this in December. Remember to get out and about and enjoy the forest and the beaches.

 Pack out what you take in and leave only footprints.

October 2012

Stream Keeping

On the long weekend I drove over to Ucluelet and was surprised to see most streams on the way over bone dry. This corresponded with most of our small streams on this side, no rain no flow what will the fish do? Wait, the only thing to do. The fish seem to know, thousands of years coming and going has allowed them to survive conditions of draught until it rains sufficiently to return surface flows to allow them to transit the stream to the place of their birth or close enough. Nanoose Bay allows for a nice safe environment for holding fish awaiting the rains, full of feed and relatively few predators they can socialise and prepare for the last leg of their ocean odyssey into the stream of their birth.

Down in the estuary two dead Chum recently killed by being stranded when the tide went out were in the process of becoming lunch for the Gulls and Crows. With the coming of nightfall other predators will emerge from the forest to take their share of the coming bounty, Bear will be right at home after feasting on apples over the past weeks, Raccoon will join the feast along with Otter and Mink; nutrients will be spread throughout the forest benefiting all plants which in turn will provide shade and nutrients back into the stream to nature the eggs and eventually the fry next spring. The Black Bear that seems to be the resident fisher has already got his trails cleared to his favourite fishing holes. Several live Chum were thrashing around in pools barley deep enough to cover their backs awaiting  the returning tide which will flood the lower reaches allowing them to move further up the streams to deeper wetted habitat. This year the Chum is on average a larger fish than other years with lots 10 pounds with some close to 15/20 pounds. One monster male Chum surfaced and swam around the pool looking a good 15 pounds plus as we stood and watched.

By the time you are reading this I hope to see some wild Coho returning into the streams as the small amount of rain we have had so far [20^th] is barley returning flow though up in the upper watersheds flows are beginning to return and in time will reach the estuary of the dryer streams hopefully by November. Some fishing [catch and release] is going on down in Nanoose Bay from the shore for Coho feeding on forage fish [Herring, Sand lance, Smelts etc] who use Nanoose Bay as a rearing area relatively free from predators.

As Fall progresses more fish will return to our streams and hopefully we will see good returns of both Chum and Coho. Along with the return of the Salmon we also are treated to one of natures other gifts at this time of year, fungus or to give it a friendlier name mushrooms. Around the watersheds the silent mushroom picker wanders throughout the forest in search of Chanterelles, Pine Mushrooms, Porcini and many more good eating fungi, but beware to only eat mushrooms if you know what they are. Have a great fall and try to get out into the woods once in awhile.