Down in the Estuary.

Foggy days

Slow water drifts

Sea Run Trout flash

Beaver dam roars

Geese honk, Ducks quack

Eagle stares

Fish Bone remnants drift by

Another perfect day 

Stream Keepers February.

Rain, we finally had some, seems like it is odd to herald the coming of rain unless in the middle of a drought but rain and more rain is what we need for the streams. If you go walking in the hills you will notice that most wetlands are more on the low side as opposed to overflowing which is the norm for January.   Low rain events over the winter combined with low snowfalls does little for the re-charge of our watersheds. The rain has little chance to soak into the ground with the surface dry most water runs off towards the nearest stream or wetland without soaking into the ground and eventually re-charging the aquifers beneath.

Somewhere out there is an equation to calculate how long it takes water [rain] that has soaked into the ground to reach the aquifers and eventually discharge through wetlands, springs and evaporation. [It takes a long time]

As we know forests can create their own weather and rain events from the evaporation given off by the trees, if you look towards the mountains during one of those now rare wet periods you can see moisture flowing out of the trees like wisps of cloud rising from the forest.

Lately the only weather we have seen created by the trees is from all the fog we have been getting as the fog condenses among the needles creating rain beneath. This does bode well for the trees but does not give enough to recharge the wetland and aquifers; we need lots of rain for that.

 Planting trees is one of the most rewarding and helpful experiences the volunteer’s do outside of salvaging fry.

To plant a tree gives the volunteers a sense of ownership and pride when that tree eventually pokes its top above the shrubbery and starts it journey to become a mature tree, hopefully many hundreds of years old before it falls to continue its cycle of life and death unhampered by mans need to cut them down.

 That is the nice thing about the estuary that being a nature preserve we have great expectations that any tree that survives the Deer browse, the Beavers lunch, Voles or Mice chewing them to feed on the bark and any other natural misfortune they may experience we will see them reaching for the sky.

This also holds true to a certain degree for any tree planted by the side of any stream but the sad thing is that around human habitation trees tend to get cut down either for a view or paranoia that they may fall on the house.

Many years ago we had a tree that was around 100+ years old growing beside the road when the neighbour said he was going to cut it down as he stated he did not trust it, I replied ‘Trust it, how can you not trust a tree, it is not going anywhere and is not going to ask to borrow any money” and it is on the road right of way therefore not yours to cut down, his reply was that it may fall down, of course it may fall but also it may not as a mature Douglas Fir [menziesii] can live for a 1,000 years and around 200 years when seed production reaches its peak so as you can see most trees you can see on any given day is no more than a teenager far from the once mature trees which made this coast what it was prior to removing the vast majority of the coasts forest cover. Connect this to the productivity of our wild Salmon and you can begin to understand the great loss we have experienced this past mere hundred years. [Of course I came home one day and the tree was cut down] A true tragedy of the commons.

Down in the estuary at the head of the bay we had one flood where the streams overflowed their banks and created flooding all the way back to the rail tracks just short of the Petro Can station at NW Bay Rd during that one and only large rain event we did have. The water was at one was point not much more than 6 inches from topping NW Bay Rd at one location, this demonstrates the speed in which our watersheds discharge when we do get some rain. Under normal [if there is such a thing] conditions the rain would soak in and discharge much slower taking days for water levels to rise, now we se it occurring the very next if not the same day as the rain. This can lead to Salmon eggs being flushed out of the substrate or being buried too deep for the fry to emerge due to heavy sediment loads washing off the land via roads and ditches leading directly to the streams. Speaking of roads we have thousands of kilometres of asphalt roads, which leach out toxic hydrocarbons into the environment. A recent study on leachate in road runoff was conducted to see what if any effect this leachate had on Coho Fry, water samples where taken and introduced into a tank with Coho fry from roadside ditches that had no vegetation, the result being that most Coho died from the toxic run off.

The next test was with water flowing off the road into a vegetated ditch which had the result of no mortalities when fry where introduced showing how the vegetation has the ability to filter out a portion of the toxins. As a result today if made aware of this most road maintenance crews stay away from so called cleaning of ditches and instead just maintain the culverts with a hand shovel to clean out any blockages.

Recently we have looked at the possibility of opening fish access above the highway at the fire hall on Knarston Creek. This will take the form of a fish habitat survey [fisheries level one survey] from the Salish Sea to the upper watershed. This will quantify the habitat parameters and allow us to see if it is possible to open up this long neglected habitat.

In years past some fry salvage was done on Knarston when time and conditions dictated and these fish where placed in Dumont Marsh for year round habitat. Some of these fish will residualise if they cannot get out to the Salish Sea but most if not all will migrate down the stream to the sea either as 1+ year olds or as two year+ olds. Anyone who went along the shore at Knarston this past fall will have had the treat of seeing many Wild Coho jumping along the shore, this does not mean that they were all awaiting the chance to enter Knarston because a lot of these fish could end up in any one of the streams around Nanoose Bay or even further like Nanaimo river and other streams around Nanaimo or even all the way up towards the Englishmen River.

Without an active tagging program we can only guess the streams these fish will spawn in.

Coming up over the next two months is also a good chance to see the major forage fish during its annual spawning run along the shore, the once mighty Herring.

 Like the once mighty forests we had humongous runs of Herring every year spawning like a great silver wave hitting the coast from San Francisco in the south to Alaska in the North.

 Like a tidal wave these once abundant fish poured onto the beaches spawning in their millions providing a food source for all the fish in the sea and most important for our young salmon exiting the streams in the spring.

 Take some time towards the end of the month and into next month to walk to the beach and witness one of nature true marvels before it is all gone.

 Due to mismanagement of the resource through over fishing a fish species, [ read East Coast Cod]which can spawn for several years during its life cycle, taken solely for its eggs to sate an appetite in Japan. Last year we had no shallow water spawning due mainly to a whole fleet of seine boats being allowed to fish the stocks that were getting ready to spawn along the foreshore of Nanoose Bay and Lantzville.

Enjoy nature as much as possible and all its wonder, take the kids for walks so they can experience nature first hand other than on TV and they may grow up avoiding what is termed Natures Deficit Syndrome. That is when humans lose their connection with nature and experience only man made landscapes.

When a city dweller gets a chance to walk in nature the one common remark they all make is how good they feel after such a walk, which shows how we all can benefit from a good walk along the foreshore or in the woods.

If you can get the chance to visit the central coast or as it has become known as The Great Bear Rain Forest do so as soon as you can to truly experience a real rain forest before it is all gone.

Stream Keepers December

Merry holidays to all and thanks from the fish who by now have most of their eggs firmly buried within the substrate of our local streams once again continuing with their evolutionary journey through time.

Awesome is the only way to describe the returns of Wild Coho on all our streams this last month. Though a little late on some streams they were a little early on others. I do hope you got out to view these fish as they made there way up stream and if not you may still have a chance as the late runs come in. You do not have to look too hard to see them this year due to their abundance.

Bloods Creek Wild Coho were all the way above the highway but due to lower than usual flows were unable to make it all the way to Green Lake. Chum were seen within the lower reaches though once they get past the highway they have a hard time moving further into the system. The Wild Coho at one time moved all the way up into Copley Creek above Green Lake. Due to a dam placed on the stream back in the coal mining days stopped this upstream migration though the mining company did say they would build a fish ladder it never came to fruition and only when the dam was gone did fish move back upstream.

Knarston Creek had a good return moving all the way to the highway where a hung culvert behind the fire hall stops them, which is sad for the fish as at one time they went all the way up above the highway in to the foothills like Bloods Creek. [Bad planning by highways or bad advice when they redid the highway back in the day]

 If you were into ocean beach fishing Knarston was the spot this year as it seemed that all the Coho in the bay were of the mouth of Knarston along the shore.

 One report was out of 21 Coho caught only one was marked as a hatchery fish with the adipose removed. They stayed along the shore so long this year that upon returning into spawn they had turned black and red already instead of being silver bright in the stream.

Even Dublin Gulch at the Nanoose rest area had a small showing of Wild Coho pushing up from the beach, though only a small number return and have limited spawning opportunities before coming to the barrier falls. Well worth the short walk back up the stream to see the falls especially when the falls are frozen.

 Bonnel Creek was awesome with an early showing of small what I would think were female Chum due to there small size followed by a really good run of Wild Coho, which also brought in another flush of Chum this time larger and more abundant. Walking the entire length of available spawning habitat we were surprised at the amount of both the Coho and Chum throughout the whole system, which bodes well for the future.

Recently a document came into my possession, which showed data from the early 70’s when Bonnel had counts of thousands of Chum. Also in the data was a prescription for removal of Beaver dams and logs jams along with gravel removal, which went ahead with DFO approval. From that year on the runs began to decline until the returning numbers went down in to the low hundreds and even lower in some years. This was a case of putting the cart before the horse so to speak, remove the habitat and the spawning gravel and then the stream flows unhindered to the Salish Sea just like building a big ditch. What was not considered was that entire habitat was contributing to those large returns of Chum and Coho.

 In the case this year on Nanoose Creek I had to keep some volunteers from wanting to pull the Beaver dams as they thought they were a impediment to the Chum from moving further upstream. Upon further walks upstream Chum were found way above the highway showing how they could transit those dams and any other log debris jams they encountered. The Wild Coho on Nanoose were observed as far up as Matthew Crossing and beyond with another spectacular run after all these years of slow returns. Again a good example of just leaving the habitat alone and it will take care of itself.

Craig Creek had a good return also of Chum and Coho. The Coho can go as far as the logging camp when flows allow which on most years is as late as Xmas with the chum being restricted to the lower reaches. In the days past a small Chum hatchery was placed on the lower Craig to try to increase the numbers but as usual failed and the only achievement was the further depletion of the wild stocks. When you have kilometres of habitat for the Salmon to spawn unhindered you have to allow nature to take its course even though man thinks he knows what is best for nature it does not always work that way. [Ego]

As we know all Salmon and Trout’s have adapted over the millennia to be able spawn and rear in each stream building immunities and adapting to all the conditions specific to that stream even down to the individual tributary. A Salmon is a Salmon I hear after all there brains are no where as big as ours in fact they are about the size of a pea. Pea brained they maybe but in size only and the more I find out about past practices on our local streams I think it is the humans that made those detrimental decisions that have the pea brain. Ever try to catch a fish? Sure you can but many times you will be outwitted by that fish with only a brain the size of a pea. Go figure. It was also good to see Black’y or one of his offspring back down in the estuary at the head of the bay taking his fill of Chum, which is the easiest for the bear to catch. All he has to do is sit in an advantages spot along the banks or on a log and take his pick. Watching a bear fish is wild to say the least, they tend to look uninterested then suddenly down plunges his paw and bam there is a fish hang off his claws then up on the bank or log if enough room and chomp goes a big chunk from the back of the head then tossed into the pile. When they have time it is amazing to see peel off the skin better than I can do with my filleting knife as they devour the rest leaving the scraps for rocky Racoon, Mink, Otter and even the birds all taking there share, even the flora gets a good hit of nutrients via the excrement deposited throughout the forest.

Happy New Year to all and we all look forward to the coming emergence from the gravel next spring of yet another start of the incredible journey the Salmon undertake to complete their life cycle once again.

Stream keepers January 2014

Where has all the rain gone, what was the wet coast has been the dry coast so far this winter which for the fish maybe a problem next year with limited recharge within the watersheds.

With a recent walk along Bloods Crk from Lantzville Rd to the highway and above it was gratifying to see dead carcasses still visible here and there. This section just below the highway is a hidden jewel this close to the village core, a little difficult to walk down into the gully but well worth it. { Possible park status ?]

This is the site of one of the volunteer garbage cleanups we conducted in the past where we removed a big dumpster load of garbage, it was good to find very little trash and no garbage dumped down the bank.

With all the eggs tucked away within the substrate walking the streambed is not advisable until the fry have emerged next spring. With winter we get some sea run cutthroat venturing into our streams looking for stray eggs and later on spawning opportunities for there own offspring.

The small stream called Slogar Brook which runs from the kennel property parallel to Lantzville road then down Sebastion to exit on Sebastion beach at one time was a active spawning stream for Sea Run Cutthroat as late as the 80,s fish were reported to be seen spawning.

The stream contains native Cutthroat, which remain their whole life within the stream hence being on the small size when compared to the Sea Run cutthroat. Due to urban devolpement the only continuous wetted reach runs from the beach to Lantzville Rd.

Above very little wetted habitat is available due to being ditched over the years and overall flows restricted from diversions.

The only stream that was showing difficulty was Craig Creek due to its flow going subsurface at Northwest Bay Rd. On recent walks below the road we found carcasses and bits lying along the banks down to the estuary at the Salish Sea.

 In years past when we had been walking along the upper reaches we encountered Wild Coho making their way upstream as late as January.

How do Salmon find their place of birth, often asked I usually reply that they smell the river or stream of their birth, smell how can that be they say so I go on to explain how a fishes brain is kind of shaped like a Y with the thinking part at the Y junction and on either end of the top of the Y are the olfactory organs which are connected directly to the nose allowing the fish to smell the free molecules in fresh water and hence can detect individual drops that come from the very same pool that they were born into.

This is another reason that wild Salmon are more able to survive than hatchery fish by passing on this trait to their offspring, which in the hatchery environs does not occur.

A study done on sockeye showed that after catching fish off Haida Gwai and blinding some fish while blocking the noses of others resulted in only the ones who made it back were the ones who were blinded. Another study found that when gravel was replaced with fresh gravel often from a quarry the fish had a hard time finding a familiar place to spawn due to the smell of the gravel being different, go figure something as simple as smell would be one of the main reasons for millions of Salmon returning to there home waters.

Trees which grow in particular soil types also affect the PH of the water which in turn affects the smell that is why when a different species of tree is re-planted the PH of the water exiting the forest is changed further confusing the fishes sense of smell.

Over the holidays we planted native trees right up to Xmas mainly down in the wildlife reserve at the head of the bay, which contains Bonnel and Nanoose Creeks.

We still saw dead Chum laying all throughout the estuary mainly due to the low flows and lack of rain not flushing them out and most wildlife being sated on fish from the big runs last fall.  When they get hungry later they may still munch on those rotten old eyeless Chum drifting around the streams.

With all the eggs tucked away nice and snug in their gravel we now await their emergence from the gravel this coming spring to begin their epic life cycle and journey around the Pacific Ocean.

Fishy Fish

Estuary days

Still the water sits

Sleeping

Ripples stir the surface

Cronk goes Heron

Mother Salmon calls

The return begins.