1. Smit Forsythe Project Update

Smit Forsythe Project Update

"The TRRS has begun to engage landowners in the Smit Forsythe system and worries about "restrictions" or "new regulations" are coming up.

The changes we need to make around our precious and rare freshwater systems are often seen as "restrictions" instead of "actions" we need to take if we are not to lose more of the natural world. Together we can do some amazing things. These things can only be done with your willingness to do them.

The Smit Forsythe Project is about restoring a "system" holistically. Landowners are the decision makers and our Society is simply a facilitator providing, through this project, all the information we need to remake the Smit Forsythe watershed. If everyone were work together on this watershed we might make this creek so productive that in 25 years you could be fishing trout in your back yard.

The tributaries of the Tsolum River watershed, particularly where lands were squared off for drainage and harvesting over the last 100 years, have long needed some attention. Portuguese Creek is a perfect example. What we can learn from the holistic restoration of Smit Forsythe is how to approach a much larger system like Portuguese Creek.

The end result of restorations of this kind is that we all learn how our piece of the creek matters to the whole system and we adjust our land use behaviours accordingly. This is only done by choice. No one can tell you how you are to behave on your own land with the exception of laws.

The project is designed to be a win-win with landowners gaining value on their properties while we rebuild a creek we can all be proud of. If we can find a way to reproduce the water storage that existed before the land was altered we could increase the wetted time of the creek so that many more fish survive the long dry summer and there would be stored water for gardens and animals. Harvesting winter rainfall to fill the storage each year will help in many ways.

"So this is what the project is about and is not about being nosey or wanting to tell you what you must do. As a matter of fact in all these processes I have experienced, the landowners teach me more about how to fix it than all the manuals in the world." says Jack Minard.

We are continuing to contact landowners, the new Streamkeepers have had their training and right after the Fall Fair weekend we will be starting to gather data. Questions? Concerns? Call Jack 250-897-4670

2. Seasonal Streams

Towhee Creek, Portuguese Creek and Smit Forsythe Creek are the most important of these streams. All of these support significant populations of spawning salmon. The fish lay their eggs after fall rains have again filled them, the eggs hatch in the spring and as the stream dries in mid-May the young fish wriggle their way downstream to the Tsolum and out to the ocean.

These seasonal streams are, surprisingly, the  most productive of all the streams in the system. The reason for this is that during their dry period they "store" energy in the form of microorganisms. These microrganisms are processing organic material all summer under the dry stream bed. When fall rains again make these streams flow they produce a "nutrient pulse" that feeds the entire river.

Incoming spawning adults appear to "smell" this nutrient pulse and they make a beeline up these streams that were completely bone dry only weeks before. The eggs are laid and the stream begins its drying only after these new young fish are swiming freely the following spring.

The projects we have and are doing on these streams are attempting to make them more fry friendly. We look for physical obstructions to their desire to get out before the stream dries and we look for opportunities to store water in ponds to hydrate the surrounding areas as they dry.

The latest of these projects is the Smit Forsythe assessment and we will be accessing the entire creek this summer to make critical decisions as to how best to make it work as well as possible under a changing climate and ongoing development.

3. Water Quality

Copper levels have continued to improve since 1999. Levels have been reduced to approximately 65% of 1988 levels.

It is generally agreed that the 50% improvemnet that became evident in 1999 was due to the infilling of interstitial spaces in the gravel cover by detritus (dust, dirt, organic material etc.) over a decade plugged up the cap and made it increasingly effective.

The installation of the Passive Wetland Treatrment Project in 2003 had an immediate and significant impact on copper levels. This project re-routed contaminated water into the Spectacle lake wetland and is effectively utilizing several processes associated with wetlands to remove dissolved copper.

4. Mine Site

The general Contractor has been selected to begin work this year. Please go to our "NEWS" page for information on the project. We thank the Province of BC for the $4.5 million dollars to comlete the project and end the pollution from the old mine forever...

Stay tuned for more info as it comes in...

5. Stocks

The only real trend we are seeing yet is in cutthroat trout. We are seeing a definite trend upwards in this population while other stocks are not showing trends but appear to be different each year.

Pink salmon however appear to be declining steadily each year. From over 20,000 spawners in 2001 to only 2,500 in 2007.

We have continually enhanced pink stocks since re-opening the Tsolum Facility on Headquarters Creek releasing one million fry each year. The Puntledge Hatchery has also released a million pinks over several of these years in addition to the fry we release. Even with all tis efort we are seeing a decline.

What are the reasons Pink Salmon are declining?

We suspect that seals may have much to do with this decline. Seals in the Courtenay River arrive to feed on outmigrating juveniles at the same time we are releasing these fry.

We also, after much discussion and researching both sides of the sea lice debate around fish farms, believe that the Broughton fish farms are reducing survival. It is well-established that pink and chum fry from east coast Vancouver Island streams school together along the mainland and make their way to the ocean along this nutrient rich path eating and growing as they access the fjords, stream mouths and bays. Unfortunately, this path takes these schools through the Broughton and through the elevated sea lice populations in ths area.

We are convinced that these two impacts on our fry can be dealt with and continue to network with agencies and industry to keep up to date with the latest research and initiatives.

The next huge impact is the changes that are ocurring in Georgia Strait. Rising sea temperatures are affecting the critical timing of the plankton these juvenile fish need to "beef" up sufficiently to ake their ocean trek. Ocean survival may be the biggest impact of all. Reasearch continues on this front.

Spawning adult numbers for 2007 are as follows:

Pinks - 3,500 (TARGET 50,000)

Chum - 12,000 (TARGET 20,000)

Coho - 200 (TARGET 5,000) Coho are generally depressed in Georgia Strait due to climate change and pollution.

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