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 Year Round Activities:
  • Ongoing Water Quality Monitoring
  • Rotary Screw Trap (Out-migration Monitoring)
  • Fish trapping in upper watershed to determine and map fish use
  • Watershed Model Touring and Tsolum Field Trips for elementary schools
  • Spawning salmon enumeration every fall
  • Outreach/Display Season; we regularly attend Vancouver Island Musicfest, CV Exhibition, CV Farmer's market, Black Creek Fall Fair, Family Watershed Day, A River Never Sleeps Festival. 
  Current Projects:
  • ​We are implementing Tsolum River Recovery Plan (TRRP) and have focused on bedload stabilization projects from 2018-2021.   See our Recovery Plan  for more information.
  •  Since 2017, we have visited elementary schools with our 3D watershed model, teaching kids about their local watershed, land uses, the water cycle, and point sources of pollution/flood protection.  Over 4,000 kids in SD71 have enjoyed our interactive presentation.  
  • We offer trees and planting expertise to landowners along rivers and creeks in the Tsolum Watershed. Contact [email protected] if you live near the river and are interested in riparian restoration.

Out-Migration using Rotary Screw Trap and Fish Fences

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RST Results 2025

The Tsolum River out-migration of fish is monitored annually to help us to monitor health of populations.  Traps are counted daily between March and end of May.  Volunteers are needed to help with this annual monitoring work.   If you want to be participate in hands on fish biology from April through May, send us a note on our Contacts page. ​  We will provide fish identification and fish handling training.  

Fall Salmon Counting

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The Pink salmon have large runs every other year in the Tsolum. Teams conduct spawning salmon counts every fall (usually late September or early October).  In 2021,  over 155,000 pinks counted!  Fall 2023 saw that number increase to over 300,000!!. Fall 2025 is proving to be be a difficult year - there are lots of fish, but very little water (as of end of September). Stay tuned!
​ If you want to be part of this annual volunteer work, send us a note on our Contacts page. ​​

Fry Salvaging

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We respond to calls when the public observes cases of fry stranding along the Tsolum River.  If you observe isolated pools with stranded fish, especially during stretches of dry weather when river levels are dropping, please contact us.  For immediate assistance call 240 897 4670.  We can supply equipment and help in safely moving fish from stranded areas to the river mainstem.  
Check out images of some of our activities and projects below!