Please read Elizabeth’s comments on her attendance at the PKOLS-Mount Douglas Conservancy’s annual salmon toss:
“Yesterday I joined approximately 100 stewards of all ages to take part in the salmon toss in the District of Saanich’s PKOLS (Mount Douglas Park), home to the largest urban forest on the Saanich Peninsula and the important Douglas Creek watershed.
Hosted by the PKOLS-Mount Douglas Conservancy, in partnership with Howard English Goldstream Hatchery, the annual salmon toss has members of the public toss salmon carcasses collected each fall from Goldstream into Douglas Creek. As a thank you for this important partnership, the PKOLS-Mount Douglas Conservancy presented the Goldstream Hatchery with a cheque for $1,000 to support their work.
The event began with an informative talk given by Tom Rutherford from the Cowichan Watershed Board. Tom shared his knowledge of the importance of salmon to the ecosystem, as well as the life cycle of these salmon who left Goldstream in 2021, swam halfway across the Pacific Ocean, and returned to their place of birth this past fall. They are now helping to restore the ecological balance of Douglas Creek and replenish the surrounding ecosystem with nutrients essential for supporting local biodiversity. As Tom said, “without salmon, there can be no salmon”, and this past fall saw the largest return of salmon to Douglas Creek in recent years. An amazing accomplishment for an urban watershed! I was inspired by Tom’s words that a salmon stream like Douglas Creek with an annual return of 20 salmon surrounded by 50,000 residential homes is just as important as a salmon stream with 50,000 salmon surrounded by 20 homes.
It was wonderful to see participants of all ages representing four generations of present and future stewards, and to give thanks to the salmon for all they do.”