Cowichan Lake Secondary students had the opportunity to get out of the classroom on Oct. 4 and make a difference at the restoration project happening at Meade Creek.
Nicole Lorusso's Grade 11 class was among the three groups of students that had the opportunity to get their hands dirty with the planting of more than 400 streamside native plants, while some also went for an informative nature hike.
"They have been learning about the salmon life cycle, and the requirements on a stream to keep them healthy in their Life Sciences Class," said substitute teacher Mykelti Berg. "It's fantastic that they are able to get a real hands on experience today."
Cowichan Lake Salmonid Enhancement and Hatchery Society operations manager Bob Crandall, and biologist and society president Brittany Brooks led the planting party where students planted different species such as swordfern, Oregon grape, snowberry, and Pacific ninebark to name a few.
"These are all species that would occur around the riparian edge which are so important to have here because they hold the soil in place, and then they eventually grow up and drop their leaves that have insects on them into the water," said Crandall. "There are three components that make a stream healthy. One is shade for the fish to have cool water refuge in the summer, two would be the leaf litter insect drop which is like groceries for the fish, and three is the large woody debris which is quite anchored in. The biology of the plants is also very important, for example the little young alders that we put in the ground create nitrogen pillows on their root systems, and then transfer that nitrogen to the nearby plants that need it. So all plants have a purpose in the design."
Crandall, who is originally from Ontario spent time doing similar work in Alberta as well as Louisiana and Colorado in the U.S., before calling Vancouver Island his home. Crandall said he loves the hands-on volunteer work that he gets to do with the society, and that his role as operations manager includes planning projects such as this.
"We get to have kids come in and work with us," Crandall said. "We also have students help incubate the salmon eggs and mix them and put them into the incubation trays which are then delivered to all the classrooms in District 79 that have classroom incubation. One of our big goals is to supply all the eggs for all of those schools throughout the valley."
Brooks, who has been a biologist for four years, had the students plant in stages ranging from dry and medium to wet soils that would be found closer to the creek bed.
"It feels really good to be able to work with the kids, and it's so nice that they want to get involved in a local creek restoration project," said Brooks.
"We try to rehabilitate one stream every year," said Crandall. "In the summer when we are not doing that, we are out rescuing all the fish that are in drawing pools and we then either move them back to the lake, or river so that they can get a second chance at life."
According to Crandall the society rescued more than 50,000 baby salmon and trout last year alone and even had a small group of student volunteers assist in cleaning out more than 1,000 salmon and trout fry from the creek this past summer.
"When you rescue fish that are about to die in a pool and you take them and set them free, that is very rewarding," said Crandall.
Crandall said a lot of the work that the society does is volunteer, but sometimes they do get paid for restoration projects like the removal of the excess gravel at Meade Creek. Crandall noted they are always looking for more volunteers.
"It's so great to get to see kids learn through a hands-on experience," said Crandall. "I hope that the students leave today learning that every stream needs help. When kids do something with their hands they remember, and when they get older and drive by here and see all these plants growing it will be very rewarding for them."
