barriers and opportunities

We have hardly begun, and already have a long list of questions about how to "improve" the creek.  If we look at Walley Creek through the eyes of DFO, our goal should be to restore its salmon-bearing qualities. 

An obvious step in that direction would be to remove a large boulder that's acting as a fish barrier near the mouth of Walley Creek where it drains into the ocean.  The rock is just a little too high for salmon to leap over, even with good fall flow.  Describing this problem to people elicits really creative solutions.  Get a crew of people together and roll it out to sea!  Blast it out with dynamite!  Put smaller rocks below it to create steps for the salmon to leap up!  Tie a piece of rope around the rock and tie the other end to a truck and haul it out of there!

Ah, not so fast says our biologist and consultant.  If we remove the barrier, what are we allowing salmon access to?  Coho salmon imprint on a certain area, but they are opportunistic.  They will try going up a small creek to see if it offers good spawning habitat.  If the habitat is poor, they'll swim back to sea and try somewhere else.  If we allow them access to Walley Creek now, we're just wasting their time unless we actually improve the spawning habitat higher up.

So for now the boulder is a low priority, while we consider our options for stream assessment.  The satisfaction of removing it will have to wait.

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