Dave H
Well-Known Member
This past Monday saw a major change at the area called Eric's Riffle on the Quinsam River as you near the hatchery.
For a number of years now a group called the Wild Wise Society in conjunction with the BC Conservation Officer Service and the Quinsam Hatchery have been working toward replacing the 205 litre size barrel used to collect garbage there with a modern bear-proof set-up.
Here's the old set-up with a new barrel that used to be full of methanol used in my pal Tom's winged sprint car.
That worked well with few bear problems until this past autumn when low water and many pink salmon conspired to create easy pickings for bears and more than usual showed up. At the same time the word got out among photographers that there were excellent opportunities to photograph bears along the Quinsam. Evidenced by a couple photos here.
The pic with the autumn leaves shows how close they can come when crossing the river and I moved just after taking the photo.
There were a dozen other photographers there all strung out along the river trying for a good angle.
Anyway, between the increased numbers of bears and photographers and then bears cleaning out the garbage barrel it became more imperative to try for a bear-proof set-up before next year.
Monday past the new unit was installed and the old barrel and structure was removed.
Going forward the hatchery will be looking after the dumping of the garbage bags as required so I took my pal Peter and the remaining bags I had up to the hatchery today to give the bags to the new crew and show Peter the new set-up.
Here's pal Peter who has been my faithful companion the past 15 years that we've looked after the barrel standing beside the new set-up.
And here's yours truly as at this afternoon admiring the improvement and relishing the thought of not being responsible for looking after this any longer.
We can concentrate on other concerns here now, mostly related to Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek.
I've been cursed with resting grouch-face in my old age.
I'm actually quite happy here. LOL
Finally, a shout out to Hatchery Manager Ed Walls who was instrumental in making this all happen in the end.
Good job by all involved.
Take care.
For a number of years now a group called the Wild Wise Society in conjunction with the BC Conservation Officer Service and the Quinsam Hatchery have been working toward replacing the 205 litre size barrel used to collect garbage there with a modern bear-proof set-up.
Here's the old set-up with a new barrel that used to be full of methanol used in my pal Tom's winged sprint car.
That worked well with few bear problems until this past autumn when low water and many pink salmon conspired to create easy pickings for bears and more than usual showed up. At the same time the word got out among photographers that there were excellent opportunities to photograph bears along the Quinsam. Evidenced by a couple photos here.
The pic with the autumn leaves shows how close they can come when crossing the river and I moved just after taking the photo.
There were a dozen other photographers there all strung out along the river trying for a good angle.
Anyway, between the increased numbers of bears and photographers and then bears cleaning out the garbage barrel it became more imperative to try for a bear-proof set-up before next year.
Monday past the new unit was installed and the old barrel and structure was removed.
Going forward the hatchery will be looking after the dumping of the garbage bags as required so I took my pal Peter and the remaining bags I had up to the hatchery today to give the bags to the new crew and show Peter the new set-up.
Here's pal Peter who has been my faithful companion the past 15 years that we've looked after the barrel standing beside the new set-up.
And here's yours truly as at this afternoon admiring the improvement and relishing the thought of not being responsible for looking after this any longer.
We can concentrate on other concerns here now, mostly related to Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek.
I've been cursed with resting grouch-face in my old age.
I'm actually quite happy here. LOL
Finally, a shout out to Hatchery Manager Ed Walls who was instrumental in making this all happen in the end.
Good job by all involved.
Take care.
