Submitted by Lynn Lee, Tlell Watershed Society-This Saturday, come join us at the Tlell Fall Fair grounds to celebrate Tlell River Day! To honour the river and to say thanks to our islands’ community and supporters, the Tlell Watershed Society, supported by the Fisheries and Oceans Community Involvement Program, is hosting a hike followed by a salmon and Tlell burger barbeque on Sept. 1. Meet at 1 pm at the Anvil Trail parking area off the highway just north of the Tlell Firehall for the interpretive hike. Come to the fairgrounds anytime after 5 pm for the community potluck dinner, learn about the watershed, and participate in fun activities for kids and adults young at heart – dinner starts at 6 pm. We will provide the salmon and burgers. Please bring a side dish or finger food to contribute, preferably of local food from your garden or a local farmer! As you may have noticed, this year is a pink salmon year. Every even-numbered year, pink salmon return to the Haida Gwaii streams where they were born, to spawn the next generation. The Tlell River is special because for reasons unknown, it gets a run of pink salmon every year. In fact, way back in the 1930s, DFO had a fish fence operating on the Tlell River and unsuccessfully tried to transplant odd-year pink salmon into Masset Inlet to establish odd-year runs for the salmon canneries operating at the mouths of Masset Inlet streams at the time.In 1999, the Tlell Watershed Society obtained funding from DFO to install and operate a fish fence to enumerate pink and coho salmon coming up the river to spawn each fall. Our fish counting system has evolved from being manned for 18 hours each day by dedicated workers in rain, shine or wind, to the underwater video security camera system that is currently in place. Instead of sitting on the fish fence, our fish counters now sit in a comfortable office fast forwarding through the slow hours and scanning slow motion through the busy ones. Come see how many returning salmon we have counted over the years!Thanks to our many funders for fish fence operations over the years – DFO North Coast Stock Assessment and Community Involvement Program, Gwaii Trust Society, QCI Salmon Unlimited Society, and Pacific Salmon Foundation. Special thanks to our community supporters, Jim Abbott for allowing us to operate the fence on his property, Margaret Condrotte for facilitating our power needs, and Tlell Watershed Society volunteers for installing and taking down the fence each year. We also have the Haida Gwaii Youth Stewardship Program crew to thank this year for assistance with installing the fish fence, and maintenance and reconnaissance work on the Anvil Trail and Old Growth Alley trails.See you this Saturday in Tlell – 1 pm for the hike and/or 5 pm onwards for the community potluck and salmon and Tlell burger barbeque to start at 6 pm!
