The Baker Creek Enhancement Society has capped off a busy back half of 2020 by releasing their holiday package.
Available at learn.bakercreek.org, the nature-themed winter activity package covers topics like winter birding and zero waste gift wrap.
Amanda Vibert works at the Society. She said while the society has been managing through the pandemic, nothing can replace the face-to-face connections.
“We like to connect with people in person, and get them outside and with students it’s been particularly challenging adapting to a digital world,” Vibert said. “That’s been a bit of a learning curve, but we’re doing pretty well.”
Earlier this year the society organized the bi-annual count of pink salmon in Baker Creek.
“Pink Salmon Patrol went really well,” she said, noting students, scouts, girl guides and members of the public participated in the survey.
According to the society’s count, 325 pink salmon were seen spawning in Baker Creek in 2021.
READ MORE: Quesnel’s pink salmon patrol returns
“There was a lot more salmon, four times more salmon based on the count this year, than in 2019,” Vibert said, noting there counting efforts were better advertised and more prominent thanks to a Pacific Salmon Foundation grant.
“That definitely helped spread the word.”
She also thanked Bliss Coffee for acting as the public launch point for counters.
The spawning salmon have created protective rock structures in the creek bed called redds. The public is asked to keep an eye out and not destroy redds by stepping on them.
Counting salmon isn’t the only fishy activity the society is running. Aquariums with chinook salmon eggs are currently in classrooms around Quesnel. The salmon are hatched and cared for by students, then released into local rivers in the spring.
“The eggs should be hatching over the holidays, which is exciting,” Vibert said.
Finally, winter birding QR Codes have been put up around the West Fraser Timber park.
“It’s to connect people to the area a little more deeply, so they can start to become familiar with the birds that call Quesnel home,” Vibert said.
For more on the society’s activities, check out their Facebook page.
READ MORE: Fishy things going on in Quesnel schools
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