About Us • Public Education • Species at Risk • Projects • Other Activities • Membership
 |
Mike TudorThe Perfect Stream |
|
Mike TudorThe Perfect Stream |
Have you ever wondered what makes the perfect stream for a Rainbow Trout? Well, over the last three years more than 2000 grade 6 school kids have learned just that at The Gavin Lake Camp.
Every year the Gavin Lake Forest Education Society fund-raises for and hosts an all-expenses-paid, three-day outdoor education experience for about 24 classes in the Cariboo region.
For the last three years one of the fun education modules they are treated to has been "The Perfect Stream". This module has been jointly sponsored by the Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
It starts out with a look in our fish tank where "Bubbles" and "Tony", our resident Rainbow Trout reside like kings, being hand-fed all the worms, bugs and grubs they can handle. Here the kids learn how to identify the trout, find out what the specific fins are for and observe how they breathe and eat.
Next the kids are taken through a series of demonstrations to explain how the three basics of life - food, water, and shelter - are dependent upon the forest around them.
Trout food consists generally of aquatic invertebrates and these in turn also need food to survive. Rotting leaves provide this food. If you have no trees near a stream, you have no leaves and then you don't have many creepy critters to feed the fish.
In order for a trout to spawn, the water must be between 10 and 15 degrees Celcius. If the stream isn't at least partially shaded by trees then the temperature gets too high for the trout to "do their thing". The water also has to be clean and well oxygenated. A steady stream flow provides a constant oxygen supply to the eggs and removes any metabolic wastes - egg poo - while they are developing in the nest (redd). Naturally the water has to be clean or you risk choking off the oxygen of the eggs, the fry and even the insects they depend on. The roots of living trees and other plants growing along the stream are what prevent erosion from collapsing the banks into the stream and causing siltation.
Finally shelter. If there were no shelter along the stream it would be open season on the trout and with nowhere to hide they wouldn't last long. This shelter comes from standing trees and plants as well as dead trees that fall across the stream. Fallen trees also slow down the current in places, giving resting spots and also diverting water causing undercut banks which are a great place for a trout to hide.
Armed with all this great information the kids begin to construct their own "perfect stream". They are given sections of plywood river to string together along with rocks, gravel, trees in stands and dead trees and then they put what they learned into practice.
Of course there is much more to the biology of Rainbow Trout and their complex ecosystem, but the students are left with a pretty good idea of what is good and what is bad, how dependent our trout and other fish species are on a healthy forest and how responsible forestry practices are helping to maintain spawning habitat for our Rainbow Trout.
Mike Tudor, Director of the Gavin Lake Forestry Education Centre for the past 14 years, is the driving force behind the running of this very efficient and effective environmental education centre. Mike is a biologist and educator with vision and a gift for inspiring the wonder of the natural world to others. He has been instrumental in making Gavin Lake camp a Water Wise centre, with signage and displays throughout.
Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society
Unit 201, 197 2nd Ave North Williams Lake, B.C., V2G 1Z5
Phone/Fax: 250 398-7929 • ccentre@ccconserv.org • Coordinator: Marg EvansAbout Us • Public Education • Species at Risk • Projects • Other Activities • Membership
Original information in this web site may be reproduced in any form without permission on condition that it is accredited to the Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society, with a link back to this site or, in the case of printed material, a clear indication of the site URL. We would appreciate being notified of such use. Although care has been taken in preparing the information contained in this site, the CCCS does not and cannot guarantee its accuracy. Anyone using the information does so at their own risk and shall be deemed to indemnify CCCS from any and all injury or damage that might arise from such use.
