Annual Report 2011

This report is intended to update our members and contributors on our recent projects in the year 2011 and our plans and forecast for the year 2012.

As a registered charity and not for profit organization, the volunteer Board of Directors is comprised of an experienced and knowledgeable group of working professionals and retirees. They bring a credible resume of past salmon enhancement projects along with a unified and politically neutral mission of enhancing and restoring salmon to their habitat. The current Board of Directors is as follows:

M.B. (Mike) Gage, Chairperson
Kris Mailman Vice-Chairperson
Kent Moeller (Treasurer)
Don Bendickson, Director
Dale Blackburn, Director
Martin Buchanan, Director
Kevin Fogolin, Director
Mark Gage, Director
Jamie Gaskill, Director
Corby Lamb, Director
Mark Murphy, Director
Joe Painter, Director
George Stuart, Director

One of the founding principles of the Campbell River Salmon Foundation and what its founders believe is going to be the ultimate key to our success is to make it truly an organization of volunteers. Every not-for-profit organization faces the challenge of significant operating costs which can be a burden on effectiveness and will dilute the impact of every hard-earned and generous dollar raised. CRSF is very fortunate to have most of its unavoidable administration needs provided in-kind by Seymour Pacific Developments.

Our 4th Annual Banquet Auction and Dance was held on March 12th, 2011, and as usual this was a sold out event raising over $125,000, netting $100,000.

Banquet Chairperson Therisa Lowe continues to organize meetings with the 2012 Banquet Committee and we are on track for another sold out event. This year the banquet will be held March 10th, 2012 at the Campbell River Community Centre.

The following list is comprised of projects and partnerships that we contributed to in 2011.

January 11, 2011 – Sayward Fish and Game Association – Stow Creek Rehabilitation Project.
CRSF contributed $588.75.

February 4, 2011 – D.F.O. Quinsam River Juvenile Pink Salmon Enumeration Project
CRSF contributed $2,266.00

March 11, 2011 - BC Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences Plankton Monitoring Project
This is the final year for this five year project. CRSF contributed $10,000.

March 11, 2011 – Stream Keepers Workshop – This workshop was organized by the D.F.O. Community Advisor and Greenways Land Trust. Stream Keepers from Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland were in attendance. CRSF contributed $5,000.

March 21, 2011 – CRSF donated $500 to Mountain Avian Rescue to assist with feeding the bald eagles. Though this contribution was outside of our mandate there was an extreme need for funding and the Board of Directors felt it was a fair exchange for the bird release at our annual auction.

June 10, 2011 – A survey was conducted of the erosion problem on the Salmon River at Big Tree.
CRSF paid $1,425.00 to West Coast Helicopters. We were not successful in getting enough funds to spend on this project.

July 15, 2011 – Placement of spawning gravel into Elk Falls Canyon at selected areas using a Vertol Helicopter. BC Conservation Foundation were the main funders of this project and CRSF contributed $2,500.

September 11, 2011 – Nunns Creek Stewards Bridge at Croation Road. CRSF contributed $ 3,220.00.

September 11, 2011 – Sayward Fish and Game Association Big Tree Rearing Channel improvements. CRSF contributed $1,760.00.

September 16th, 2011 – D.F.O. Quinsam Hatchery Campbell River Mainstream Chinook Enhancement Project. This project entails placing eyed Chinook eggs in incubation boxes in the Campbell River side channels. CRSF contributed $10,626.00.

October 21, 2011 – Centre for Aquatic Health Science Summary Report on the Plankton Study
CRSF contributed $9,200.00

October 21, 2011 – CRSF Tour of the Upper Salmon River to Strathcona Park above the Salmon River Diversion with Mark Hume of the Globe and Mail. CRSF paid $1,584.00 to West Coast Helicopters.

October 21, 2011 – Gillard Pass Fisheries Association Chinook Enumeration on Phillips River. CRSF contribution $4,500.00.

November 9, 2011 – CRSF Trail Maintenance for BC Government Parks in Elk Falls Park. CRSF contributed $1,414.00.

November 9th, 2011 – Beaver Loop Trail Improvements to the Coho stream enhancement above Ed Ryan Fishway above Highway #28. Gravel placement, building weirs and complexing was
done by Current Environmental and CRSF contributed $22,028.54.

November 16th, 2011 - Sayward Fish and Game Association Big Tree Rearing Channel Improvements. The project involved removing culverts and cross ditching to avoid trapping fry on the top side of the access road. CRSF contributed $3,377.40.

A large project to place more gravel in the mainstream of the Campbell River that was to be financed by Fish and Wildlife Coastal Compensation Program (B.C. Hydro) was postponed until the summer of 2012. Constant high water conditions because of the snow pack in Strathcona Park being 60% above normal made it impossible to work in the Campbell River during the usual window of mid- July to the end of August.

C.R.S.F. is planning to return to the Homathko River in Bute Inlet to install rip-rap to protect the Cumsack Slough from potential erosion problem that would let the Homathko enter the slough.
Cumsack Slough is the largest wetland in the Powell River Forest District and one of the largest on the B.C. Coast. The 1,600 acre area serves as rearing habitat for grizzly bear and waterfowl. Funding for the proposed placement for rip-rap will be between C.R.S.F. and partners.

Last, but certainly not least, we are still pressing B.C. Hydro to resolve the fish passage issue at the Salmon River Diversion Dam. After four and a half years of meeting with B.C. Hydro we are hoping their Board of Directors will resolve the issue in 2012.

M.B. (Mike) Gage
Chairman
Campbell River Salmon Foundation
www.crsalmonfoundation.org