RIVERS
This Pacific Wildlife Foundation on-going series is about rivers on the British Columbia coast. Each one ends in an estuary, where salt and fresh water meet. These habitats support 80% of the province's coastal wildlife. Each river featured has been altered by human activity and is now the focus of restoration work. Walk these trails with us, and you will see both what is worth protecting and what still needs doing.
Salmon River
Take the 1.3 kilometre walk to where the Salmon River meets the sea, winding through thick undergrowth and ancient forest, framed by mountains, before it opens onto the tidal flats. This is a nursery, the place where young salmon shelter and feed until they are strong enough for the sea. But a causeway built here long ago keeps the river from mixing with the tide, and the fish from getting through. Restoration work is now breaching that barrier, and native plants are returning to the soil. Slowly, the estuary is being allowed to work the way it always did.
Nimpkish River
Reach a 3.9-kilometre trail that climbs above the Nimpkish Valley. From the top you can see the longest river on Vancouver Island with more than 100 kilometres from the mountains to the sea. The water is turquoise. Salmon and steelhead run the whole system, feeding the wildlife of the whole valley. But decades of logging pushed steelhead returns into steep decline. Recovery work is slowly bringing them back. From the lookout, you can see both the damage and the repair.
Cluxewe River
Trace 2.9 kilometres of shoreline where the Cluxewe River meets the sea, following the beach around a sand spit that encloses the estuary and its salt marsh. Radio telemetry tracks the birds that move through here, while whales, dolphins, seals and otters thrive in the waters just offshore. The name comes from a Kwakiutl word meaning "place of refuge" and the river is working to hold that promise. Its lower reaches face large-scale active erosion, and restoration efforts now focus on stabilizing the channel and rebuilding habitat. Through that work, the Cluxewe stays true to its name.
Quatse River
Follow the Quatse River for 3.4 kilometres and you walk through one of the richest stretches of northern Vancouver Island. Over 100 bird species live here, along with a diversity of mammals, fish, trees and plants. All seven Pacific salmon species depend on this ecosystem, and the river carries them down to the estuary where they begin their journey to sea. The hatchery has raised salmon here since 1983 and it needs support. Protecting this river means protecting the rearing conditions of millions of young salmon.
Design: Geneviève Raîche-Savoie
Videography: Geneviève Raîche-Savoie & Gabriel Ratté
Music: Forest Bathing by Tom'sLac