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Studying salmon at Goldstream
Grade 9 students got off campus on Thursday for some experiential education about the place where we live and about the importance of the Pacific salmon to Vancouver Island and the rest of coastal BC.
Students took a half-hour bus ride to Goldstream Provincial Park, which is renowned as an excellent place to watch the salmon run. Mostly chum salmon, with some coho and chinook, return to the Goldstream River every fall to spawn and complete their life cycle, which began in the same location about four years ago.
The students learned about that life cycle and the salmon’s arduous journey home, which requires them to navigate the Pacific Ocean from as far away as the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia, using the stars, their keen sense of smell, and tiny magnetite crystals in their noses to find their way back to the spawning grounds.
At the Goldstream Nature House, the Shawnigan students observed the estuary and learned about the predators that feed on the spawning salmon, such as bears, eagles and gulls. A naturalist dissected a salmon that she had retrieved from the river after it completed its spawning duties and died, drawing mixed reactions from the students.
The naturalist took the students on a walk into the forest, where she explained how decomposing salmon provide nutrients that act as a natural fertilizer for the trees and other vegetation in the surrounding area. Beyond feeding the flora and fauna, salmon are also an important food for people, and are essential in many First Nations cultures. Staff horticulturalist Ms. Patricia Hanbidge joined the field trip and allowed students to sample her own homemade smoked salmon, with many going back for seconds.
Finally, with all that knowledge in mind, the students trekked to the banks of the Goldstream River, where they watched the exhausted fish make their final push up the channel to complete their journey and begin the life cycle anew.
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful Pacific Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
