The mouth of the Horsefly spawning channel has been completely redesigned.
There is now a small rapid on a slight grade so as to create the sound and feel of a virgin stream which will entice salmon to enter the channel on their own without the use of a fence across the river.
This seems to be working in a splendid manner, and the channel is almost full to capacity now, it was reported at the September 18 Horsefly Roundtable meeting.
The workers on the channel for this project were Steve Hocquard, Bob Bartsch, Chris George, Pat Aldridge, Marty Janzen, Jack Brown-John, and Randy Bartley, and a fine job they did.
The Roundtable has plans to improve several small creeks in the area including Wilmot, Sucker and Barker Creeks.
This plan has been kicking around since 2007, our first year of inception, and eventually with any luck they will be done.
Marin Patenaude also gave a full update on the Horsefly Salmon Festival during the meeting.
The festival took place the weekend of September 27/28.
Among the notable events mentioned was the return of the bannock vendor, First Nations crafts such as pine needle baskets, plus Willie Sellars promoting his book, and doing some reading from his work. T-shirts were also for sale.
The Williams Lake Indian Band through Borland Logging generously contributed some dollars toward new signage along the Salmon Trail depicting the locations in the Tsihlqot’in language.
We are also working on a word for “Horsefly River,” which is quite interesting for all of us. This is a work in progress.
Steve Hocquard reported that there were some good positive responses from local landowners living along Moffat Creek and Horsefly River with regard to the Environmental Farm Group Plan, which could well be implemented next year. Cathy Mumford will be doing an informational presentation at our November 20 meeting.
The planned lakeshore cleanup on September 13 and 14 did not work out well, and it was suggested the town of Horsefly could participate in “The Great Canadian River and Shore Clean-up” which began on the weekend of September 20 and runs through the month of October.
This has been going on some 30 years now and gets larger every year with huge public participation. We just need someone to organize the operation, so if you are interested, the roundtable has a kit donated by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans as a guide.
Hen Ingram was not discussed at all, as the Mount Polley spill seems to have taken precedence over much of the local attention.
However, if anyone has concerns to bring forward, please come out and express them.
The next meeting is October 16 at 7 p.m. in the Horsefly Library.