Neil Brook invited us down to Kingfisher on the Shuswap River and there found found thousands and thousands of sockeye and many chinook salmon. The Lower Shuswap is the clearest water and the sockeye seem the biggest of any river we have visited.
The salmon were resting where a cold water tributary came into the Shuswap because there would be more oxygen in the 6 degree water than in the 14 degree water
Neil Brook took us drift boating for 6 km and there was a steady procession of sockeye with lots of the big dark chinook mixed in. The First Nations call him Cupirekaksu - keeper of the Chinook. Neil pointed out the "dunes" of gravel created by the chinook digging redds
Deanne Leon - Cook invited us to the beautiful school with paintings of the elders throughout the school and we painted salmon with the children. Then she organized an incredible feast of salmon and bannock and an evening of presentations at the high school.
The people of Enderby are dedicated to the salmon of the Shuswap. They are trying to guard their salmon nurseries from jet boats and sewage. Neil has worked with three generations of people to teach them about the salmon and some have dedicated their lives to the fish. They are trying to stop ATVs from ruining the bogs in the headwaters. They have had lakes poisoned with Rotenone to kill yellow perch which are used as live bait and escape. The First Nations and the neo-indigenous, the new people who also see the land as home, want to protect their valley.
Some of the people feel that because they are trying to protect the valley government has vilified them. Saying no to industrialization has to be allowed or else we will derange our planet to the point that it can no longer support us.
Thank you Enderby for all that you do for all of us Wild Salmon People....
Now we are preparing for the Paddle for Wild Salmon www.salmonaresacred.org