Clayoquot Wilderness Resort Blog

Winter Wonderland??????

 
It was only five days ago that the core staff were spending a beautiful sunny day outside.  Some of us were out on a long horseback ride while the rest sat around an outdoor fire pit and roasted wieners for lunch.  We all congregated at the end of the day around the fire for a little staff meeting… some people go to the office, not us. 

  This morning I woke up and was surprised to see about four inches of snow on the ground.  It is definitely not a normal sight, on the west coast, for this time of year; consider that Tofino has the  mildest winters in Canada.  However, the kids were ecstatic… snowball fights and tobogganing is the chore of the day.

  What else is going on at Clayoquot Wilderness Resort?  It’s that time of year when the seasonal staff starts joining our team.  This year Owen Davies is back in the mix, he worked with us 10 years ago.  Chuck and Owen have been in the paint booth getting all the boats in tip top shape while Courtney has been back and forth to Quait Bay working on the Barge.  Chad and Dickson have been cleaning up all the old trails as well as cutting a lot of beautiful new trails.  Digger Dave, our excavator operator, is busy digging, of course.  Adele is training me in the office which is a totally new CWR experience for me.  Finally, John is all over the place… travelling for business, in the office and overseeing the entire operation.

  The scientists for the Wild Fish Conservancy are back at Quait Bay for their second year of a 5 year Sea Lice Project.  Once they get settled in, I will be sure to update you on their research.       

Most Excellent Lodge

  There are a few new changes at Clayoquot Wilderness Resort this year.  First, I am no longer a wrangler.  Yup, that’s right I’m trading in the cowboy hat for a computer; I am now in the Office alongside Adele, training to take her position, so she can get out and do the things she has been working towards all these years.  I know what you are all thinking… what about the horses?  But I can assure you, that you will still see me saddling up and galloping around the claim.  I traded in my hat, not my horse.  One good thing about this new position is that I will be able to really focus on other things such as the blog.  I have been thinking of new topics and albums but most exciting is the decision to put a weekly video clip which will be referred to as a vlog.  You can expect to see the vlogs in April.

  Moreover, we are proud to announce that we have been given the award for Most Excellent Lodge for the United States and Canada from Conde Naste Johansens 2010 Awards for Excellence.  Conde Naste Johansens is one of the most comprehensive hotel guides which invite only the best to feature on their site.  You can check us out, along with other hotels around the world, on their website at www.johansens.com

  It is a busy time of year so keep checking in with us to get updated on everything.

Go Canada Go!

Barging in Summer

 
Barging, barging, and more barging is what has been going on with Clayoquot Wilderness Resort for the month of February.  We were without a barge for 3 months as it was being serviced in Port Alberni, BC. Since we have had it back our guys have been busy doing trips almost every day.  We have restocked on the necessities such as hay, fuel, propane and we have moved some vehicles around but I think Laterra will argue that the most important barge trip so far was bringing her new horse, Summer, home.  Summer is a 3 year old Palamino filly that has only had one month of training; however, she boarded the barge without a problem.  Laterra’s horse has a very sweet demeanor and is getting to know the new herd.  Once she has settled in (and the west coast rains stop) her training will start.  You can look at pictures of Summer in the Photo Album titled “Summer” and once the training starts I will post updates of her progress.    

Wild Fish Conservancy Prepares for their Second Year in Clayoquot Sound

  Last week, Audrey and Kurt from the Wild Fish Conservancy held an information forum for the community of Tofino.  Audrey is the lead scientist in the 5 year sea lice research project; last year, 2009 was the pilot year.  This information session was held in order to report on their findings from last year and keep the public informed about their intentions in Clayoquot Sound.  Clayoquot Wilderness Resort welcomed the scientists, last year, by supplying the group with lodging, at the floating lodge, and a laboratory.  They will have the same accommodations this year and the duration of their study, of course.

  The meeting was informative and the findings were factual and extremely alarming.  The main focus of their presentation was on Bedwell Sound.  If you are unfamiliar with Clayoquot Wilderness Resort, we are located at the mouth of Bedwell River.  The reason that they focused on this particular fjord was due to the fact that it has the highest number of fish farms located on any of the migration routes in their study.  However, they made sure to include the other test sites in their discussion which was arranged in graphs, charts and percentages indicating the waterways with the highest amount of farms to the lowest.  In every situation they presented, it was clear that the test site with the highest amount of farms also had the highest amount of sea lice found.  Moreover, the amount of lice decreased with the amount of farms.

  Some other interesting facts that they found from last year were:  They found that the fish moved quickly out of the systems and the method of judging this was looking at the life stage of the lice on the fish as they followed them on their migration route.  They found that by the time the fish leave the Bedwell, in May, more than 80% of fish had lice.  In addition, an extremely high percentage of the lice had matured to their adult stage by the time they made it to the last test site; therefore, the adult lice are able to reproduce and re-infect the same school of fish.  In their study, they considered 1.6 lice per 1 gram of fish are detrimental.  In all of these sites the salinity levels were constant; the difference was the number of farms.      

  The goal of the pilot year, 2009, was to determine the distribution of lice and infected fish.  As well as establishing the most productive test sites.  The Scientists plans for this year are to focus on the spots that they were able to catch fish.  They are going to expand their efforts to determine the most suitable control sites.  They would like to expand their staff with more students and volunteers.  If you are interested in volunteering you can contact the Wild Fish Conservancy at www.wildfishconservancy.org .  Audrey and her team realize that their research is not the answer and that the answer is in fact very complex.  However, they would like to provide their information to the people that are making decisions about the fate of the wild salmon.

     

2010 at Clayoquot Wilderness Resort

We are into a new year, and for Clayoquot Wilderness Resort, that means we start thinking about a new season. We already have a new addition to our family and her name is summer. For Christmas, John and Adele gave Laterra a 3 year old Palamino filly; she is beautiful. She has had a month worth of training, therefore, will need a little work but by the sounds of it, she has a very sweet demeanor.

In addition, over the holidays, Courtney went for a horseback ride. If you know Courtney then you know that he would much prefer to be riding something, anything, with a motor. On rare occasion that he jumps into the saddle it has to be a little bit of a “show”; therefore, Courtney picked his horse accordingly. Pete is one of our wagon horses; he is big, lazy and always getting into mischief. Moreover, he has never been saddled up and taken on a trail ride. It was a comical sight and a perfect match. Pete’s biggest obstacle was going through water, of course; the only water he has gone through is a puddle or two on the road which he does a pretty good job of dodging.
Courtney was persistent and got Pete to go through the water. Maybe during the 2010 season you might have Courtney as a horseback guide riding his new trail horse, Pete. What do you think Court?

For the remainder of this month you can expect to read about the sea lice scientists’ findings from last year and their objective for this year. They are presenting their data to the community of Tofino next week. If you are unfamiliar with this project you can go back into our blog archives to read about their research project which started last year. Additionally, Chuck and Courtney will be picking up our barge from Port Alberni, where it has been getting overhauled, and making the voyage back to the resort. Watch for their trip log closer to the end of the month.

Happy Holidays

Clayoquot Wilderness Resort would like to wish you all Season Greetings and a Happy New Year.

2009 Clayoquot Wilderness Resort Fish Counts

The numbers for the 2009 Clayoquot Wilderness Resort fish counts are in!  Please keep in mind that these numbers are only for the Bedwell and Ursus rivers and not for the Clayoquot area.  Additionally, we are in the middle of enhancement projects which can take years to see results.

                   Chinook      Coho             Chum   Sockeye    Pinks
Bedwell        12+1 jack   610+1jack      942      65            24
Ursus           22+1 jack   605+10jack    106      118          2
 
Total           34+2jack    1215+27jack   1048    183          26

(Jacks are usually salmon that return to the river one to two years earlier and are therefore, about half the size of a mature adult salmon)
 
Our enhancement side channel - peak counts (included in above numbers)
 
                                    Coho               Chum   Sockeye
                                    17                   358      2
 
4 females taken for eggs this year 13,000 eggs

Unfortunately the Chinook and Chum numbers, this year, were really poor.  The Chinook numbers were about half the amount of last year, which was poor as well; the Chum numbers were better than last year.  Coho, of course, was great!  As stated above, we were able to get 13,000 eggs for our hatchery project, this year; this is less than last year, however, we still are optimistic that our efforts will show in a few more years once their life cycle brings them back to our rivers.  Please check our blog for updates on our enhancement projects. 
 

Salmon Enhancement Project

  Upon our establishment in the Bedwell Valley we quickly realized that there was a major issue that needed some attention.  The number of salmon returns to the Bedwell valley was not only low but also declining.  Due to the fact that the Bedwell River is classified as an indicator river (salmon counts contribute to data which assists authorities to assess wild salmon counts along the coast of BC) we were not permitted to alter the Bedwell River in any way, shape or form.  Therefore, in 2002/03 a plan was constructed to enhance 7km of side channel salmon habitat.  

  We have 1.5km of salmon habitat completed.  We are proud to say that we have seen salmon use this portion of the channel, in addition to an increase of predators such as bears and eagles which are all part of the ecological unit.  We started working on the remainder of the 7km this past year; this connects a side channel of the Bedwell River, to a small lake which would then continue to flow into a new drainage channel.  In October, we hosted a group of representatives from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans who all seemed very interested in assisting us to increase the quantity and quality of salmon habitat.

  I will be sure to keep you updated on the development of our habitat restoration project.

Freedom Cove

It has been almost two weeks since my family and I have moved to the floating lodge located in Quait Bay. If you are not familiar with this portion of our organization it is a 16 room fishing resort which is the sister lodge to the Outpost; however, it has been closed since 2005 for renovations. Our role here as the caretakers is to keep everything clean and in working order.

You may be wondering what we do here to keep ourselves from going stir crazy? Besides doing work for the lodge we take pleasure in exploring the bay, hiking around the lakes, fishing and crabbing. In addition to enjoying the outdoors we look forward to our visits with our neighbours, Wayne and Catherine and their son Shayne, from Freedom Cove.

During my eight seasons with Clayoquot Wilderness Resort I have only been to Wayne and Catherine’s floathouse once and it happened to be my very first week in Tofino. Finally, last week, I made it back to their amazing floathouse for a long awaited visit. Let me tell you, they have been busy expanding on their alternative lifestyle.

 
As I boated into their cove I couldn’t help but notice the vibrant colour scheme which contrasts beautifully with the lush green winter gardens. Wayne quickly stopped working on one of his projects and greeted me with a warm smile. He directed me over to Catherine and went back to his project. Catherine was equally as welcoming and gave me a tour of her amazing floating gardens. All her summer plants have already been moved into the greenhouses; she has herbs, fruits and every vegetable you could think of. She then brought me into their home where she continued the tour, offered some tea and enlightened me with their inspiring stories.

Wayne and Catherine are both artists. They carve ivory which has come to them naturally (no animals harmed). In addition, they are both writing books with their own illustrations, of course. Catherine practices dance, yoga and tends to her garden while Wayne continues to build their floathouse, fixes boats and helps their son, Shayne, build his own floathouse. During their “free time,” Wayne and Catherine have taught themselves how to make molded beeswax candles. These candles are available for purchase in Tofino and other locations on Vancouver Island. Catherine has composed a poem which is provided with the different sculpted candles. For example, the frog will help make your dreams come true while the ganesha promises to enhance your love life.

I felt very inspired when I left Wayne and Catherine’s floathouse in Freedom Cove. I will be sure to recommend this tour to all our guests at Clayoquot Wilderness Resort. In the meantime, if you are interested in contacting Wayne and Catherine you can email them at freedomcove4@live.com . Moreover, you can find them on YouTube under Tofino Floathouses or Freedomcove Floathouse.

Wilderness Resort - Fall 2009

  It is that time of year when the year round staff takes their vacation.  I have just returned from my holiday and since I have left there have been a few changes at Clayoquot Wilderness Resort.

  
First of all, every fall millions of salmon migrate back to their natal rivers to complete their reproductive cycle.  With the migration of the salmon we always see Doug Palfry, from the Tofino Fish Hatchery, and his group of fish swimmers counting the Bedwell salmon.  

  To continue the efforts from last year, to save the dwindling Chinook salmon numbers, another Bedwell Hatchery project is underway.  In October, the fish swimmers collected their specimens and transported them to the Tofino Fish Hatchery.  The salmon will be raised until they weigh approximately 5 grams.  I will keep you posted on their progress. 

  As the rainy season continues and water levels rise we always anticipate changes to the lay of the land.  The Bedwell River is constantly carving out a new path and unfortunately for us it doesn’t take the location of our roads and infrastructure into account.  Therefore, we are always trying to prevent and prepare for these types of situations.  We have put in a new bridge which will eventually be the new route to get up the Bedwell Valley.

  In addition, we have built a staircase to the top of our zip line.  Apparently, this is going to make the climb up, with the gear, a little easier.  However, 130 steps is a challenge at the best of times; it will be a good workout for those guests who want to keep up with their cardio during their vacation.  If you look closely to the photo provided of the stairs you might notice the waterfall in the background; I guess it is safe to say that we don’t do a lot of rock climbing during the fall months.