I live along the portion of Vernon Creek that has its headwaters at Kalamalka Beach and runs along its course to the newly naturalized Polson Park.
Vernon Creek is important for our freshwater Kokanee Salmon and trout species. They have co-existed for millennia with beavers and beaver dams. Yet, in the 20 years I have lived along this creek, every beaver dam has always been destroyed. The reasons are never truly explained but the main one is no doubt flooding. However, we are now in Stage 3 drought, and our beavers know how to keep streams active and deep. It is the ponding effect of beaver dams that create ideal nurseries for juvenile fish. The lower depths of the ponds are cooler which also creates cooling for seeped waters downstream. As I have walked along in former times, I have seen these pools as deep or deeper than seven feet with all sizes of fish from minnows to adults.
Beavers need space to create their dams, they also need the correct species of trees and the ability to forage for them without disturbance by man. Efforts need to be made to widen our riparian zones along creeks and rivers to encourage all the animals we share this planet with, including our national animal, The Beaver.
Hollister Baxter
