Episode 146: Bring Back The Salmon

Lake Ontario used to hold one of the largest freshwater Atlantic salmon populations anywhere on Earth and then, within a single century, it was gone. That disappearance wasn’t a mystery or “just nature.” It was the predictable outcome of overfishing, dams that blocked spawning runs, pollution, and deforestation that warmed and destabilised the coldwater streams salmon depend on. 

We’re on location at Kendall Hills with Ben from the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters and the Bring Back the Salmon program (also known as the Lake Ontario Atlantic Salmon Restoration Program). You’ll hear how the restoration strategy works in the real world: habitat restoration alongside education and outreach, including a classroom hatchery program where students raise salmon from eyed eggs at carefully controlled temperatures before a timed spring release. We talk about why oxygen, gravel, stream flow, and riparian tree cover are not small details but the whole game for juvenile survival. 

Then we step into the best part, release day. Ben walks the students through safety and respect for the site (ticks, poison ivy, staying on trail, keeping rocks out of the water), and then through a simple but unforgettable act: holding a salmon fry, making “eye contact,” and letting it swim into its future. It’s a visceral reminder that conservation is ultimately about people, what we choose to protect, and what we teach the next generation to value. 

If you care about conservation, fisheries, outdoor education, or the future of Lake Ontario, listen now, then subscribe, share the episode, and leave us a review so more people can find the story and join the work.

Transcript

From Fishing TV To Podcasting

SPEAKER_15 0:01

Hi everybody, I'm Angelo Viola. And I'm Pete Bowman. Now you might know us as the hosts of Canada's favorite fishing show, but now we're hosting a podcast. That's right. Every Thursday, Ang and I'll be right here in your ears, bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. Hmm. Now what are we going to talk about for two hours every week? Well, you know there's going to be a lot of fishing.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch.

SPEAKER_15 0:27

Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show. We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors. From athletes.

SPEAKER_11 0:34

All the other guys would go golfing. Me and Garchom Turks, and all the Russians would go fishing.

SPEAKER_09 0:40

The scientists. But now that we're reforesting and letting things, it's the perfect transmission environment for line with these.

SPEAKER_10 0:47

Chefs, if any game isn't cooked properly, marinated for me. You will taste it.

SPEAKER_15 0:53

And whoever else will pick up the phone. Wherever you are, Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside.

SPEAKER_11 1:02

Find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Under The Canopy And Chaga Roots

SPEAKER_03 1:22

But they are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Jerry Olette, and I was honored to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources. However, my journey into the woods didn't come from politics. Rather, it came from my time in the bush and a mushroom. In 2015, I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as Chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal applications used by indigenous peoples all over the globe. After nearly a decade of harvest, use testimonials, and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession. And I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show is about. My pursuit of this strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places, meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and under the canopy. So join me today for another great episode, and hopefully, we can inspire a few more people to live their lives under the canopy.

Atlantic Salmon And A Lost Treasure

SPEAKER_03 2:50

So we're uh here at uh Kendall Hills Game Preserve, as at least what it used to be called. Now I'm with Ben from the uh Bring Back the Salmon program with the OFAH. And uh we've got a classroom of students coming out to to do a release today, right, Ben?

SPEAKER_16 3:06

Yes, yes. So uh yeah, I'm with the Bring Back the Salmon program, uh also known as the Lake Ontario Atlantic Salmon Restoration Program, um, where we're restoring a lost treasure to Lake Ontario. So Atlantic salmon are native to Lake Ontario, came in around 11,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, yeah. Um, where they became very, very numerous, uh, very abundant. Uh in fact, we believe it was the largest freshwater population of Atlantic salmon anywhere. Yeah. Um and they were very important to all the living things around this region, including the people, right? The indigenous populations. This was a really important fish for them.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_16 3:42

Um, and then also for early European settlers. Yeah. They were very uh very important as well. But uh with colonization came a lot of changes to the land and the water, right? Um, and uh including deforestation, which had lots of impacts on um the streams for this fish. And this this fish is a is a cold water species that migrates upstream to lay its eggs and live its juvenile stages. Um the loss of tree cover warms up the streams, changes the flows, changes the quality, disrupts the food web, right? All the leaves and twigs that fall into the water are really important for the fish.

SPEAKER_03 4:19

Well, Ben, the um actually just across the road, it's Ganaraska Forest, which uh was originally designed to help to stop the flooding in Port Hope with Ganaraska River and with all the forestation there. I used uh Ben, I don't know if you know, I used to be in the Minister of Natural Court.

SPEAKER_16 4:34

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:35

And I was the one that initiated the salmon bringing back. Okay.

SPEAKER_16 4:39

Oh, cool, cool. So we know about the program.

SPEAKER_03 4:41

Yeah, so I know about it. Plus, I also uh developed the technology uh for classroom hatchery programs.

Building Classroom Hatcheries That Work

SPEAKER_03 4:46

Okay. Although, were you working with uh the school with that program?

SPEAKER_16 4:50

That's that's what we're doing, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 4:52

That's what we're doing here today with some of the stuff though I understand was that uh you've you've I don't think the technology was used the same as what we did because Wilma um from uh Millbrook was telling me that you actually put styrofoam around the aquarium. So what are you using to keep the water cold? So we have chillers. Oh, you do?

SPEAKER_16 5:11

Um yeah, so they're aquarium chillers, uh, and we run the classroom hatchery at four degrees.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_16 5:17

Um uh and that that delays the development, and we try and time it so that the fish are they hatch out, they have their yolk sack, yeah, and they're slowly using up that yolk sack, and we try and time it so that they're they're just getting off that yolk sack when we release them.

SPEAKER_03 5:33

Okay. Um yeah, so it's a swim-up hatchery because when the the yolk sack is absorbed and they start eating, and that's when they start going to the bathroom and you get contamination.

SPEAKER_05 5:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:41

So, but what uh what I did uh then was um we had uh um we used actually water chillers. Yes, you know.

SPEAKER_16 5:48

Foreseen that that system, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:49

Yeah, so uh you I'm not sure how long you've been with OFH, but Norm Monahan uh used to own the fish stores, and and Norm worked with us in developing along along with uh Brian Hayes from Hayes Plumbing, and we converted uh you know the big water jug coolers to uh to cycle down through. And I brought the policy advisor out from uh the ministry out to see the program. And we had uh well, probably a couple dozen schools that would run. Mostly it was rainbows, though. Yes. And rainbows, it was just like you said, now in Fahrenheit, we were anywhere around 60 degrees. And we found yeah, it was in the 60 degree mark because rainbows can take warmer than Atlantic. Yes. So you're operating at four, which is why you need the styrofoam. Yeah. Right? Because uh when we first started that program, we used, first of all, we used heavy-duty pumps to go through coolers filled with ice. And I got to be every other day. I had to fill the cooler up. And then we brought in those electric coolers that plug into the wall and use, and they didn't work. So that's when we started using the converting those water fillers. And it was cheap because those things were like 100 bucks. Yeah. And so we get the aquarium and then use uh, and we did we did rainbows and we did browns as well. Okay. But uh the the Atlantics, uh, I didn't realize that were that they kept it that cold.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:09

And that was one thing we found with the rainbows. If we increase, because rainbows, I guess the prime temperature is between 68 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit. And as we got into around the 70, it sped up the release time because they absorb the yolk sacks that much faster.

SPEAKER_16 7:24

And we do that too. We warm up the temperature to try and burn up that yolk sac. Right. Um, as well as we um we also uh um we also want to match the stream temperature as close as we can, right? Yeah, so I've got a you know a fancy thermometer here, and we're monitoring that um and trying to get it as close as we can in the classrooms, right? Right? Yeah, um, so today actually I just took a measurement, we were at about 8.6, and our classroom hatcheries right now are at about 10. Yeah, right. So um we're pretty close, and that's for this site. The site I was at yesterday was at right at 10. So um, yeah, so this is part of our program to bring back Atlantic salmon. Good, right? Um, that were lost, they became extirpated by 1860 uh um 1898 due to impacts of colonization, the deforestation, damming of rivers, yeah, pollution, and overfishing. Yeah, um and so now we're bringing them back by raising and releasing fish, right? Right? Um, doing habitat restoration, right, which is super important to support the fish once they go out there. Um, also like have very far-reaching benefits to many other species of fish, wildlife, and people, yeah, to just have healthy ecosystems. Um, and then uh, and then we also have um education and outreach, right, right, which is um which is critical. It's the human component of the ecosystem health, right? And ecosystem restoration, which is our our classroom hatchery program fits into that. So we have 81 um classroom hatcheries this year. Good. Raising Atlantic salmon from Burlington all the way over to Kingston. Is it all just Atlantic studio? Just Atlantic, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:12

You don't do uh anything else later on? Nope, no rainbows or nope.

SPEAKER_16 9:16

Um yeah, my my program's focused on Atlantic salmon. So um we have our classroom hatchery program uh running right now, and we have usually we engage uh last year we were over 3,500 kids. Good that we engaged in this program.

SPEAKER_03 9:31

That's uh one of the key things. And and when we initiated, when I started and developed that technology back when I developed it in and I it was like uh around 98, um, it was all schools that we targeted that were on the Oshawa Creek. And we did at Swim Apatcheries. Now, mind you, we probably released in excess of a hundred thousand uh rainbows into the Oshawa stream and and streams all along there. Yeah, and that was all designed exactly as you said to get the kids involved. Yeah. And I know that uh the um a number of the schools developed uh fishing clubs as a result of it because they had it in there, and and yeah, it was it was good to get the kids involved to see the and when we did the releases, I'm sure you're gonna do, we talked about the release and the and all that we try to do with the environment, et cetera, et cetera.

Tree Cover Stormwater And Stream Health

SPEAKER_03 10:15

And we talk about, as you mentioned, you know, the stream cover. I know it needs about one-third of coverage in order to maintain a cool or a cold water stream. And when we start taking trees down, and I know uh I was in Oshawa, and one of the sites that we did was over just um off Harmony Road. And the city went in and they redid it and they cut down all the trees, and I called up the counselor and said, What are you doing? They said uh all that that just exposed all the stream, now it's gonna warm up, and you may end up impacting, negatively impacting that cold water fish hatchery that's there now. And they're like, What? Really?

SPEAKER_16 10:50

Yeah, it's a awareness, it's super important, right? And that's what we're trying to do here. It's a long-term investment with these kids. Good, right? And um, in like the the fish species doesn't even really matter. Yeah, right. It's it's a but the Atlantics really have this tie into this story that illustrates what happens when we don't take good care of the natural world, right? Yeah, um, which is also taking care of us, yeah, right. So there's biology, there's ecology, there's habitats, um, there's natural history. Um, and the big overarching thing is is that um driving home that message that we need to be good stewards, yeah, like good caretakers of the world around us so that it's healthy and productive, and it's good for Atlantic salmon, it's good for rainbow trout, um, it's good for the birds, it's good for us. Yeah, right? We need a lot of the same things that these fish do. Yeah. Um, and so that's you know, that's the big take-home uh with this program.

SPEAKER_03 11:46

Yeah. So, and I know one of the things that I talked about was um I'd explained to the kids, I said, look, when you had this, this all used to be fields before there was what we call blacktop and rooftop when I was minister. And now you've got all these blacktop, which is driveways and roadways and all the rooftops. And essentially the rain used to come and land in the field, seep into the ground, purify itself, and migrate down to the stream. Well, they brought in all these blacktop and rooftops, and now you get huge peaks and lows and rivers as opposed to the purification. So, what they did was they brought in these stormwater retention ponds in order to help try to emulate a bit of how the seepage goes back into the environment. So, a lot of those ponds, when people see them, when they're going by new subdivisions, they don't understand why, and that's essentially some of the reason they did that.

SPEAKER_16 12:33

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, hardened landscapes are a huge impact to temperature and flow, right? Um, and that's where like individuals can play a part in in your own backyard, right? Like planting native species of plants supports native biodiversity in your yard and can help to uh those ecosystem services. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 12:58

Well, just look at the impact of Frank Mighty's on the communities now.

SPEAKER_16 13:01

It's huge, right? Yeah, yeah, big time.

SPEAKER_13 13:09

Back

Sponsor Break And Chaga Offer

SPEAKER_13 13:10

in 2016, Frank and I had a vision to amass the single largest database of muskie angling education material anywhere in the world.

SPEAKER_10 13:18

Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you.

SPEAKER_13 13:24

Thus, the Ugly Pike Podcast was born and quickly grew to become one of the top fishing podcasts in North America.

SPEAKER_10 13:31

Step into the world of angling adventures and embrace the thrill of the catch with the Ugly Pike Podcast. Join us on our quest to understand what makes us different as anglers and to uncover what it takes to go after the infamous fish of 10,000 casts.

SPEAKER_13 13:45

The Ugly Pike Podcast isn't just about fishing, it's about creating a tight-knit community of passionate anglers who share the same love for the sport. Through laughter, through camaraderie, and an unwavering spirit of adventure, this podcast will bring people together. Subscribe now and never miss a moment of our angling adventures.

SPEAKER_10 14:03

Tight lines, everyone.

SPEAKER_13 14:05

Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts.

SPEAKER_03 14:18

And now it's time for another testimonial for Chaga Health and Wellness. Okay, we're here in Lindsay with Sue. Sue, you've got a little bit of a story to tell us about the Chaga cream. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

I do. I absolutely love the Chaga cream. I ran out of it over the winter when I was away. I've had a biggest break of eczema, and all the creams that the daughters have given me have done nothing. I started using this last Saturday. I got it from you at the market and it's gone. Gone in in what a week? In a week. And my daughter has had has two little pups whose ears have very long ears and they crack. Right. Every month that the vet's getting creams. And last year I told her about this. She used it on the dogs for a week. They have no problems anymore. And she told the vet he's using it too. Oh, that's great. So it is an awesome product. I highly recommend it.

SPEAKER_03 15:10

Thank you very much, Sue. We really appreciate that. Have a great day. Thank you. We interrupt this program to bring you a special offer from Chaga Health and Wellness. If you've listened this far and you're still wondering about this strange mushroom that I keep talking about and whether you would benefit from it or not, I may have something of interest to you. To thank you for listening to the show, I'm going to make trying Chaga that much easier by giving you a dollar off all our Chaga products at checkout. All you have to do is head over to our website, Chaga Health and Wellness.com, place a few items in the cart, and check out with the code CANopy. C-A-N-O-P-Y. If you're new to Chaga, I'd highly recommend the regular Chaga tea. This comes with 15 tea bags per package, and each bag gives you around five or six cups of tea. Hey, thanks for listening. Back to the episode.

Students Gather For Release Day

SPEAKER_03 16:21

Okay, we got the students going, and we'll move on from taking the kids down to the release is gonna take place.

SPEAKER_02 16:35

Okay, let's stop right here. Ah, the pawns are big over here. Nice.

SPEAKER_16 16:42

Okay, if you can hear me, clap your hands once. If you can hear me, clap your hands twice. If you can hear me, clap your hands four times. All right, good morning. Nice to see you all again. What a beautiful day we got, eh?

SPEAKER_05 17:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_16 17:01

Right on. Um, so welcome to Kendall Crown Lands uh for the big release day. We've been working for this for quite a while, right? Um now before we go any further, we're gonna do safety. All right, so we're coming to a we're coming to a place outside the classroom. I always make it a routine, no matter where I'm going, to be aware of the hazards that that I might encounter, right? What what do you think might be some of the hazards we encounter here today?

SPEAKER_04 17:34

Bugs and um and um okay, you can hit two there.

SPEAKER_16 17:41

So we'll cover bugs first, right? Now there might be mosquitoes or black flies that bite you. They're not they're not dangerous, right? But there might be ticks, right? So very important. And this year's been really bad for ticks. This area's really bad for ticks. So very, very important, right? That we stay on the trail. And when we're done here today, we're gonna have a look over ourselves and make sure we don't have uh any ticks climbing on us. If you are wearing pants and socks, you can do this little nifty trick. See that you thought it was just for style. I know it looks cool, but it actually has a function of keeping the ticks from climbing up my pant legs, right? When you get home tonight, it's a good idea to put your clothes in the wash and have a shower and have your parents give you a lookover, okay? Um, we also heard sunburns, right? We got a hot sunny day, so just be aware of that if you have sun stand lotion or however you manage um the sun, okay. Uh, what else is a hazard here? Yep, deep water. Okay, good point. We are gonna be near the water. Now it's not super deep, however, it is moving and it's really cold. And even shallow water can be dangerous, right? So, for the purpose of our day, um only myself, and this is Caitlin, by the way, I didn't introduce Caitlin. Um, and uh Caitlin is wearing these really cool party pants, right? That is for she is the only one that is going to be going in the water, unless I put mine on, too. Um and it's really important that you stay out of the water, a for liability, right? Just for legal stuff, we don't want you in the water. And number two, really important, we're gonna be putting our fish there. So we don't want people going into the water. We also don't want people. Anyone here like skipping stones? Yeah? I love skipping stones too. Um, but we're not going to be skipping stones because we don't want to throw rocks in and land on our fish. We also, with a big crowd like this, we don't want to be throwing things around. Also, with sticks, we normally leave sticks on the ground just just because we got such a big crowd of people, right? So let's let's just leave the sticks that way you're not accidentally hitting each other, okay? That's okay, that's a different one. Uh what else, Michaela?

SPEAKER_04 20:28

Stay five feet away from the water.

SPEAKER_16 20:31

Okay, great. Stay, we're actually gonna stay two lengths, two body lengths away from the water when you're not releasing your fish. When you release your fish, you will come closer to the water, not in the water, but closer to the water. Um and but until we tell you to, you are to stay at least two lengths of body of your own body length away from the water. Does that make sense? Okay. What else is a hazard here? Yeah. Yeah, so the ticks can be in the leaves, right? Off the trail again. There might be more ticks. Yep. Don't run away from your group, right? This is a big patch of forest. So you could actually get lost. We're gonna stick together, right? That's really important. Um, anything else?

SPEAKER_06 21:24

Yeah, like going to the water super deep. Yeah, they're and they're supposed to keep the water out so you can go in deep and baby. Yes. Like, yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_16 21:46

Animals, right? There could be somebody walking their dogs. There could also be wild animals here, right? So again, we're gonna stick together and we're not gonna approach any animals, okay? Whether it's a domestic dog, somebody walking it, or it's a squirrel. Running around. We're not gonna go near those animals, okay? Um, what about a plant?

SPEAKER_06 22:06

Don't touch plants. Um, some of them could be poison ivy.

SPEAKER_16 22:11

Poison ivy. There is actually poison ivy at this site. Now, here's the thing about poison ivy poison ivy is not trying to get you, right? It's just doing its thing. It just happens to be that sometimes for some of us when we touch it, we get a really bad rash, like a really bad rash, some people, right? Um, so but all we have to do is not touch it. And how we don't touch it is A, we stay on the trail, and B, we're gonna actually point it out to you because if you can get to know Poison Ivy, right? If you make friends with poison ivy, then you get to know it and you'll see it, and then you can just avoid it, right? You just don't touch it, it's that simple, right? Um, I think we got all the hazards.

SPEAKER_07 23:02

I think so. And one thing we also have to look out for is well, the trail that we're gonna be walking on is not completely flat. We might see some roots, so we want to make sure we know where we are putting our feet so that we are not tripping and falling into any mud.

SPEAKER_16 23:18

Yes, thank you, Caitlin. Caitlin is very smart. You know why Caitlin is very smart? Because her mother went to your school.

SPEAKER_07 23:30

Almost 40 years ago.

SPEAKER_16 23:32

So that her so her mom's really smart, and then she passed it on to Caitlin.

SPEAKER_07 23:36

You got a lot of things going to your school.

SPEAKER_16 23:39

Okay, so now what are we doing here

Why Atlantic Salmon Disappeared

SPEAKER_16 23:43

again? What are we doing here today? We're releasing the fish. What kind of fish?

SPEAKER_06 23:48

Salmon!

SPEAKER_16 23:49

Atlantic salmon. Atlantic salmon, right? And guys, guys, guys. Um, why are we releasing Atlantic salmon here?

SPEAKER_06 23:57

Or we can bring better population.

SPEAKER_16 24:00

Okay. What happened to them?

unknown 24:03

Lake Ontario lost them.

SPEAKER_16 24:06

Lake Ontario lost them, right? So that's why we're bringing back the salmon. We're bringing back Atlantic salmon. And do you remember why they disappeared? There was like four big reasons. Yeah, and the blue jay hat?

SPEAKER_06 24:21

Because people came over and they were like catching them.

SPEAKER_16 24:27

So they were they were catching too many, right? They were they were overfishing, right? They weren't fishing sustainably. Do you guys remember what sustainable means? Yeah, Michaela?

unknown 24:38

Like they're fishing too much.

SPEAKER_16 24:40

So fishing too much is unsustainable, right? So sustainable is that we leave enough for all forever. Right? It's really important that we do that. So there was overfishing. You got another one? Um pollution was another one.

SPEAKER_04 24:55

Um, dams.

SPEAKER_16 24:56

Dams was another one. They couldn't swim back upstream to lay their eggs, and because people were eating soup work a lot. So overfishing, right? One more reason.

SPEAKER_06 25:05

I got one the trees were being cut down.

SPEAKER_16 25:08

The cutting down of the trees, perfect, right? So that they disappeared very quickly. They went from in the beginning of the 1800s, it was the largest population of freshwater Atlantic salmon anywhere, and by the end of the 1800s, they were gone, right? So that's why we're bringing them back. Okay, so what we're gonna do, um, I think we'll wait now. You'll get to see the fish. I'm not gonna show you all the fish right now. Um, it's really exciting, but you'll get to see them when you release them. But I do want to let you know, right? You started out with how many eggs? 100.

unknown 25:43

100.

SPEAKER_16 25:43

100. And how many do you think you have? 100. 99. Well, actually, that is great. I think I think that's the highest number we have so far this year. What happened to the one? The one one didn't make it, right? Which always happens. That's normal. Um, you know, the school that was just here, they did really well, too. They had 85. That was really well, really good, right? But you had 99. All right. Okay, so we are going to make our way. Um excuse me.

SPEAKER_03 26:19

Do you want to introduce yourself? Hi, I'm uh I'm uh Jerry Olet, and I'll be coming to the school and taking the grade threes out, and we'll be walking the trail. In the past, I've gone through the trail of the school and I do nature talks, and plus uh I used to be the Minister of Natural Resources for the province of Ontario. So, and one of the things that I initiated and helped support was the program that you're enjoying now. So we came out to see the work that you're doing, and and actually, we're recording a podcast about this, and you will hear yourself on the podcast. It'll be released in a few weeks, and you can hear yourself talking and all the information that we're going over. And thank you for letting me being part of it. Thank you for coming. No problem.

SPEAKER_16 26:58

Thanks for having me. So we are going to make our way in a single file line, making sure that we're staying behind. You're staying behind myself and Caitlin. Okay? So nobody going ahead, because if you go ahead, maybe you go to the wrong place and we lose you, right? We're releasing fish, not students.

SPEAKER_07 27:19

We brought 100 students back here, and we want to at least leave with 99.

SPEAKER_02 27:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 27:28

So don't get don't go down to the river and get your lunch cookies.

SPEAKER_16 27:31

Okay. And you will stay on the trail, right? To to reduce the chance of a tick and to reduce the chance of touching the poison ivy and also to keep the impact of our walking all along the trail. Okay? Uh, do you want to take that? Yeah, that'd be crazy. Um, we got teachers back there.

SPEAKER_06 27:58

I think wrong with a gang.

SPEAKER_16 28:01

Okay. If you can hear me clap once. If you can hear me clap three times. Alright, so we are at our release site.

What Makes A Great Release Site

SPEAKER_16 28:15

Um, and Caitlin is just gonna place the bucket of fish just in the water, and we gotta let it sit there for a little bit. Anyone know why we'd want to do that? Temperature, perfect. Um, so the temperature inside your tank, right, was pretty close to what the temperature inside the stream is right now. Um, but then we put it into a cooler with ice packs, the temperature changed a bit again. Can you guys just stay back over this way? Um and so we want to balance that temperature, right? We want to acclimate the fish to the temperature of the stream, right? So while we're waiting, um what was the life stage that you got your fish at? Egg, right? It's more specifically, they were eyed egg, correct. And then they hatched out into what? So one between uh eyed egg and fry. Yep. Elven, right? With their little yolk sacks. Remember that? And they were slowly using up their yolk sacks, then they used up their yolk sacks, and now they're fry, right? Um now why are we releasing our fry here? Why do you think this is a good spot? Yep. Temperature is a good temperature, right? We've got this beautiful, clean, cold water flowing from out of the Oak Ridge Moraine, just a little bit north of here. And it's and it's flowing down here, and there's lots of tree cover. Now, right here it's open, and that's good for us, but there's lots of tree cover around here. This water is cold, all right? Um, what else about this is a good spot? There are some predators, but there's less predators than there would be closer to the lake. Yeah. Think about inside your tank. What's what was in the bottom of the tank? Yep. Gravel, right? So why is the gravel important? So it can hide from predators, right? Also, in that gravel is what our little fish are gonna be eating. Do you remember what our little fish are gonna be eating?

SPEAKER_04 30:43

Invertebrates.

SPEAKER_16 30:44

Invertebrates, right? Little invertebrates. There's all kinds of them living in here. It's full of life. So this is a good spot for food. The temperature is good. Um, what else about this spot?

SPEAKER_04 30:57

Um, okay.

SPEAKER_16 31:02

What was what was going from the bottom of the tank up to the top? Bubbles, right? Which is bubbles of air that has oxygen in it, right? Look, we've got a bubbler right here. Look at all that white. That's our bubbler. This is the way the stream breathes. The the water tumbling over those rocks is grabbing air, pushing it into the water, the oxygen's dissolving, and it's there for our fish. And Atlantic salmon need high levels of oxygen in the water. Really important. Um, where do you think this goes? To Lake Ontario, right? So the fish can swim, they'll be in this stream for a while, one to three years, then they will swim down to the lake and they can actually swim back up. I've seen um big rainbow trout coming up in here before. We might even see some other baby salmon in this section uh that are from spawning. All right. Um, so we are going to.

Releasing Fry With Care

SPEAKER_16 32:08

You guys, are you ready to release some fish? How many students do you have? Close to 80? Okay. 70. So we should have enough to do one each then. Um, and so we will have two lines. If you guys can move back up here, please. Can you move back up here? We're not going into the water, buddy. Alright, can you move back up over this way, just a little bit back? And we're gonna make two lines. Okay? Um, and you are going to get that fish in your hand and make eye contact with it. Look at the fish, check it out, give it a name, right? Then you are going to. Leaf is gonna show you where to be, but you're gonna be right at the edge of the water, and you are going to crouch down, not lean over, but crouch down, right? Bend your knees and get really low. And then you're going to give your fish well wishes, and you are going to pour that fish out into the water. All right? Now, if you pour too slow, the water will go out, and the fish will still be in the cup. So just go a little faster, right at the end. Not super fast, don't dump it out. Just just have it wash out. And if the fish is still in the cup and no water, don't panic. Just scoop up a little bit of water and dump them out. Does that make sense? Yeah. So, really important that you don't just stand there and dump the fish from this height. That's our little fish. That's that'd be hard on them, right? Okay, does that make sense to everybody? Okay. Okay, and then you can give your cups back to Leaf or to Caitlin, and then you'll head up this way. Up over here. This way here. If you want to take a video, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_07 34:17

Pour, pour, keep porn. There you go. And then I'll take your cup and we gotta.

SPEAKER_16 34:23

You want your stuff, bud? Was that cool?

SPEAKER_03 34:26

There you go. Do you like? All right, good work.

SPEAKER_16 34:31

You could if you'd like, or if even from over there. You gotta come up this way, bud. So that the next people can come through.

SPEAKER_07 34:38

Almost there, eh? So emotional. Jimmy Bomb. Okay, well, we're uh you're emotional good everything.

SPEAKER_03 34:47

That's the last for this classroom. It's releasing here. Seeing a lot of Colts foot and horsetails.

SPEAKER_02 34:53

Do you want to get a quick little bit of uh video there?

SPEAKER_03 34:59

Which ostrich ferns are good for fiddleheads at an earlier stage, but they're way past that now. And we're about to wrap up. So the next class can come.

SPEAKER_05 35:10

Um everybody.

Stewardship Lessons That Stick

SPEAKER_16 35:16

If I could bring you back in a little closer, I'm losing my voice. Come a little closer. Okay, everybody, if you can hear me, clap once. If you can hear me, clap twice. All right. Well, thank you very much for participating in the Bring Back the Salmon program. Did you enjoy it? Yeah. Um, so our fish now, right? They'll be swimming around here, eating invertebrates, growing bigger, one to three years before they swim down to the lake, they start eating fish, they get bigger, and then if they survive, maybe they'll come back up here to lay their eggs and continue the life cycle, right? Um, now this program really shows us that we humans, right, we can do negative things to the environment, right? That's why Atlantic salmon were lost. But if we can do negative things, we can also do positive things, right? Are you guys gonna do positive things? A little louder. Come on. Oh awesome. Well, thank you very much. Um, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your weekend, long weekend, right?

unknown 36:44

Thank you.

SPEAKER_16 36:45

Oh, you're welcome. Oh, all right, so we'll start making our way back up the trail.

unknown 36:53

Thanks, Ben.

SPEAKER_03 36:56

Well, thanks, Ben. That's good that uh getting the kids out and getting them involved in this stuff.

SPEAKER_16 37:02

It's a visceral experience, right?

SPEAKER_03 37:04

Yeah, it's it's planting a seed for future generations, right?

SPEAKER_16 37:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:08

So that's good.

SPEAKER_16 37:08

So I uh I I when I first got into this program, I said it to my former supervisor. I don't think she got it, and she thought I was kind of weird, but um I I said it's like it's like the little fish swims into the soul of the child and just expands, right? Yeah, um, and I I believe that. I'd like I'm not like it it does, it it does make an impact, right? But uh hopefully makes them interact with the world in a different way, right?

SPEAKER_03 37:42

Exactly. And that's some of the keys to this whole thing, is is planting that seed for future generations. Yeah, and when they see the difference, and and you know, hopefully at some point they'll see uh Atlantics coming back, which will have a huge impact on how they view what their contribution is.

SPEAKER_16 37:59

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And right now it's uh it's an exciting time for the program. We've had like there's a lot of people catching yeah, adult Atlantic salmon out in the lake. Good. Um, you know, and that's the result of lots of work, right? And time. Like species restoration takes a long time. Yeah. Um and and it's more about it's really more about people than it is about the fish. Yeah, you know? Yeah. Um, and then and then we've learned, right? It's an adaptive management strategy. Yep. That uh we've learned about strains and genetics and where to put the fish and when to put the fish. So we're we're stalking more.

SPEAKER_03 38:38

Um so how many releases, how many fish do you release in the springtime? In like in this area here.

SPEAKER_16 38:45

So in uh in the classroom hatchery program, we're usually around 7,000. Good, right? Um, and then you know, with the Atlantic Salmon Restoration Program, yeah, um, it varies, you know, in in how many are released in different life stages. And yeah, um course in and that's where the volume of fish comes from.

SPEAKER_03 39:14

Um yeah, and and I think it it topped on one point there for the kids with that uh 99 of the hundred eggs that you put in the aquarium for a hatch, whereas in the wild, yeah, it's what two to four percent actually get it to that stage. So it has a big impact and uh a better chance of success.

SPEAKER_16 39:32

Yeah. Yeah, and I mean, like they're I I like to look at the classroom hatchery fish as like they're the smartest fish, right? Because they've been in the classrooms. Okay. But you know, there it's a small amount, but it's mighty. Yeah, but it's really it's about the impact of that experience of raising them. Yeah. More so than how many fish we're putting out.

SPEAKER_03 39:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_16 39:54

Right?

SPEAKER_03 39:54

Um see a lot of different interesting plants along this trail there, too. It's good for fiddleheads or ostrich fruits back there, some white foot, some horse tail.

SPEAKER_16 40:05

Yeah, blue kohosh, I think, too, eh? I think this one is I think that's blue cohosh. Yeah. Um my wife is the plant expert in our family.

SPEAKER_03 40:17

Yeah, I saw deer tracks going across the trail up there as well. Yeah, yeah. Anyways, Ben, thanks for your time. Appreciate that. Something a little bit out there what's happening out there under the canopy. Yeah, thanks, Ben. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, thank you.

More Shows On The Network

SPEAKER_12 41:02

On the Outdoor Journal Radio Network's newest podcast, Diaries of a Lodge Owner. But this podcast will be more than that. Every week on Diaries of a Lodge Owner, I'm going to introduce you to a ton of great people. Share their stories of our trials, tribulations, and inspirations. Learn and have plenty of laughs along the way.

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Meanwhile, we're sitting there bobbing along, trying to figure out how to catch a bass. And we both decided one day we were going to be on television doing a fishing job.

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My hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in all those bass in the summertime, but that's might be more efficient than it was punching. You so confidently you said, Hey Pat, have you ever eaten a drink?

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Find diaries of a lodge owner now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.