This week on Vancouver Island Chronicles - “Saving the Tsolum River Part One.”
If you live on Vancouver Island you have probably heard about the return of the pink salmon to the Tsolum River. What is really remarkable about the story is that most of the returning pinks were wild: spawning above the hatchery. What is even more remarkable is that in 2000 the DFO declared the Tsolum to be a dead river and cancelled all projects on the river.
This two-part documentary is the story of the Tsolum River Restoration Society and their efforts to save a river that at one time was one of the premiere steelhead rivers in the area. Shot over a three-year-period, Part One covers the history: the abandoned copper mine and the efforts of the society to get the mine covered so that water quality could be restored. Part Two (Dec. 21) looks at the challenges moving forward as well as some of the work being done now to restore the watershed back to a natural state.
Vancouver Island Chronicles runs on CHEK TV Sundays at 4 p.m.