Cumberland’s Coal Creek Historic Park was the theatre of a full-fledged rescue operation on the afternoon of May 15.
A small stout-hearted troop of children, ages 4 and 5, led by Hand-In-Hand nature instructor Jody Fink, managed to save nearly 300 fish from imminent death.
It all started shortly after 9 a.m. when the cohort headed into the forest for their usual class, explained Fink. As they approached Perseverance Creek, they noticed something worrisome.
Two drying puddles, approximately two metres long by about a metre wide, were teeming with fish, including 14-inch rainbow trout, small sticklebacks, and inch-long coho fry.
“The fish were unable to get downstream or upstream because there was no fresh water coming in or getting out,” Fink said. “That’s when we decided to go up the river bed… to collect water and add it to the puddle.”
Armed with newfound determination, the preschoolers went up and down the creekbed, filling their tiny buckets with fresh water and emptying them into the puddles.
In less than an hour, their hard work raised the puddles’ water levels by two inches. But when the sun hit high noon, the squad lost some of its members.
“At lunchtime, some of our children left and some stayed,” said Fink. “In the afternoon, I had seven children still with me and as we were leaving, our friend Hayden just asked if we could go back and check on the fish.”
As the group returned to the creek, they were met with the daunting realization that their efforts had been in vain, as the ground had absorbed all the water.
Undeterred, the team got back to work. This time, Fink emptied the contents of her waterproof backpack, transforming it into an improvised fish container.
During the next hour, the group saved more than 100 fish by bringing them to an upstream pool fed with well-oxygenated water.
When the clock rang at 3 p.m., the crew, hard at work, had to go back to the Coal Creek Historic Park’s parking lot as their parents awaited their return.
Unfortunately, many of the fish found in the puddles still needed to be saved… but hope remained.
“When we came out of the forest, some of the kids were quite emotional and wanted to save the rest of the fish since we had to leave a lot of them in the puddle,” Fink said. “At that point, we asked families to come… back with their children and we scooped all the fish out.”
In the end, this joint effort saved the lives of nearly 300 fish with next to no casualties according to Fink.
Throughout the entire ordeal, Fink has been in touch with the Perseverance Creek Streamkeepers, whose vocation is to carry out fish rescues on an “as-needed” basis for Cumberland’s watershed as the seasons progress.
The following Friday (May 17), the stream keepers arrived to collect the saved fish and offer them a brighter future.
“When we came back, all the fish seemed to be healthy. All the big rainbow trout were swimming without any problem,” Fink said. “The streamkeepers came in and we observed them collecting the fish out of that fish trap (so they could get) relocated to Comox Lake.”
Hand-In-Hand Nature Education is a Cumberland-based organization that describes itself as a classroom “without a ceiling or walls.” Their goal is to care for, stimulate, and educate children, ages 2 to 9, in an outdoor setting across all four seasons.
To learn more about Hand-In-Hand Nature Education and the program they offer, visit hand-in-handeducation.com
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