Lessons In The DeMamiel Creek Forest

The DeMamiel Creek forest is mostly second growth with old growth trees in places.
It is in the Coastal Douglas fir ecozone, and is comprised mostly of private land.

The primal forest is the best school one is likely to find. Too bad so many people are skipping class, including those who are supposed to be responsible for protecting this precious resource.


The students that do take the time to learn the lessons of the forest discover everything they need to know about successful living on this planet. Trees provide places we can experience the richness of life. Here we can learn the lessons of gentle living and cooperation.


Notable teachers across the ages have acted as our guides, sharing with us their insights gained from developing a relationship with the trees.

A fungal community growing on a moss community growing in a tree community. Things proceed peacefully - there are no wars... until we show up with our scorched earth assaults and clear everything in sight.

Pete Seeger loved being on the stage, but found respite in the forest. He said, "Every time I'm in the woods, I feel like I'm in church."


But churches pale in comparison to sunlight filtering through a grove of centuries old Western red cedar or Douglas fir on a misty day. The great cathedrals of the world were built to emulate such groves of towering trees, which are the original places of worship.

This is the original place of learning and worship - everyone is welcomed here.

The forest wilderness is where John Muir went to discover the clearest way into the Universe. His prescription for all of us urban types was to occasionally spend a week in the woods to "wash the spirit clean".

DeMamiel Creek supports several species of salmon. The trees and fish have a mutually beneficial relationship.

Henry David Thoreau lived in the woods to learn what they had to teach. He found the trees and the things that lived with them to be a source of beauty, harmony, and perfection in cooperation.


Thoreau learned that in the woods everything does its part with thrift and equality, and he pondered the folly of not doing the same in the human world.

DeMamiel forest is accessible from the adjacent Sunriver neighbourhood.

Indian activist Vandana Shiva started her eco-education in the 1970s women-led Chipko movement. These are the original tree huggers - Chipko means "to hug or embrace". The women were so dedicated to their communities' Himalayan forests that they wrapped themselves around the trees to protect them from loggers saws.


After repeated walks among the beautiful oaks and rhododendrons, Shiva learned that "the forest teaches us enoughness: as a principle of equity, how to enjoy the gifts of nature without exploitation and accumulation."


By 1980 the Chipko movement scored a major victory for forests and the people when the Indian government imposed a 15 year ban on logging in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Similar logging bans spread to other states as communities took back forest resources for the benefit of the people living there.

Everything does its part, and each part
is as important as any other.

No species other than humans takes more than its fair share. In the forest there is no consumerism, no greed, and no accumulation for personal aggrandizement. There is the freedom to be and participate as a necessary and integral part of something larger to which we are all connected.


It is vital that we adopt the wisdom of the woods, and soon. Instead of clear cutting the last ancient forests to the ground, we should be studying and emulating them.


When we begin to learn their lessons we will begin to live in harmony with our environment, and with each other.

Big Fish, Big Trees: Sooke's Ayum Creek

Big fish in Ayum Creek.

Ayum Creek in Sooke is a good place to witness how salmon and the forest interact. Although one is a water creature that cruises the ocean's depths, and another a fixed feature of the land, these diverse species need each other.

This fern-covered Bigleaf maple greets visitors to Ayum Creek Regional Park Reserve

Most people know that salmon need both fresh and salt water during their life cycle. Less well known is that large, old trees are just as important to all seven species of salmon that have lived and died in Vancouver Island waters for 10 - 12,000 years.

Ayum creek is a small spawning stream that contains coho and chum salmon, as well as steelhead and cutthroat trout. These species are dependent on large trees in the riparian habitat along the banks, as well as large woody debris in the water to provide more structure and an improved habitat.

Evidence of this land's industrial past. There used to be an early saw mill
and log sort on the 6.4 hectare site where the park now sits.

"The abundance of coho can be limited by the number of suitable territories available (Larkin 1977). Pool habitat is important not only for returning adults, but for all stages of juvenile development. Preferred pool habitat includes deep pools with riparian cover and woody debris."

"Streams with more structure (logs, undercut banks, etc.) support more coho (Scrivener and Andersen 1982), not only because they provide more territories (usable habitat), but they also provide more food and cover. "

"There is a positive correlation between the amount of insect material in the stomachs of salmon and the extent the stream was overgrown with vegetation (Chapman 1965). In addition, the leaf litter in the fall contributes to aquatic insect production (Meehan et al. 1977)."                              

          - source

But the fish aren't the only winners. The trees and riparian habitat benefit from the nutrients found in the dead salmon. Often bears, gulls, and other creatures pull dead salmon into the forest to dine on. Uneaten portions are left in the woods.

Once there, the nitrogen in the decaying fish fertilizes the surrounding plants, including the trees, helping them reach their impressive proportions.

Researchers have reported up to 70 percent of the nitrogen found in riparian zone foliage comes from salmon. One study concluded that "trees on the banks of salmon-stocked rivers grow more than three times faster than their counterparts along salmon-free rivers and, growing side by side with salmon, Sitka spruce take 86 years, rather the usual 300 years, to reach 50 cm thick."

While there are not any giant ancient trees in Ayum Park, there are a nice selection of medium sized trees that are growing larger with the benefit of the park's protection, and the salmon's nitrogen.

Vancouver's Urban Streams See Biggest Salmon Returns In 80 Years

After decades of use and abuse, many former salmon streams in the Vancouver, BC area are again teeming with life. In one stream the returns are the biggest seen in 80 years as Chum return to rehabilitated waterways once again.

Stream rehabilitation projects since the 1990's are starting to pay off and salmon are being seen in waters previously degraded and suffering the effects of insensitive development and pollution.

Many projects, often run by volunteers, have improved gravel spawning beds, restored stream bank vegetation to prevent erosion, and added ladder improvements and Large Woody Debris to expand available habitat. Culverts are often a barrier to fish movement, and projects also remediate these blockages.

How much money do developers and logging companies add to these restoration projects that clean up the messes made as a result of their environmental exploitation? I would expect the answer is "little to none". As usual, the private sector gets the profits, and the public sector (the rest of us) pays to repair the damage.

But it sure is good to see that we can atone for their sins, and bring the salmon back.

Read more here.

Ayum Creek Habitat Restoration - Salmon And Large Woody Debris

Large Woody Debris put in place during Ayum Creek stream restoration

Ayum Creek is a good salmon stream, and like all good salmon habitat, it contains the trunks of large trees. In the creek assessment world these large trees are known as LWD, or Large Woody Debris, and their contribution to salmon streams is significant. The structure they provide is critical to the chum, coho, stealhead and trout that call Ayum creek home.

In less than 100 years of industrial logging in British Columbia, the majority of salmon-bearing coastal waterways went from pristine to extinct, threatened, or uncertain status. Prior to 1988, coastal streams were clear cut logged right to their banks. This starved the streams of the large, mature fallen trees (LWD) which are the primary structuring element in the habitat.

Once affected, degraded waterways can take decades or centuries to recover naturally. It would take about 100 - 200 years alone for the trees to grow large enough for what is required in a maximally functioning salmon stream. That is why stream rehabilitation projects often bring in mature trees (in the form of large logs) from elsewhere, and place them in strategic locations.

This LWD complex is anchored into the bank of lower Ayum Creek, and creates a deep, stable
pool that benefits spawning and juvenile chum and coho salmon

The loss of the large old-growth trees in stream channels with their massive rootwads as anchors, is the type of structure that cannot be easily duplicated in degraded riparian areas. It is the roots of fallen old growth trees that anchor the trees in place against the pressure of swollen winter waters. This is why cables anchoring woody complexes to streamside trees and instream boulders are used in restoration projects in leu of roots. 

The role wood played in providing the structures that salmon need was not established until the 1980s. At that time old growth trees and fallen LWD complexes were found to be of primary importance in, and along, salmon streams. They create structures that result in stable stream banks, deep pools of still water, and places for juvenile fish to hide from predators.

Bridge over Ayum Creek on the Galloping Goose Trail, looking west toward Sooke

Logging had other impacts including increased erosion, road failures, and landslides, all of which increase the sedimentation of salmon streams. Culverts blocked the free flow of fish, and wood was removed from streams as routine practice.

Ayum Creek was affected by development and industrial activity from the earliest days of Sooke. On the land logging was a mainstay of the community, and on the water the salmon fishery was heavily exploited. The Ayum Creek watershed had been used for thousands of years by the T'Sou-ke 1st Nations, but now just a few decades after colonization and industrialization, it had become degraded like so many other coastal waters. The salmon run was in peril.

Now much of the Ayum Creek watershed lies in protected regional park reserves. Their mandate focuses on preservation and enhancement of the natural environment of mixed forest and a biologically rich estuary.

Part of the enhancements over the years have included watershed restoration projects, one of which has been the placement of LWD complexes in the creek to mimic the structure of fallen old growth trees that used to grow along the banks.

Something must be working, because there are some nice salmon returning to Ayum Creek every year, including the 2012 run.

Not only do the trees benefit the salmon, but the opposite is true as well. The nutrients that the salmon provide to the stream environment will enhance the growth of the nearby forest, ensuring future LWD for the fish. Those same nutrients are also important for the growth and survival of juvenile salmon.

Bigleaf maple leaves fall on Ayum Creek Bridge

In 1994 British Columbia implemented the Watershed Restoration Program to reverse habitat losses associated with past and new forest harvesting. This program helps to accelerate the restoration of affected watersheds, but will do little if not accompanied by making waterways off limits to future logging in perpetuity.

Watershed protection is the preferred, cost effective choice over watershed rehabilitation. It is just one more reason to protect our old growth forests, as well as the second growth forests that now dominate most coastal watersheds. Intact watersheds provide services that result in excellent water quality and habitat for salmon and many other living things.

Including humans.

Getting There

From Victoria, take the Old Island Highway/Highway 14/Sooke Road toward Sooke. Just before town look for Ludlow Road on your right. Turn here to hike to the bridge, or continue past Ludlow to turn left off the highway to park and hike to Sooke Basin via the forest trails.

Ayum Creek Regional Park Reserve currently has no services as nature preservation is the key here. There are several trails between Highway 14 and Sooke Basin, and the Galloping Goose Trail crosses a section of the park north of the highway.

Some of the lower Ayum Creek salmon habitat restoration can be viewed from the bridge on the Galloping Goose Trail where it crosses the creek. Looking toward Sooke Basin one can see both the LWD complex put in place, as well as the huge fish that hang out in the pool it created.

Limited parking is available on Ludlow Road, then walk west towards Sooke along the Galloping Goose to get to the bridge. To hike the lower creek to Sooke Basin, park on the south side of Highway 14 along the edge of the park reserve.

Shirley's Save Our Salmon Festival Proceeds To Protect Muir Creek

Muir Creek is a haven for old growth trees and three species of salmon

With all the activity in land changing hands along the south west coast of Vancouver Island lately, Muir Creek and its old growth shaded waters sometimes doesn't get the respect it deserves. The 5th Annual S.O.S. Festival being held Saturday, April 23 at the Shirley Community Hall, 15km west of Sooke, is hoping to change that.

Festivities start at 1:00 PM and run till 1:00 AM. Bands start after the opening ceremony at 4:30 PM. Tickets (on a sliding scale) at Stick In The Mud in Sooke, or call Amanda Swinimer 250-818-2433. See more here.

The Festival will have fun family events during the day, and an age limit of 19 and over in the evening. All proceeds from this event go toward saving Muir Creek.

About Muir Creek

• The second largest Pacific Yew tree lives among the Muir Creek old growth.
• While 2nd largest overall, this tree has the largest circumference of any Yew in British Columbia - 3.6 meters (12 feet)
• Land belongs to Timber West, a private logging and residential land development company.
• Three species of salmon call Muir creek home - they, like us, need clean water
• S.O.S. is hoping to resume talks with CRD, local politicians, and Timber West regarding saving this precious resource for the future.
• Intensive logging is currently taking place in the upper watershed newer forest
• The location has been used by First Nations since ancient times
• There is a diversity of wildlife in the area, some are threatened by habitat loss
• Groups have been working to save this special area, and would appreciate your support. Attend the festival. Donate. See more here.
• See Muir Creek for yourself - witness what we are in danger of losing.

Muir Creek: Potential Old Growth Parkland

Just past Sooke along West Coast Road you will find the magnificent Muir Creek watershed. The lower part of the watershed contains one of the most easily accessible chunks of old growth forest left on South Vancouver Island. Here you will find large diameter (up to 3m/9ft), soaring (up to 76m/250ft) Sitka spruce, Douglas-fir, Western red-cedar, and the B.C. Big Tree Registry-listed second largest Pacific yew. If you are in the south island area, Muir Creek is a big tree highlight not to be missed.








Several of the old trees along the creek are large and tall enough to be eligible for inclusion in the provinces registry. This is not surprising - historically some of the largest trees on Vancouver Island came from this valley. So big and tall were the trees of old that sailing ships in the 1800's would anchor off of Muir Creek in search of the best specimens to use as masts.






A monument in Victoria's Beacon Hill Park, touted as the world's tallest free-standing totem pole, began as a tree growing in the Muir Creek valley. It was carved from a 50m (164ft) Western red-cedar that was cut, then floated down the creek before being pulled by tugboat to Victoria. There it was carved by renowned Kwakwaka'wakw artist Mungo Martin and his team. The pole was raised in 1956, and is 38.8m (128ft) tall.




Although the area has been logged since the 1800's - evidence of this can be seen throughout the forest - many old growth trees have survived the decades of extraction. Especially notable for the oldest trees are the lower reaches of the creek and steep hillsides next to it. Modern industrial logging methods such as helicopter logging now make these trees economical to harvest. They are currently within logging territory.



Originally this was part of the T'Souke Nation traditional territory. They used the Muir Creek area for winter dancing and fish processing. The land was taken from them in the E&N Railway land grab of the 1880's. 2 million acres were given to the railway company as compensation for building a rail line.With one stroke of the pen much of the T'Souke's traditional territory became off limits to the very people that had lived there for generations. Politicians of the time said the land held no value to the native groups. Therefore, there was no compensation for this grievous loss.



Since then much of this land has fallen into the hands of industrial logging interests that have used it to generate billions of dollars in revenue. Successive governments have failed to acknowledge the theft of land originally, and continue to fail to ensure it is being cared for by profit-minded multi-national corporations.








The land here also provides access to the ocean, something that is increasingly difficult to find as the south island becomes more developed. There are fossil beds in the seaside cliffs, and at low tide one can walk for hours on the cobble and sand beach. There are occasional large trees to be seen up on the headland as you hike beside the surf.









Rather than being seen for the ecological gem that it is, the Muir Creek area is viewed by some as nothing more than potential profit. Now that Timber West has gone into the real estate business, residential development of these wild lands is possible. Logging activity of second growth in the watershed has increased dramatically and loaded logging trucks are once again rumbling through downtown Sooke. Will the old growth trees be next?





The Muir Creek Protection Society is working to preserve all that Muir Creek has to offer. A park would protect the area for the bears, cougars, jumping slugs, otters, mink, eagles and salmon that currently reside there. 95% of the west coast of Vancouver Island is private land. A park would protect the old growth trees and provide much needed recreational opportunities for local residents and tourists alike.


With the recent purchase of Sandcut Beach and Jordan River property we will be told there is not money available to secure Muir Creek for future generations and the maintenance of biodiversity. That is obviously not true as we easily came up with billions for that big party back in the winter of 2010. TimberWest, CRD, and other officials have discussed the need for parkland between Sooke and Port Renfrew, and Muir Creek has been identified as a prime location.


It would be an awful shame to loose this amazing area. Check it out for yourself - you know what I say, "See Them, Save Them". Stand beneath a 500 year old Sitka spruce and try to maintain perspective. These ancient tree's massive diameter soars skyward with very little taper until the trunks disappear into the canopy of the forest.


The forest here is of an increasingly rare variety, and this is a excellent opportunity to save it from the saw. Encourage the politicians that work for us, and TimberWest that makes a profit exploiting lands of global significance, to save Muir Creek.



Getting There

Muir Creek is 14 km past Sooke on West Coast Road/Highway 14. Once you pass the gravel pit on your left the road dips down to one of the only flat coastal areas along this stretch of the Juan de Fuca. This is the Muir Creek estuary.


Parking is available on the south-west side of the bridge, and access to the big trees is on the north-east side of the bridge. Follow the trail upstream on the east bank of the creek, keeping to your left. The trail will take you to the creek, then continues upstream. Either side of the bridge has trails down to the beach.

Big Trees, Big Salmon

"When the trees are gone the sky will fall and we and the salmon will be no more."

- Lummi Prophesy

Big trees and salmon go together. When one is affected the other is too. Salmon need cool, clear water and deep pools created by large logs. The surrounding trees benefit from the nutrients the spawned out and decaying salmon provide. If only we were as beneficial to trees and salmon, because we depend on both. A recently announced project will allow us to give a little back.

The Salmon Interpretive Centre project on Charters Creek will enhance the health of the salmon population as well as the health of the surrounding forest. Coho salmon spawn in this tree-shaded stream that flows into the Sooke River. The water flows from the watershed of Sheilds, Grassy and Crabapple Lakes in the Sooke Hills.

Sooke Basin - Big Salmon, Big Trees

It was not trees that initially motivated me to slide my canoe into Sooke Basin, west of Victoria, B.C. It was salmon. A variety of salmon have been spawning in Pacific coast waters for millions years. Salmon and human cultures have intertwined for many thousands. Every year the people of Salmon Nation celebrate the strength and gifts of this flash of lightning as it leaps toward home.

Recent news of 10.6 million Fraser River sockeye going missing was nothing to celebrate, and I wanted to see if I could find a bit of good news in local waters. The Billing Spit area has three public accesses, and I launched from one of them. The Sooke River empties into the harbour here, so this is a good place to view salmon and the things that feed on them, like fishermen and eagles... and the odd bear.


View Larger Map


Two or three paddle strokes into my voyage a chunky silver-sided salmon exploded from the water, glinting in the early morning light. Then another, and another, often two or three at the same time, breaking free of the water, then slapping back down. In the still quiet of the morning, salmon belly flops were all I could hear. A spectacle of the natural world and not something you see everyday. Humans need the salmon and now, the salmon need us. They need us to give them a fin up, so to speak.





Having found at least some evidence of returning salmon, I paddled into the morning sun. An easterly breeze was meeting with an incoming tide and raising waves. The bow of my canoe slapped out a rhythm to accompany that of the salmon slapping around me.

I like the fact that south Vancouver Island lacks obvious evidence of tree harvesting. Even from local mountain tops one sees an almost endless stretch of forested hunchbacked hills. From my canoe on Sooke Basin all I could see was an endless stretch of water, rocks and trees. Water, rocks and trees. And what beauty and variation in each.

The water ranged from silky flat and dark, to rolling with white caps. Rock formations plunged into the water, harbouring flowering succulents above and florescent starfish below. The forest also showed its variations. Above the evenness of the trees tower the emergents - genetic superiors, or lucky recipients of a choice location.

I paddle past the three small islands making up the Goodrich Islands group. They all have caps of bent trees that have been pruned into aerodynamic shapes by relentless winds. In many places along the shoreline of the basin the trees come right down to the water. The water-loving cedar branches add lime green to the dark blues of the watery depths below me.

I spot a Douglas fir in such an exposed area that it has been blown horizontal over the years. The trees I am seeing from the water are not in the huge category, but some are old none-the-less. These woody warriors are on the edge and are vulnerable to harsh winter winds and lashing rain. Since this exposure is not the best growing conditions, the trees I see are older than similar sized trees in more ideal locations.

The larger trees bordering the basin also show evidence of being battered and de-limbed by storms. You can see their hulking masses dominating the surrounding forest. Deeply furrowed bark, missing branches and shaggy lichens give these centuries old trees character they deserve after weathering everything the coast has thrown at them, year in and year out.

The tree in the header at the top of this blog is the largest shoreline tree I surveyed on my paddle, and one of the chunkiest trees I have seen in the area. It is in Roche Cove Park, and is a fine specimen of a Douglas fir. Note the bench below it and a bit to the right to give this giant tree some perspective. It is notable for the small amount of taper that the trunk has. It stays fat and massive for a long way up. I have sat at this tree's massive trunk, but what a sight from the water.

I pulled up on the beach back at Billing Spit, exhausted and elated. I had hoped to relax for a while on one of the many rocky beaches that I passed, and had even brought a book along. But alas, the wind was against me for the 4km to the east end of the basin, then it shifted and blew against me out of the west for most of the way home. Thinking of salmon migrating up to a thousand kilometers against the currents of major rivers gave me the inspiration I needed to battle the currents testing me all day. Pondering the stick-too-it-ness of old trees helped, too.

Goldstream Park: Salmon-fed Big Trees

Few major urban centres anywhere enjoy the easy access Victoria, BC has to an old growth forest area, let alone a protected one. The city is only 16 km away from Goldstream Park, a place where you will find an active spawning river as well as ancient trees. Many of the trees in the park are older than 10 human lifespans. This area represents a tiny, tiny fraction of what was once one of the mightiest forests on the planet, and even this protected bit is under attack.

Human "progress" threatens forested areas everywhere, including land within the Goldstream watershed. Crown land adjacent to Goldstream was sold by the BC Liberal government to Western Forest Products in 2001. WFP then sold the land for Bear Mountain resort, and it is being rapidly developed with high rise condo towers (ranging from 27 to 45 stories), five thousand square foot houses, and a golf course. An interchange being built solely to service this "mountain top removal" neighbourhood required an endangered Garry Oak grove to be destroyed. The Garry Oak ecosystem is one of the most threatened on the south island. Now "Bare Mountain II" is rearing its ugly head. The fish, trees, animals and insects of Goldstream Park are threatened by this encroaching cancerous mass.

You might think that salmon have nothing to do with trees, but for thousands of years the mighty salmon has fed the giants of the Pacific coastal forest. Spawned out salmon carcasses feed trees beside waterways. Floods and feeding bears transport carcasses deeper into the forest. Blue ocean is converted into green forest in an endlessly repeating cycle. Our poor choices threaten this system.

Scientists estimate that up to 75% of the nitrogen in trees beside salmon bearing waterways is from the ocean, delivered by the salmon returning to their home forest. This is a significant contribution to trees such as the ones you will find at Goldstream. The trees help the salmon as well in a mutually beneficial relationship. The big trees purify water, moderate drought and flood, and create an environment in which streams can build deep pools and clean gravels where salmon can successfully spawn and rear.

The state of the salmon on the coast is pretty grim, much like the state of the remaining old growth forests. The ultimately sustainable, healthy food of the ocean has been mismanaged and is now in danger of immanent collapse. Open pen salmon farming with Atlantic salmon is not the answer either, and it seems to be taking an active role in the loss of native species. Urban development and the continued liquidation of easily accessed valley-bottom old growth forests add to the salmon's demise.

A short 20 minute drive will take you from downtown Victoria office towers to the towering trees and quiet of Goldstream Park. In the valley bottom of the day-use area grow enormous 600 year old Western red-cedars. Huge Black cottonwoods stake out moist territory closer to the estuary. The estuary supports up to 60 000 returning chum salmon in a season. This concentration of available protein attracts huge numbers of eagles, some years numbering in the hundreds. Eagles congregate in the park area from December to February.

Among the biggest trees in Goldstream are Grand fir, Black cottonwood, Douglas fir (one of which has a 2.07m diameter trunk at breast height), and Western red-cedar (one with a 5.63m diameter trunk at ground level). The trails around the campground areas hold even larger Douglas fir specimens. The Upper Goldstream Trail takes a hiker through some of the largest and oldest trees in the park.

Salmon and forest depend on each other. And we depend on them. Can they depend on us?