Squamish elk

[riverrun]

Took a run up towards the Elaho on Saturday morning - had a great day but nothing larger than a grouse ended up in the truck. That being said, we encountered every species that calls the Squamish River Valley home - from bears to a CO, we saw them all.
Including a rather impressive herd of elk - with a 6 point patriarch leading his harem through the lower flats.
I had heard there were elk in the area but after many years of wandering the area it was my first time spotting them.
I haven't been able to find any information on these animals in a search of the site - anyone have the history on elk in the Squamish?
Incredible animals and a lot larger than the blacktails we were looking for...

hope everyone had a safe and successful weekend

riverrun

[guest]

They are likely part of the heard that the MOE transplanted in the upper Pitt River area. They are expected to work over to the Squamish area and back.
Lets hope poachers and predators can not be too greedy.
C/T

[Gateholio]

They were transplanted to Squamish a couple of years ago. There have been a few seen in the Pemberton area, as well.

[Mauser98]

Those Squamish elk were transplanted from Sechelt a couple of years ago. The Upper Pitt River bunch were also from Sechelt.

[EvanG]

Saw a few cows near the twenty mile ranch last spring.

[stella-artois]

i believe there were also some elk transplanted at the top of indian arm

[humble hunter]

i believe there were also some elk transplanted at the top of indian arm
The indian arm elk herd is really doing well and from the 24 that were transplanted 3 years ago they are supposed to be up between 50 to 60. I tried to get in there this weekend to do some bugle practice but had some atv trouble (polaris=crap).

[riverrun]

Here's a shot of the bull in question.
Right at dawn near the 20 Mile Ranch.
We gave him a little whistle to get his attention and after a while he gathered up his cows and moved them into the bush.
Great to see.

Sorry I couldn't quite figure out how to embed the photo directly:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3217/2935724374_67343844aa.jpg

riverrun

ps - I appears that Gatehouse edited the post and embedded the photo - thank you sir!

[Byson]

the first Elk that came to Squamish were not transplanted they Migrated from McNab Creek the second heard how every was transplanted in the upper Squamish and also in Indian arm, i was Logging in the upper Sqaumish i seen the elk almost every day.

[roblikestohunt]

I was also logging doing forestry in the squamish area have seen the elk there as well....some big critters up that way....

[CT.45]

Riverrun, how do you feel about the Ledcor IPP project going in to that drainage. Considering your handle, and all.......

[riverrun]

Runofriver would be a different handle all together, I agree.

I used to fish the Ashlu quite a bit and have some good memories of that river and was on it prior to the Steelhead Society spawning channel and after. This past saturday was the first time I've gone over the bridge since the IPP started.

Initially it was a shock to see the infrastructure - the powerline clearing with the habitat complexing underneath it, the works yard and the checkpoint. The checkpoint kind of irked me even though it was for safety reasons what with all the dump trucks grinding up and down the hill. It just didn't agree with me to have to give my name for a clipboard list to go check out a river. Felt like going into an industrial private spring creek in Montana.

Once in on the the heavily packed road, the river itself looked very much like I remembered it and we didn't go much past the bridge over the Ashlu as we were held up by the aforementioned dump trucks.

I can't comment on the actual turbine site as I did not witness it but as with many of these projects, my concern is less with the power generation itself as it is with the hard surface infrastructure required to get it up and running and maintained. Not speaking from direct knowledge of that floodplain and knowing that there is a required environmental review for such projects I would harken to guess that there are is not positive effect to migratory patterns of both salmonids and land-based mammals as a result of the development.

In my opinion, and this goes for development as a whole; responsibility should lie with developers to maintain, or better yet improve, the integrity of the surrounding ecosystems and the values therein. I am not talking about no-net-loss and mitigation land agreements. There is simply no logical reason remaining for the willful degradation of our wilderness for the sake of short term gain. We are all smarter than that.
There are resource industries in which this is very difficult to achieve, and these industries are necessary as the financial lifeblood of our province and thus cannot be ignored nor should they be completely vilified. Logging practices, while not perfect by any means, have improved a great deal. I still struggle with mining as I can't get my head around how they can advance in this regard. The products are absolutely necessary but at what cost?
And, from my experience, who are the people to first raise a fist when things have gone too far - anglers and hunters. In our wandering about we see what others like to know exists. In a lot of cases it comes down to us to either turn a blind eye or put our collective face out there. Ducks Unlimited, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Trout Unlimited and the Pacific Salmon Foundation are all good examples of hunters and anglers recognizing how to get things done. Of course, every Fish and Game club have the same impact but that army is too numerous to name individually.

Slightly off your line of question but the Fraser Valley is a great illustration of development as it has been practiced. We have about 75% of the population of BC living between Hope and the Fraser River estuary in Richmond. Approximately 75% of the salmon (all species) returning to the Fraser spawn in that same stretch of the river.
There is an inevitable conflict.
Hardened surfaces and run-off is one of the major contributors to the sickening collapse of coho in Georgia Strait in the past few years. The small creeks that once were the bastion of coho in the Lower Mainland are gone or beyond recognition - simple as that. As a result of people liking where salmon live. Fish happen to live in very nice places.

So to answer your question CT.45, and sorry for getting long-winded, but I can't help but be spun in circles on the topic. I know we need clean power and in theory, this can be achieved through micro-hydro. I like the end product but I can't yet endorse the process to get there.
I like what was there too much. And I want each of us to be able to take our kids to the Squamish valley and see spring salmon in the fall and watch bears dragging their spawned out bodies into the forest. It would seem wrong to replace that with concrete and managed flood rates.
Yet, this is all we've ever done.


Reading Roderick Haig-Brown growing up locked an ethic into me that I don't suspect will dissipate. He has always provided a great filter for my and your question got me going a bit.
Development is necessary and inevitable - I can only hope that we can learn quickly enough to outsmart ourselves and get better at it.

Thanks for asking the question - what is your take on it?

I need a drink.

riverun

[Numenor604]

Well said Riverrun. I'll sleep on that . Thanks for that post.

[Amphibious]

Used to fly the squamish and elaho valley's daily. HUGE bulls in there, but most are on res land, and get hammered hard by the "keeps of the land".

[rimfire]

Resurrecting a dead post, I see!