Tumwater & Valley CreekFish Count

By Andrew ColvinMr. Lieberman

Natural Resources2011-2012

• For my project I would like to trap juvenile fish in both Tumwater and Valley Creek river to compare the health of the fish, their numbers and even their species. In doing so the key is not to kill the fish but to record the data as to see which Creek is healthier in this parameter of Freshwater ecosystem health.

• My Project Question is how many fish are in Tumwater and Valley Creek? What Species are in them? And what’s their Health

• My Thoughts are that there will be more fish and many different species in Valley creek then in Tumwater creek and their health would be greater since there is less trash dumped into Valley creek then Tumwater Creek opposing less of a hazard for the fish and wild life, also I believe there to be less evasive plants to kill off the ecosystem for the fish.

Initial Reflection

• I think that if my project goes well (as I would hope it would) that we will pull in many juvenile fish and easily record my data. The data that I collect can be contributed to the stream keeper’s organization or even to the Elwha Tribe so they know the healthiness of the rivers and creeks which is their field of experience. I believe that my work will benefit many companies who need this information but don’t have the time to take on the project so the information that I get them would very much benefit their jobs.

For this project I will need the following objects• Bagels (the bagels are used to lure the fish into the

traps)• Traps ( the traps will be placed in the streams for a

day and when we come back base our calculations off of our findings)

• Data sheet (the data sheet will have our recordings of what species and how many fish we caught this would also include there healthiness. When we get back we would be making a graph and presenting the information to the conclusion of our question, comparing it with our hypothesis)

• For this project we have asked Coleman Byrnes to show us the safest way to do this project, Coleman was a Bio- Tech. and knows a thing or two about trapping fish from what I’ve been told

For vegetation there are a lot of Alder’s trees, blackberries and grass around the river along with, sword ferns, the noxious weeds, Canadian Thistle & large knotweed which is a non- native plant that should be maintained since they are a fast spreading weed and not native to Valley or Tumwater Creeks. Animals would include the fish, deer and the possible cougar or bob cat that may wander around the creeks looking for food. It’s to my understanding that in valley creek there are more chances to find fish since Tumwater has been contaminated with junk in the past few years and is a smaller unhealthier habitat for fish. All the water from the creeks and river in the area flows from mountain glaciers and from their watersheds which collect all the rain water which evaporates from the straits and is carried in the clouds. “Salmon at one time went up all the streams of Western Washington… All the streams emptying in and near Port Angeles had big runs of salmon”. The human impact on the rivers and creeks would include junk that’s thrown into the Creeks and pollute them with petroleum based products and non natural chemicals that spill from machinery and from other such things that we use (e.g. refrigerators, old washing machines & broken cars or tractors). The Valley creek and Tumwater creek both interact with the ocean by means of getting rid of access water from the land so it won’t flood or cause massive swelling in reservoirs or man made lakes.

The Work Area

• This is a sketch of the layout of the two Creeks as you can see they flow almost parallel to each other.

Fish #

River Found in Weight

Length (mm) Name Of Fish Species

1 Tumwater 0.8 100.1 87mm Romeo Cutthroat

2 Tumwater 0.8 111 11.75mmCarlos Sanchez Diego juandigo

the 1stCoho

Salmon

3 Tumwater 0.8 104.6 92mm RayCoho

Salmon

4 Tumwater 0.8 103.6 86mmCarlos Sanchez Diego juandigo

the 2ndCoho

Salmon

5 Tumwater 0.8 103.1 85mmCarlos Sanchez Diego juandigo

the 3rdCoho

Salmon

6 Tumwater 0.8 103 84mm Garry Cutthroat

7 Tumwater 0.4 104.5 91mm S.E.F.Rainbow

Trout

8 Valley 1.0 94.1 50mm Conan Cutthroat

9 Valley 1.0 94.5 55mm trojan Cutthroat

10 Valley 1.1 95.1 60mm sparticus Cutthroat

           

• After going through and collecting my data, we have found that my hypothesis was right in the points of there were more fish in valley creek and they were longer in length. How ever Tumwater had a bigger species differential in it.