Initial Observations

The area that I have observed is located just beyond a golf course with no immediate road access. This is a densely forested area with a network of streams that allows for salmon spawning. Since I am located in Squamish this would classify as a valley bottom area despite it still having a higher elevation than Howe Sound. The area that I will be primarily looking at will be approximately a square kilometre, however with the snow melt the water level in the spawning channels may change the area available/accessible on foot.

Snow cover thinned as tree cover increased in the trail network and as such animal print were hard to come by and the few found at the beginning of the channels are canine, most likely from a dog. The average temperature for Squamish in January being between 0-7 degrees Celsius and increasing over the following months the snow shouldn’t stay around too much longer. This being said, the channels further into tree cover are mainly free of snow and a few of the surviving fish are still visible, as are the remains of salmon that died at the end of last season. This area is not protected per se, but it is monitored by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

The vegetation in this area is very diverse and without identifying the plants there appears to be at least three different species of coniferous trees and 5 different deciduous species. I will have to review how to best identify shrubs without leaves present going forward with this project. The water levels seem to be high at the time of observation as the water levels exceed the vegetation growing on the banks. Mushrooms are abundant, but do not appear within the area which is/shows evidence of previous flooding.

My questions are:

How does the presence of the salmon roe and salmon at the end of their life cycle affect other fish species and animals in the area?

Does biodiversity increase on trails that are less maintained?

How does proximity to a water source affect mushroom growth?