News/Reports

San Juan River Estuary Wardens Report

Posted June 11, 2014 | Categories : Reports |

Wardens’ Reports Cont’d from page 11
JEAN-GUY BERGERON
SAN JUAN ESTUARY ER
In the early spring, I went to
visit the reserve. I cut some
Scotch Broom along the
shoreline. I came back later with
some BC Parks staff. We canoed
from the Highway 14 bridge and
took the southern branch of the
river. There was no apparent
disturbance along the shore. We
went on one of the islands and
walked around a large field
probably p a r t o f an old
homestead. We did not visit the
ER in the summer due to the
closure of the road between
Cowichan Lake and Port
Renfrew due to a forest fire.
I returned in September and
canoed the southern branch and
found that people had cleared a
camping spot inside the limit of
the reserve. I took pictures and
contactedBCParks.
I returned in October. Taking
advantage of the fall high tide, I
canoed the northern branch up
to Fairy Lake. There was no log
jam on the river at the time. On
the same trip, I visited the four
ancient forest sites located in the
valley.
There is plenty of salmon in
the fall in the estuary although
there is no spawning ground in
the ER. Black bear and elk are
present in the ER.
The main challenge facing
the ER is finding the exact
boundaries of the reserve.
In 2016 I am planning to do
more hiking in the San Juan
Estuary Reserve and get more
i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t t h e
surrounding area. An inventory of
the significant species such as the
red listed tooth-leaved monkeyflower
still has to be done.