Cohoho – and Raindrop – Rendezvous

Being an experimental forest, we like to – well – experiment.

Two years ago when it as 8 degrees F. at the starting hour of our annual celebration welcoming the globetrotting swimming Coho back to Lousignont Creek in the Timber Forest, the experimental question was “how many of the 100 folks who RSVPed will show up – and how much chili will be left over?”.  In spite of the cold and the dodgy driving, nearly half showed up to welcome the fish and help eat the chili.

When yesterday dawned wet and cold with a reliable forecast for daylong, heavy rain, we took another run at the same experiment.  Wonder of wonders, over 65 brave and deranged troopers showed up.  Undaunted by the promise that they would see no fish and would surely die if they fell into the muddy flood waters, they defied us on both counts.  Several large, strong coho were spotted in the raging creek and all lived to tell the tale, and eat the chili.

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As always, a highlight of the day is the diversity of good hearted people who join the celebration – artists, teachers, woodworkers, business entrepreneurs, nuns, commercial fishers, musicians, doctors, conservationists (by profession and avocation), meteorologists, priests, contractors, architects…….  everything except candlestick makers.

For those of us who organize the day, one of the many rewards stands high above all of the others – having kids see and be amazed by the big fish for the first time.  A mother reported that when young Ella was tucked into bed, at the end of the big, wet day, her last question before falling asleep was: “Can you believe that we saw a salmon that big?”

A highlight of the day was the chance to learn from Rob Walton of NOAA Fisheries about the proposed plan for recovering coastal Coho.

The proposed plan may be found at:  http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/hot_topics/2015/Oct/proposed_recovery_plan_for_coho_salmon.pdf

Comments are welcomed encouraged until the Dec. 31st deadline.

Thanks to all who came – particularly the Coho!