1999 Buck Creek Juvenile Salmonid Trapping Program

In the spring of 1999, the Community Futures Development Corporation of Nadina (CFDCN) was contracted by Barry Finnegan, Northern Coho Stock Assessment Biologist of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, to operate a Rotary Screw Trap (RST) on Buck Creek in the Upper Bulkley Watershed. The program was originally designed as a two-phase program. Spring (June 1-30) sampling was intended to enumerate and sample salmonid downstream migrants. Summer (August 1-31) sampling was intended to monitor the effects of a coho fry outplanting on both the movements of resident fish and the fry themselves (ie- were they remaining in the Buck Flats area or moving elsewhere after being released). Complications in the timing of the fry release led to the summer portion of the program being dropped. Buck Creek is the major affluent of the Upper Bulkley River, with a drainage area of 580 km (approximately 25% of watershed area). Buck Creek has been cited as one of the most significant "nursery" streams for juvenile salmonids in the watershed.