A group of Byrne Creek Streamkeepers met this morning and spent a couple of hours locating, re-setting and re-flagging position tags along Byrne Creek.
A few tags had disappeared, several had become ingrown into the trees they were nailed to, and many were simply hard to spot. We pulled out and re-set ingrown tags, and put new flagging tape on the trees so that the tags would be easier to locate, especially in the summer when the foliage is dense.
What are the tags for?
We use the tag locations for several purposes: to note where we spot salmon that have returned to spawn; record changes in the creek such as slides and erosion; note the placement of traps we set to assess species and populations of salmon fry (baby fish), smolts (teenaged fish :-), and small trout; and to note where we take bug counts which indicate water quality.