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Celebrate the return of salmon to the Okanagan with 2 events in Penticton and Oliver

An estimated 670,000 sockeye salmon will return to the Columbia River
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For the first time in two years, hundreds of Penticton students gathered at Shingle Creek to release salmon fry into the Penticton channel last May thanks to the Okanagan Nation Alliance and Penticton Indian Band. (Monique Tamminga Western News file photo)

Two events will welcome and celebrate the return of salmon in October.

Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Alliance (OSCA) and the Okanagan Nation Alliance are hosting two open houses at Okanagan River Restoration Initiative sites.

The first will be held just north of Oliver on Saturday, Oct. 8, and the second will be held at the spawning beds at the Okanagan Lake dam at the Penticton River Channel on Oct. 16.

The public is invited to celebrate the return of sockeye salmon coming home from their 6,000 kilometre journey to the ocean and back.

Interpreters will be on hand to talk about the life cycle of the sockeye salmon, the challenges these fish face as they travel through different habitats and the efforts to restore spawning habitat in Oliver and Penticton.

The Okanagan Nation Alliance fishery department is anticipating that 670,000 sockeye salmon will return to the Columbia River with 80 per cent of those heading to the Okanagan waters north of Osoyoos, according to Richard Bussanich, ONA’s head fish biologist.

There should be ample opportunity to witness salmon spawning through the two open houses.

The events run rain or shine. For more information contact Paul Lockington at 250-492-5275 or info@meadowlarkfestival.ca

READ MORE: PHOTOS: Hundreds of Penticton students take part in ceremonial salmon fry release

To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.

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Brennan Phillips

About the Author: Brennan Phillips

Brennan was raised in the Okanagan and is thankful every day that he gets to live and work in one of the most beautiful places in Canada.
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