News and event information for Williams Lake, BC - as it happens.

By Jessica Knodel

Water Wise Program of the Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society 

On a misty afternoon in October, a group of high school students from Kamloops arrived at the Bifferts’ mini-watershed on Dog Creek Road, prepared to delve into the habitat and inner workings of the rainbow trout. 

Photo: Students from Kamloops visited 'Biff's Pond' on Dog Creek Road to learn about trout and their habitat. Teacher Jeremy Biffert brought his students to his parents' property, where staff from the Water Wise Program and Fisheries and Oceans hosted the event.)

Teacher Jeremy Biffert, raised in Williams Lake, brought these students to his parents’ acreage recently where a set of ponds, ‘Biff’s Ponds’, created originally due to a need for water, now flourish with stocked rainbow trout. They found when they originally created the ponds that there were an unusually large amount of insects present. Someone suggested fish would help reduce the problem. It not only took care of the insects, but provided a wonderful site for learning about wetlands and what fish need to survive. The day before the students arrived someone pulled out a rainbow weighing more than eight pounds.

(Photo: Teacher Jeremy Biffert and Fisheries and Oceans staff begin dissection of rainbow trout.)

The students broke up into groups. Some went fishing in the ponds and others began a dissection at three tables which were set up with a fish chart identifying parts, as well as instructors to assist with identification. Once this process was completed, the students were permitted to clean the fish, bag them and put them in a cooler of ice to take home.

Assisting in the day’s events were staff from Fisheries and Oceans Canada leading the dissection tables, staff from Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society, who run several Water Wise watershed health programs in the community, and several local resident volunteers. The Bifferts provided hot chocolate and cinnamon buns and a wonderful campfire for warming up. By time the bus left at the end of the day every student had caught, dissected and cleaned their trout, and there were even some left over for the staff.