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Unveil Plaque of founding Darlington families Letter to the Editor Dear Roy, The staff ai Memorial Hospital appreciate your article 'of September 28, 1994 - Memorial a learning centre and a cemmunity hospital. Many staff have assisted various studeats pursuiag careers in health care thieugli cooperative ventures with Ml-B3. t is nîce te be appreciated for the health servic es aspect as well as the educational aspect we previde te the commuaities in proximity to MH-B. Your article touched many of us who have spent countless heurs with students. .1 have take'n the liberty of passing along this press article te the institutions with which we have affiliations including Durham College, MacMaster University, Northumberland Board of Education, Queens University, Ottawa University and University of Toronto. Articles such as this one demonstrate our commitment to improving the communities we serve in health, education, and the many other ventures we undertake. Again, we thank you for the true portrait of our communitys hospital. Sincercly, Eric A. Hanna Executive Vice President Operations istWe R Acting Mayor, Ann Dreslinski and. Local and Regional Councilors and William Bagneil, Committee Chairperson, unveil the plaque which honours the three founding families of the The Bowmanville Sea Cadets Darlington area; the Trulis, Burks provided an Honour Guard and- and Conants. The ceremony took Celour Party for the occasion. place. at the Bowmanville by Lorna Miler Museum on Sunday, October 2. An idea was hatched, and a fish tale spawned by Helen MacDonald In 1866, an idea was hatched in Samuel Wilmot's mind. Baldwin's Creek, now Wilmot Creek, had been noted for bouantiful salmon and other fish which made their way upstream to spawn -- as far up as Orono and Leskard. There was a tîme, even before Europeans fished-these rivers, when Atlantic salmon were se plentiful the rivers were intoxicated with them during the annual spawning rua. Early settlers te the area found such plentiful salmon stocks that they could pitch them inte their wagons with pitchforks. One accouat of a former resident of Clarke tells of a time when her family would bury the enormous fish around their rose bushes te enhance their blooms.. But mll dams had interTupted their journey, and by 1860 few fish were te be found in a stream which had, in 1824, been referred to as 'Salmon Creek'. Wilmot proposed te the goverament of the day that a fish hatchery be established'and on June 1, 11866, lie was appointed te the position of Superintendent of Fish Culture. By 1869, the site at Wilmot Creek where Hwy. No. 2 intersects at which is situate the White Ash Experimental Plantation, was a well-established fi ..tchery. -Wilmot worked diligently for twenty-five years during which time lie established 12 fish hatcheries in the Dominion of Canada. But,- the hatchery programme feil aside for several decades until the 1960s when interest in declining fish populations was revived. Since that time, ýhe Ministry of Natural Resources bas învested some effort in rehabilitation work at Wilmot Creek with a viewte restore st ream quality and fish populations. Today, Les Stanfield, Sr. Project Biologist with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), Great Lakes Salmonid Unit, has more te add to this historical fish story. "Restoration work bas been successful at this site beth in terms of reforestation and with the fishery. There is a lot of Crown land whiçh-is protected, and which prevides good potential for rchabilitation work. The Forest. Station in nearby Orone is an added bonus," says Stanfield who maintains that Samuel Wilmot's foresight is partially responsible for the numerous projects now ongoîng at Wilmot Creek. "Wilmot Creek is one of the few rivers of its kinds having a diverse fish population," states Stanfield whoexplains that net only is the Ministry reintroducing Atlantic salmon and brook trout which aie natural te the river, but also brown Lieut, rainbow treut and Chinook and Coho salmon. "Among other things, we are interested in the relationship of these fish-among themselves and in their habitat. For example, what aie the habitat requirements of each species? We know almost nothîng about winter habitat, or about fish grewth, or lack of, durîng the winter months, t is critical that we Iearn, though, because this is the ime of year when fish experience their highest mortality rates.t' The MNR's interest in Wilmot Creek bas întensified ,te the degree that in September they established a full-time field station at the Orono Forest Centre in order te cenduct ongoing uninterrupted reseaich. Stanfield tells us: "We want te know whether we can reintroduce Atlantic Salmon in the face of a changed fish environment, which includes flot only other fish we are introducing, but alse other exotic species flot natural to the Great Lakes, such as sea lamprey, alewife, rainbow smelt and zebra mussel, which- have -been introduced by humans by some means or another. We need to know how these species cempete with each other and how the competition survives in a changed habitat. It's a balancing act.. trying to manage endemic species in a sustainable manner and provide angling opportunities.! For the past five years, in conjunction with the Lake Ontario Fishies Resarch Unit,' Stanfield has conducted spawning surveys of most of the species, and will once again this fali. Also of particular interest is the Atlantic salmon incubation experiment in which fry have been întroduèed inte Orono and Wilmot Creeks and have survived. More incubation work will take place this fail. More than a dezenongoing projects wîll be monîtored from the Orono field station: fish counts and assessments; annual faîl and spring anglers surveys; habitat use which will provide baseline data for use to assess other river and- stream, rehabilitation projects and for planning issues such as streamn realignment prejects. And, how dees this fish tale, e nd?."It's our hope that we can turfi this work into a whole watershed project wîth a long- term goal te establish better watershed management principals," states Stanfield. Samuel Wilmot hatched an idea over 100 years ago. Today, with declining fish populations all over the globe, isn't it aniazing to realize that be was not only ahead of his time, but also ahead of oui time? FIRE PREVENI'TIO N WEEK 1994 PROGRAM TEST VOUR DETECTOR,- FOR LIFE OCTOBER 11 TH, - 15TH OPEN HOUSE Fire Station # 1, 132 Church St., Bowmanville Fire Station # 4, 3289 Trulls Road, Courtice Tuesday ta Friday - 8:30 a.m>. ta 4:30 p.m. "SPARKY" the Talking Fire Dog will be at Station 1 Tuesday ta Thursday and at Station 4 Friday ta teach important fire safety messages. Display of Fire Department photographs at the Bowmanville Malil Thursday ta Saturday FIRE PREVENTION BEGINS WITH YOU ~,MUNICIPALITY OF ONTARIO Date of Publication: Wednesday, cober 5, 1994 P.O. 43 . .. . . ..... . ........... PJ ..~ AU~J'tJI'!.JJJIP'I !~!~!!~J~ J!~% P! Py! ~P"~M'tI" *Jt Wl Q,~gt ýk:l WF-