Skipping Stones

Stacking and skipping stones is one of my favorite past times.  It can easily be shared with my kids.

This blog entry was originally published in the August 28th edition of the Kings County Record.  I have now had more than 100 columns published there and owe them a debt of thanks for continuing to print my material.  I hope they continue to do so and I hope you will consider supporting the KCR when you can.  I want to send a special thanks to David Kelly who is moving from the KCR to accept another position within the newspaper industry in southern NB.  David was always available and more than flexible with my columns.  Thanks Dave.

I have referred to this topic many times in past articles and it speaks very highly to my affinity for water.  One of my favorite past times is skipping stones and I have had this since I was a young kid.  We have so many great areas to take part in this hobby that I often get a chance to practice.  Not only do I skip the stones I sometimes take fun out of balancing them. 

Recently I had the chance to spend a rare evening with just my daughter and I took full advantage and shared my love of skipping stones with her.  We started the warm August night sharing an ice cream cone and after our ice cream we drove to a parking lot that put us next to a gravel bar along Trout Creek. 

Now when skipping stones the location is important.  The first thing you need is a great, cobble beach with lots of flat stones.  Trout Creek, Grand Lake, and the Bay of Fundy Beaches are some of my favorite places to skip rocks.  The next thing to look for is a place where the water is flat and smooth.  Skipping rocks on wavy or fast flowing water is a challenge and requires good timing and aim just to get the first skip in.  Flat or wavy, it doesn't matter, skipping rocks is a great way to kill time and get some exercise.

On flat water, with a light to modestly weighted, flat stone, and a modest throwing arm, you can get more than 20 consecutive skips.   Our location on Trout Creek offered a long stretch of flat, slow running, water where I could throw rocks upstream.  The upstream approach helps get more skips and I was easily getting 15-20 jumps from the good stones. 

The cool ripple effects are cool to watch but for my daughter she simply liked the splash the rocks made.  She struggled to throw the rocks let alone skip them but we were having fun simply being on the water.  I decided to change it up and showed her a target close by and we tossed stones at it and she was excited when her rock made the water and more so when she finally hit the nearby target.

After my arm tired out we searched for "cool" stones.  My idea of cool was a bit more sophisticated than my daughters but the joy she took out of finding different colored and shaped stones was entertaining.  She put a couple of pounds of stones in her pocket to add to what she called her "Snows collection."  Me, I pretended to put them in pocket only to take them out later when she wasn't watching.

After I got tired of walking we sat on the gravelly bar and as we chatted I built her some rock towers to know over.  Building a tower out of rocks is not as simple as it might seem.  You need to consider how the rock is shaped and how it might sit on the rocks you already have in place.  A rough surface rock is easier to balance than a smooth surface as it doesn't slide around as easy. 

The only down side of this evening was that darkness came way too quickly.  As we left the gravel bar we picked up a number of pieces of trash on the way out.  It was a great night ending with our good deed for the day.

Fishing For a Future

This is an older column that I had published in the Kings County Record.  I thought it would be good to share it here.  The "Hooked on Conservation" workshops were a huge success with over 60kids taking part.  I felt proud of the job all the partners did to make these happen.

 

For a young boy there are very few adventures that top going fishing.  As a kid it isn't just about fishing it is about exploring new horizons, discovering new ground, and learning about various ecological cycles and habitats, even if, at the time, you don't realize.  There are many documents that demonstrate how kids who are active outside live a healthier and fuller life.  They no doubt also grow up with a greater appreciation of our natural world and place a greater value on keeping it natural and pristine.

As someone who works hard to protect and restore the natural ecosystems of the Kennebecasis River having people value the watershed is important.  One way to improve a person's perception of their surroundings is through helping them connect with it.  To form the way a young child perceives the watershed is a great place to start and will have a lasting and growing impact.  An upcoming event hosted by the Kennebecasis Watershed Restoration Committee (KWRC) hopes to increase the value young kids place on the health of their local rivers and streams.

"Hooked on Conservation" is a workshop that focuses on kids ages 8-14 who want to try fishing.  The hope is that the KWRC can educate the youth on methods of fishing that help maintain the fish populations while also increasing the child's understanding of fish habitats and habits.  The KWRC will host an event in Sussex, one in Apohaqui, and are planning one in Hampton.  Already a number of kids have registered and will learn some great techniques on how to catch the big one, not to mention how to find them.

While the day long workshops will teach kids how to fish, the best thing the kids will get is to actually spend an afternoon on the water fishing.  More than that they will dig their own worms, bait their own hooks, and release the fish they catch with their friends.  This is a memory maker for any kid.  In the future those who attend will value the Kennebecasis watershed more than they might have if they didn't attend the workshop. 

If they continue to fish beyond the workshop they will likely utilize more "fish friendly" techniques.  Catch and release fishing is just one of the techniques the KWRC will promote.  Using a barbless hook, minimal fish handling methods, along with other practices will aid in creating a more sustainable recreational fishery on the Kennebecasis River.  Cooking and cleaning trout will also be demonstrated as part of the workshop and the kids, although possibly a bit grossed out by this, will still take it in and remember it.  Another aspect of the workshop will be to encourage the kids to maintain and submit fishing journals that will help the KWRC monitor fish populations and health and provide government officials with better information to develop future management plans.  Through this workshop kids of today will learn so that kids of tomorrow can continue to make memories.

High Water High

The weather forecast called for a great deal of rain and I got excited.  When we get rain like this I often need to go out and inspect some of the KWRC restoration sites and see how they are doing.  After a morning meeting, Chris and I headed out, not really approriately dressed for rain especially this much rain.  We laughed at the absurdity of the rain that was coming down.  I was impressed with how well the restoration sites were handling the heavy rains. 

This small tributary beats an angry path
towards Ward's Creek

Over the last 24hours it has rained a ton and the river levels have risen dramatically.  The hydrographic station in Apohaqui is nearly floating but still kicking out readings.  I was out checking out some smaller streams but even those were an unruly, riled, brown mass, rushing over the banks towards the larger stream systems.

The longer we trudge around the sites, the wetter we got and the harder we laughed.  The best thing about the day was that, despite being November, it was very warm.  We weren't cold and wet, we were humorous and wet.  As I mentioned in my Law Road hike entry, I get foolish when wandering in the rain.  This afternoon was no different except that it was raining much harder.

Earlier this year the KWRC completed assessments on a number of culverts within the watershed and we checked on some of these as well.  One that has been worked on, as a result of some input from the KWRC, was playing music as we approached it.  Large stones were rolling through the metal pipe striking lots of different notes as they did. 

Stones and sometimes rocks were rolling out of this culvert
that carried water towards the Kennebecasis.