Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

People gathered on the banks of the Okanagan River in Penticton on Saturday to learn more about the return of sockeye salmon coming home after a 6,000 kilometre journey to the ocean and back.

The event was one of two Celebrate the Salmon open houses hosted by the Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Alliance and the Okanagan Nation Alliance.

After spending last Saturday in Oliver, this weekend they set up shop at the Okanagan River Restoration Initiative spawning beds just below Okanagan Lake.

"Today we are celebrating the return of the sockeye as they return for the third year in a row to their historical spawning grounds after an absence of 50 years," said Lee McFadyen, public relations coordinator for the restoration initiative. “This year is also a really good year for salmon.

There’s been adequate water flows and moderate temperatures, so it’s expected that over 100,000 sockeye will spawn."

It has been a busy time for the organizers, holding the open houses and also talking with South Okanagan schoolchildren.

On Saturday, McFadyen discussed the effort with visitors as she stood in front of posters showing the work that has been done.

Among the topics covered were the flood control initiative during the 1950s which involved channelization of most of the river from Okanagan Lake to Osoyoos Lake and the work of the initiative in more recent years returning sections of the river back to more natural, complex and diverse conditions.

"This river is of primary importance to sockeye salmon," she said. "In the Columbia River system it is the only remaining river in B.C. in the system that supports the spawning as the sockeye were on the brink of extirpation, meaning being extinct in a certain area."

On the other side of the river, Valerie Blow, an interpreter with the conservation alliance, shared information about the life cycle of the sockeye.

"Salmon, fish in general, are a really important part of the environment," she said. "And teaching kids to be aware and understand their environment is really important as well."

As the two led the open house, people walked along the river to view and take pictures of the fish.

"The salmon are an integral part of the Syilx way of life," said Alison Reigh, an aboriginal support worker with School District 67. "And it's encouraging to see the initiatives that are bringing the salmon back to the area for the health of the people and the health of the land."

Photo: Bruce Gartrell