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Baker Creek trail in the works
Katie May Northern News Services Published Friday, August 15, 2008
"I think you can be both," said the executive director of the non-profit Fly Kid Foundation, which aims to offer people "conservation-minded" fishing workshops.
"To understand why you're tying a fly is to eventually understand what's in the river," he said. "It's the passion within you as a person to make sure this exists not only for you, but for others and future generations." Heppelle, on behalf of the 12-member volunteer organization, has his sights set on Baker Creek for a prime springtime fishing spot to teach interested fishers of all ages. In recent years, Arctic grayling have been returning each spring to Baker Creek, which once contained toxic arsenic and virtually no fish as a result of Giant Mine operations. Fishing at the creek will help kids learn first-hand about ecosystem rehabilitation, Heppelle hopes. "To me Baker Creek represents a really phenomenal classroom within the city of Yellowknife," he said. "It's an opportunity for people to engage in an ecosystem in their backyard." The foundation started up in the winter of 2007 and is now looking to team up with the city, Ecology North, the NWT Mining Heritage Society and other organizations to develop an ecological trail with informative signs around the creek. Volunteers have already helped secure a donation of fly-fishing books to the Yellowknife Public Library and have visited local scouts organizations to teach kids how to make and tie their own bug-shaped lures. But Heppelle said volunteers are willing to set up workshops with individuals or groups who contact them. Fly-fishing has had "limited exposure" in the territory, he said, and the foundation wants to get people interested in the sport. "It doesn't matter how big or how small you are - anybody can do it," he said. "It's a fun thing to do." "You feel like you're five-years-old again if you're out on the lake."
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