George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary

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Description

There have been cranes here for over 30 years. Two "imprinted" cranes were brought here after being hatched in captivity and bonding to people instead of their own kind. Neither of these initial cranes nested successfully and they have long since died, but they did manage to attract wild cranes to the place. A wild male crane joined one of these birds in 1992 and eventually brought its own mate to the Sanctuary and took up year-round residency, nesting sucessfully in 2000. Sandhill Cranes are very protective of nest sites, their mate and young, and can attack visitors if a threat is perceived.

The Fraser River is the largest producer of salmon on the entire Pacific Coast of North America. Annually, millions of anadromous (migratory) adult salmon migrate upstream to spawn along small streams along its length and up into the connected waterways of the Pitt, Lilloet, Chilliwack, Nechako, Chilkotin, Thompson, Stuart, Adams, and Quesnel Rivers. Millions of young fish hatching in these areas spend their early life cycle in these upper reaches, and eventually descend to the estuary on their way out to oceanic habitats.

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