British Columbia’s Beautiful And Inspiring Salute To The Sockeye Salmon

25.09.2023 - 20:45 / forbes.com

Watching the salmon run in Tsútswecw Provincial Park is bucket list worthy and tourists flock from around the world to witness this magnificent natural event. Tsútswecw Park (formerly Roderick Haig-Brown) comes from the indigenous word “Tsútswecw” (pronounced choo-chwek) and translates to ‘many rivers.’ Tsútswecw Park is located on both sides of the Adams River between Adams Lake and Shuswap Lake. It’s northeast of Kamloops and northwest of Salmon Arm in Canada’s westernmost province, beautiful British Columbia.

Salute to the Sockeye is the largest Sockeye Salmon run in North America and lasts for three weeks. The Adams River Salmon Society is run by volunteers and every four years they host a huge event to celebrate the salmons return home.

There is an opening prayer, welcome ceremony, Little Shuswap Lake Band Cultural Events, and an Artisan Market with handmade paintings, original prints, photography, pottery, stained glass, soaps, and First Nations art for sale. An interpretive cabin with storyboards explains the life cycle of the salmon and includes large spawning displays and interactive activities. Their next event is October 7th, 2026 – so mark your calendars!

Salute to the Sockeye happens in the dominant year of their four-year cycle. October 2026 is a dominant run when millions of fish return home. However, just because there is not an official event scheduled on the non-dominant years, doesn’t mean you can’t still go to Adam’s River in October (2023) to watch smaller numbers of salmon return to begin their spawning cycle. The park is also home to abundant wildlife including black bears, beaver, river otters, minks, whitetail and mule deer, and during the salmon run you may spot flying eagles.

But I must admit, when I was in British Columbia last year for the dominant run (2022) and watched the salmon swim, dive, and wobble over rocks to the finish line, I didn’t know their backstory. It was only when our guide explained the lifecycle and I did more research that I realized this run is not only beautiful, but a bittersweet cycle of life. The salmon I saw last October began their lives as eggs in the Adams River four years earlier. There were originally between 2200 - 4300 sibling eggs in each batch. Once hatched in March there were 900 eggs left. In the spring the baby fish called “fry” swim to the Shuswap Lakes at night where they stay for one year.

Next is their journey to the ocean - now there are 250 siblings left alive. It’s a very dangerous swim for the salmon, and the ones that make it, live in the ocean for two to three years. They must avoid killer whales and human predators that are fishing. The salmon grow huge in the ocean and gather strength for their most important journey of