A few dozen tourists and a few locals joined Bruce Wilkinson at the new salmon viewing platform at the George Hicks Park in Valemount on Saturday.

Wilkinson has been watching the salmon in Swift Creek for 30 years, and can tell people a lot about their life cycle and the local ecology, and why our salmon are so special. People listening to the talk also get to see samples of the life stages of the salmon.

These Chinook salmon travel as far as the oceans off the coast of Alaska before returning to their birthplace creek.

Visitors also got to see a young eagle checking out the creek.