2019 Silver Hart Access Road: Stream Crossing Assessments
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2019 Silver Hart Access Road Stream Crossing Assessments Prepared For CMC Metals Ltd 369 Terminal Avenue Vancouver, BC V6A 4C4 Prepared By EDI Environmental Dynamics Inc. 2195 -2nd Avenue Whitehorse, YT Y1A 3T8 EDI Contact Pat Tobler, Senior Fisheries Biologist 867.393.4882 EDI Project 19Y0228 October 2019 Down to Earth Biology This page is intentionally blank. 2019 Silver Hart Access Road: Stream Crossing Assessments EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EDI conducted fish and fish habitat assessments along the Silver Hart access road in late August 2019 to support and inform planning and permitting for the upgrading of select stream crossings. The streams along the road flow into upper Rancheria and Meister River drainages which are known to contain lake trout, bull trout, Arctic grayling, mountain whitefish, longnose sucker, white sucker, burbot, lake chub, and slimy sculpin. Fish were captured in the streams at the crossings at Site 2, Site 5, and Site 9. No fish were captured in the remaining crossings investigated; Site 0, Site 2B, Site 3, and Site 10 – of these; Site 0 and Site 2B were determined to be non fish-bearing. Site 3 and Site 10 defaulted to fish- bearing status given the available habitat and accessibility to nearby fish-bearing waters. Crossings over demonstrated or defaulted fish-bearing streams should be designed to ensure fish passage is maintained. Upgrade works on all streams should be planned and completed in a manner that uses best practices to minimize impacts to water quality. EDI Project No.: 19Y0228 EDI ENVIRONMENTAL DYNAMICS INC. i 2019 Silver Hart Access Road: Stream Crossing Assessments ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to Kevin Brewer for project direction and organizing lodging during fieldwork. The project was completed within the First Nation Traditional Territory of the Teslin Tlingit Council, and the Kaska Dena Council (Ross River Dena Council and Liard First Nation). AUTHORSHIP This report was prepared by EDI Environmental Dynamics Inc. Staff who contributed to this project include: Jonathan Lowey, B.Sc., B.I.T. ............................................................................................................. Primary Author Pat Tobler, R.P.Bio. CPESC, Regional Director, Territories ............................................................. Senior Review Jonathan Lowey and Matt Power completed fieldwork for this project. EDI Project No.: 19Y0228 EDI ENVIRONMENTAL DYNAMICS INC. ii 2019 Silver Hart Access Road: Stream Crossing Assessments TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCITON ................................................................................................................................................... 1 2 METHODS ............................................................................................................................................................... 4 3 RESULTS .................................................................................................................................................................. 6 3.1 SITE 0 .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 7 3.2 SITE 2 (GOAT CREEK) ...............................................................................................................................................................11 3.3 SITE 2B ..............................................................................................................................................................................................14 3.4 SITE 3 ................................................................................................................................................................................................18 3.5 SITE 5 ................................................................................................................................................................................................22 3.6 SITE 9 ................................................................................................................................................................................................26 3.7 SITE 10 ..............................................................................................................................................................................................30 4 GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................................... 33 5 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................................... 34 LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX A. ELECTROFISHER SETTINGS APPENDIX B. SITE ISOLATION TECHNIQUES - NOTES LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Silver Hart Access Road stream crossing site name concordance table for the assessed crossings. ................................. 2 Table 2. Fish sampling results including catch per unit effort (CPUE) and length by species at assessed Silver Hart access road crossings. ....................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Table 3. In-situ surface water quality parameters collected at assessed crossings during August 2019 fieldwork. ........................ 6 Table 4. Freshwater Fish timing windows identified for the Liard River Basin, Yukon. The shaded areas are the work windows for each species and the darker shading outlines the time that windows for both species coincide (i.e. when instream work can take place). ..........................................................................................................................................33 Table 5. Electrofisher settings and time spent electrofishing at each sampling site........................................................................ A-2 EDI Project No.: 19Y0228 EDI ENVIRONMENTAL DYNAMICS INC. iii 2019 Silver Hart Access Road: Stream Crossing Assessments LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Diagram of the dam and pump around method. ................................................................................................................... B-1 Figure 2. Diagram of the temporary diversion method. ........................................................................................................................ B-2 Figure 3. Photo of a method to isolate the stream edge to allow for the installation of armoring or rip rap. A pump is used to contain/remove dirty water from the enclosure. ..................................................................................................... B-3 LIST OF MAPS Map 1. The Location of the Silver Hart property and access road. ...................................................................................................... 3 Map 2. The location of crossings along the Silver Hart access road with assessed crossings highlighted. .................................... 5 LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS Photo 1. Water flowing over the road at Site 0 from the pond on the left (east) to the creek on the right (west). ........................ 7 Photo 2. The wetland and pond at Site 0 immediately upstream (northeast) of the road. .................................................................. 8 Photo 3. The terminal fen up gradient from road and pond at Site 0. .................................................................................................... 9 Photo 4. Detailed view of the upstream terminal fen, where the stream starts flowing on the surface. ........................................... 9 Photo 5. Poorly defined channel at Site 0 approximately 10 m downstream of the road. ................................................................10 Photo 6. An example of where the creek flows underground at Site 0 where there is no visible stream channel. .......................10 Photo 7. Downstream view of the bridge at the Site 2 crossing from Goat Creek. ...........................................................................11 Photo 8. View of the bridge at Site 2 looking south. Note the slight slumping of the north side of the bridge on the left side of the photo. ............................................................................................................................................................................12 Photo 9. Upstream view at Site 2 from the bridge showing the location of the ford.........................................................................13 Photo 10. Water flowing over the access road at Site 2B. .........................................................................................................................14 Photo 11. Upstream view of the stream 200 m upstream of the road crossing. ...................................................................................15 Photo 12. The creek flows in the ditch for 100 m upstream of the crossing. ........................................................................................15 Photo 13. Downstream of the crossing the volume of water in the creek decreases and flows underground. ...............................16 Photo 14. Downstream of the crossing where the drainage flows underground with limited evidence of surface flow. ..............17 Photo 15. The crossing at Site 3 (photo provided by Kevin Brewer). .....................................................................................................18