The 2004 Adult Coho Assessment Of Tributaries of Quesnel Lake WSC 160 Waterbody I.D. 00431QUES Prepared By: Guy Smith MSc. RPBio. Richard Holmes MSc. RPBio. PO Box 174, Likely, BC V0L 1N0 Prepared For: John Stace-Smith RPF. Riverside Forest Products Ltd. RR #3 5000 Soda Creek Road Williams Lake, BC V2G 1M3 November 26, 2004 November 26, 2004 Disclaimer The following report has been written based on current available information and includes field assessments. The data provided in this report is based on a one-time site visit for each stream and should not be used as a final tally for coho escapements. The intent is to provide habitat assessment for adult coho and to visually count spawners who have returned to their natal stream. Acknowledgments Cariboo Envirotech Ltd would like to thank John Stace-Smith of Riverside Forest Products Ltd. of Williams Lake for his support on this project. Additionally, we would like to thank Richard Bailey and Adrian Wall of Fisheries and Oceans Canada of Kamloops for their guidance on streams to assess, and we would also like to thank fisheries biologist Peter Nicklin of Williams Lake for his comments on coho activity in the Horsefly River and McKinley Creek drainages during the fall of 2004. The 2004 Adult Coho Assessment of Tributaries of Quesnel Lake 2 November 26, 2004 Table of Contents Disclaimer 2 Acknowledgements 2 Project Reference Information 5 Watershed Information 5 Sampling Design Summary 5 Contractor Information 6 1.0 Introduction 7 2.0 Methodology 8 3.0 Results 8 4.0 Summary 9 5.0 Observation 11 6.0 Recommendation 11 List of Tables Table 1: Assessment Summary 9 List of Appendices (Photos, site cards, stream reports) Tab 1 Abbott Creek Tab 2 Bill Miner Creek Tab 3 Blue Lead Creek Tab 4 Bouldery Creek Tab 5 Cedar Creek Tab 6 Grain Creek The 2004 Adult Coho Assessment of Tributaries of Quesnel Lake 3 November 26, 2004 Tab 7 Killdog Creek Tab 8 Lynx Creek Tab 9 Mitchell River Tab 10 Penfold Creek Tab 11 Summitt Creek Tab 12 Tasse Creek Tab 13 Unnamed Creek Tab 14 Wasko Creek Tab 15 Winkley Creek Tab 16 Quesnel Lake Summary Information Tab 17 Williams lake Community Dialogue Meeting on Coho Tab 18 Project Area Map The 2004 Adult Coho Assessment of Tributaries of Quesnel Lake 4 November 26, 2004 Project Reference Information Region Cariboo District Williams Lake FW Management Unit 5-15 Fisheries Planning Unit Cariboo DFO Sub-District Williams Lake Forest Region Southern Interior Forest Region Forest District Central Cariboo District Forest Licensee Sponsor Riverside Forest Products Ltd. First Nations Claim Area Red Bluff, Soda Creek, Williams Lake Bands Watershed Information Watershed Group QUES Watershed Name Quesnel Watershed Code 160 UTM at Mouth 121º 32’50”W 52º36’6” N TRIM Map 93A.043, 93A.053, 93A054, 93A.055, 93A.056, 93A.057, 93A.058, 93A.065, 93A.077 BEC Zone SBPS, ESSF, MS, AT Sampling Design Summary Total Number of Streams 15 Total Number of Reaches 19 Field Sampling Dates October 25 – November 2, 2004 The 2004 Adult Coho Assessment of Tributaries of Quesnel Lake 5 November 26, 2004 Contractor Information Project Manager: Name: Rick Holmes, Cariboo Envirotech Ltd. Address: Box 174, Likely BC. V0L 1N0 Phone: (250) 790-2456 Field crew: Names: Richard Rujanschi, Guy “Paddy” Smith Data Entry by: Name: Richard Rujanschi Report prepared Name Rick Holmes, Guy “Paddy” Smith, by: Report edited by: Name Rick Holmes Mapping: Company: Riverside Forest Products Ltd. Tech: Chris Ertel Address: RR #3, 5000 Soda Creek Road Williams Lake, BC. Phone: (250) 398-3600 The 2004 Adult Coho Assessment of Tributaries of Quesnel Lake 6 November 26, 2004 1.0 Introduction During the latter part of October 2004, John Stace-Smith of Riverside Forest Products Ltd. of Williams Lake’s Soda Creek Division contacted Cariboo Envirotech Ltd with an opportunity to conduct watershed related assessments within their general operating area. It was decided that due to the timing of the request, and the lack of current information on suspected coho spawning streams, that an adult coho salmon habitat and escapement survey should be conducted on tributaries of Quesnel Lake. Quesnel Lake is located in the east Cariboo region of the Interior of British Columbia. It has a surface area of 27,012.717 hectares, a perimeter of 323.801 kilometres, and a known depth of 610 metres. Fish species known to inhabit Quesnel Lake are as follows: ¾ Bull Trout Salvelinus confluentus ¾ Burbot Lota lota ¾ Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ¾ Coho Salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch ¾ Kokanee Oncorhynchus nerka ¾ Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush ¾ Longnose Dace Rhinichthys cataractae ¾ Minnow (general) all cyprinids ¾ Mountain Whitefish Prosopium williamsoni ¾ Northern Pike Minnow Ptychocheilus oregonensis ¾ Peamouth Chub Mylocheilius caurinus ¾ Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss ¾ Redside Shiner Richardsonius balteatus ¾ Sockeye Salmon Oncorhynchus nerka ¾ Sucker (general) Catostomus sp. (FishWizard) Interior Fraser River coho salmon, which includes Quesnel Lake stocks are now protected under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). Additionally, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) “has concluded that there is a serious risk of extinction due to several factors. These include: concern that reductions in fishing pressure may be insufficient or not maintained, that marine survivorship may not improve, that habitat loss or deterioration in the watershed continues, and that use of hatcheries threatens recovery” (COSEWIC). Public forums have recently been held to discuss this issue, including one held in Williams Lake on November 17th, 2004. The minutes of this stakeholder session have been included in this report under Tab 17. Additionally, a National Recovery Strategy for Coho Salmon has recently been developed and can be reviewed through the Internet (Recovery Strategy). Quesnel Lake tributaries have historically been known to provide spawning opportunities for adult coho (FishWizard). The Quesnel River Hatchery located in Likely, British The 2004 Adult Coho Assessment of Tributaries of Quesnel Lake 7 November 26, 2004 Columbia, in operation by Fisheries and Oceans Canada from 1981 to 1995 conducted coho salmon assessments on McKinley Creek, a tributary of the Horsefly River, and Summit Creek, a tributary of Quesnel Lake located in the East arm. Enhancement of these two tributaries also occurred through a gamete collection in the fall with the resultant fry being released the following spring. Continuation of the McKinley Creek project as a stock assessment tool is ongoing through the efforts of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Cariboo Tribal Council of Williams Lake. 2.0 Methodology Two experienced freshwater fisheries biologists from Cariboo Envirotech Ltd conducted the field portion of the project. The survey involved the use of an 18 foot Gregor jetboat powered by 125 hp jet motor. The crew assessed Quesnel Lake tributaries on a daily basis from October 25th to November 2nd. Access to the stream mouths was primarily by boat and reconnaissance was conducted in the first and second reaches on foot. Although the project was based out of the community of Likely located at the lake outlet, the field crew set up base camps at the ends of both the North and East arms to facilitate ease of access to streams located in these areas. This also alleviated some safety concerns as the field crew traveled in an open boat during some severe weather conditions. Additionally, for reasons of safety, the field crew was provided with a satellite telephone and followed daily check in procedures. During the assessments, standard stream cards were filled out with relevant data and photos were taken in an effort to show habitat conditions. These items can be reviewed in the appendices of this report. It should be noted that although the Federal/Provincial government FDIS program was used to provide the field data, the information has not been transferred to their database program, and is only utilized in this report for ease of data compilation. Discussions were held with Fisheries and Oceans staff Richard Bailey and Adrian Wall from the Coho Recovery Team regarding the project and streams were identified for assessment. It was also felt that the field assessment data would provide some opportunity for comparison with aerial flight counts on the same streams. 3.0 Results Table 1 provides a summary of the streams assessed and relevant information associated with each stream. A total of 15 streams were assessed during the project and adult coho were found in 4 of these streams. One unnamed stream, WSC 160-635400-05400, was added to the survey based on personal communication with a Horsefly resident who had historically trapped an adult coho during his trapping season in this stream (pers. comm.). Aside from Penfold Creek, all the creeks drain directly into Quesnel Lake. The 2004 Adult Coho Assessment of Tributaries of Quesnel Lake 8 November 26, 2004 Table 1: Assessment summary. Stream Watershed Code Survey Reach Survey Water Coho Name Date Number Length Temp. Count Abbott 160-706800 Oct 26/04 1 400 m 1º 0 Abbott 160-706800 Oct 26/04 2 300 m 1º 0 Bill Miner 160-924900 Oct 28/04 1 150 m 2º 0 Blue Lead 160-989300 Oct 27/04 1 500 m 2º 0 Blue Lead 160-989300 Oct 27/04 2 Bouldery 160-860800 Oct 28/04 1 100 m 1º 0 Cedar 160-544100 Oct 25/04 1 300 m 3º 0 Grain 160-732700 Oct 30/04 1 1200 m 3º 0 Killdog 160-975500 Oct 27/04 1 200 m 2º 0 Lynx 160-898200 Oct 28/04 1 500 m 3º 0 Mitchell 160-738500 Oct 31/04 1&2 2000 m 5º 26 Penfold 160-738500-02300 Oct 31/04 1&2 4000 m 2º 1 Summit 160-999100 Oct 27/04 1 1500 m 4º 38 Tasse 160-716900 Oct 26/04 1 200 m 4º 0 Unnamed 160-635400-05400 Nov 2/04 1 1000 m 5º 0 Wasko 160-745100 Oct 28/04 1 1000 m 4º 21 Winkley 160-620700 Oct 25/04 1 100 m 3º 0 4.0 Summary During the latter part of October and the early part of November a total of 15 streams and rivers connected to Quesnel Lake were assessed for suitable coho habitat, and for the presence of adult coho salmon spawners.