The newsletter for stewards of salmonids and their habitat • Volume 18 • Number 2 • Fall 2011 After the deluge Gathering fish stock data in the Atnarko/Bella Coola watershed by Sandie MacLaurin There was a major flood in the Atnarko/ Bella Coola watershed in September of 2010 – estimated to be a one-in-two-hundred- year event. About 300 mm of rain fell in a 36-hour period, causing scouring and bedload movement that damaged all the tributaries and the mainstem of the Atnarko/Bella Coola River system. In addition, there were significant impacts to spawning grounds in the lower Bella Coola tributaries of Thorsen, Snootli and Nooklikonnik (feeds the Airport Side Channel) due to gravel removal and flood prevention projects that had to occur during the salmon egg incubation period for pink and chum. All this after a year when escapement was well below target for Croydon Lansdowne and a student from Sir Alexander Mackenzie High School identify a fry. chum, pink, chinook and sockeye. Discouraging as the numbers were, the project was an important learning opportunity for local The Nuxalk First Nation asked students. Photo: Sara Germain. for support from DFO to conduct a The downstream trapping program as weather, time of day, water clarity, level downstream trapping program to better started on March 7 and ended on April 29. and temperature was also collected. qualify concerns over fry production, and I There were five trap sites in the Bella The data from all traps indicated was glad to help out. The project was also Coola River and tributaries and one in (as expected) that pink and chum fry supported by the Central Coast Fisherman’s the Atnarko River. Trap size, location and production from the 2010 brood was Protective Association and the Bella Coola set duration were as similar as possible to extremely poor and the early catches of Watershed Conservation Society. Together those used in the past so comparisons could chinook in the Atnarko were well below we gathered sufficient funds, equipment be made. normal. The difference in the average daily and staff to conduct a program during the catch between 2011 (fry from 2010) and normal peak of chum migration in the Set duration was approximately 24 hours. other years was dramatic and the project lower river and of pink migration in the Daily catch was counted by species and lead technician Croydon Lansdowne Atnarko. where there was more than one brood year represented (as determined by relative size highlights this fact by noting that while an for coho, chinook and sockeye), this was average daily pink catch for the Atnarko also recorded. 2011 hatchery chum and trap should be about 10,000, in 2011 InIn thisthis issue:issue: chinook were recorded separately. Normally, the highest daily catch was 318. In two One Mile Lake Nature Centre ......2 the recorded catch would be hatchery and of the lower Bella Coola tributaries no pink were captured at all. Since pink Workshop queries .......................3 wild combined; however, the hatchery and chum are an important food source Citizen science .............................4 numbers overwhelmed the wild catch so in the spring for larger salmonids, other Didymo alert ................................5 much that they were kept separate so as not to skew the results. Information such fish species, mammals and birds – not to Cleanup at Lake Errock ................6 mention the role returning adults would Pinks return to Britannia Creek ....7 ...continued on page 2 New nature centre is already winning awards by Veronica Woodruff Stewardship Pemberton began an ambitious endeavour in 2006 to develop the One Mile Lake Nature Centre after there was irreparable flood damage to the Birkenhead Hatchery. Our vision became a reality in 2010 with a significant grant from the Pacific Salmon Foundation. Partner funding was provided by the Village of Pemberton, BC Hydro, Whistler Blackcomb Foundation, North Shore Credit Union/Pemberton Supermarket, Mountain Glass and The building is completely off-grid, featuring solar power, composting toilets and many others. rainwater catchment. Photo: Veronica Woodruff. The Nature Centre is located Although the nature centre will be involved in the program from the early at the trailhead to One Mile Lake our educational hub, we expect it to be visioning sessions. Municipal Park. Every effort was only one component in our hands-on This is a timely development for made to maintain the natural setting, environmental programming, which Pemberton. There were significant with limited vegetation removal, re- will focus on the surrounding rivers, trail and salmon habitat upgrades vegetation with native shrubs and wetlands and lakes. completed in the park in 2010 which integration into the existing trail One Mile Lake and its associated has increased park users exponentially. system. The centre will house a small stream and wetland complex are We expect to expand on these upgrades educational hatchery and aquarium, important habitat for coho and for both trails and salmon habitat an indoor gathering place and a sockeye salmon as well as freshwater in 2011. Also in light of the large covered outdoor learning area. species such as cutthroat, lamprey, landslide in the upper Lillooet River chub and other minnows. The park valley, interest in our watershed has The Village of Pemberton received a area provides awesome outdoor increased and we intend to harness this Community Excellence Award for the One learning opportunities with easily momentum by uniting stakeholders Mile Lake Nature Centre at the Union of BC accessible spawning beds as well through a watershed planning process Municipalities Breakfast on September 27. as great birding and other wildlife we are embarking on early this year. The award, for leadership and innovation, viewing. There are several culturally We are looking forward to a recognizes ideas that rise above challenges significant sites located in and around successful inaugural year engaging using vision, creativity and teamwork. the park, and Lil’wat Nation has been people in all the wonders of our beautiful watershed. Wetlands to Waves: ...from page 1 sustainability through stewardship play – the implications for food web Thankfully, the DFO major facility planning for 2012 (when pinks from and ecosystem impacts are significant. Snootli Hatchery is located in the the 2010 brood would be returning) Coho adults were in the Atnarko/ valley and had eggs from over 4.5 and beyond. The project itself was an Bella Coola during the flood but little million chum, 2 million chinook and excellent opportunity for educational or no spawning had occurred and 65 thousand sockeye from the 2010 activities linked to the Salmonids in stream walks later in the fall reported brood (the sockeye with help from the Classroom program and science spawning success (saved by a different Nuxalkmc Fisheries program) and this classes from the local schools came 2 timing!). However, 2009 brood coho, production will ensure there are adults out to learn about fry identification trout and other rearing juveniles did returning to rebuild. and juvenile assessment techniques. suffer losses from displacement and While the results from the trapping The project also exemplified how stranding, the extent of which is program were not good, they will a collaborative approach to design, impossible to quantify. serve a very positive purpose for funding and implementation can be fisheries management and watershed essential to success. Protecting an ecosystem piece by piece by Barry Booth Since 1999, The Land Conservancy (TLC) has been protecting valuable fish and wildlife habitat in the Horsefly River valley by acquiring and managing land along the middle sections of the river. Up to this point, we have purchased approximately 400 hectares of land, including some of the best spawning habitat for sockeye salmon in the entire Horsefly River system. As a land trust, we are continuously looking for opportunities to further our work. We are most successful when we are able to acquire and manage a property that builds on previous efforts. Even more valuable Bears and salmon need plenty of room to live out their lives and thrive. Every hectare from a conservation perspective is if helps. Photo: C. Iwan. that new acquisition becomes part of a larger conservation area. It’s like strategic value for wildlife and salmon This type of purchase is in doing a puzzle, but instead of placing conservation. many ways the most valuable type individual pieces on a blank table, one By buying this land, TLC of acquisition. It is not a piece of exchanges unprotected pieces with eliminates the possible threat of future land that is isolated from other protected ones, thereby building a development along this section of the conservation lands, but rather is picture that shows an ever-increasing river. In addition, we improve the directly connected to them. With area of high-value protected lands. conservation value of the HRRCA by this acquisition we are continuing to TLC’s campaign to purchase a increasing its overall size, linking it to fill in the pieces of the conservation 22-hectare parcel in the Horsefly River Crown land that has been designated puzzle in the Horsefly River, one of valley is just this type of project. We as a key wetland for moose and to B.C.’s most important wild salmon are working to acquire the last piece an Old-Growth Forest Management rivers. For more information about of the old Kroener Ranch that is Area. In essence, the protected area this project, please visit: http://blog. immediately adjacent to the Horsefly of riparian habitat in the valley conservancy.bc.ca/get-involved- River Riparian Conservation Area would effectively be extended by a with-tlc/campaigns/horsefly-river- (HRRCA). This new property of further 2 km on the north side of the expansion-project/.