Skeena Sustainability Assessment Forum’s State of the Value Report for Fish & Fish Habitat Skeena ESI Area Prepared for Skeena Sustainability (SSAF) of the Skeena Environmental Stewardship Initiative Final report (February 2021) prepared for the Skeena ESI Science and Technical Committee (STC) i Citation Skeena Sustainability Assessment Forum (SSAF). 2021. Skeena Sustainability Assessment Forum’s State of the Value Report for Fish & Fish Habitat. Final draft prepared by Carolyn King and Jesse Fraser of Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations, and Rural Development for the Skeena Environmental Stewardship Initiative Science and Technical Committee (STC). 190 pp. Acknowledgements This report was endorsed by the Skeena Sustainability Assessment Forum (SSAF), based on the work conducted through the Skeena ESI Science and Technical Committee (STC) document. STC review and discussions have contributed greatly to this report. Sincere thanks to the Pacific Salmon Foundation's Salmon Watersheds Program for sharing the most updated NuSEDS salmon escapement datasets for monitored streams in the Skeena and Nass River basins. Document Version History Date Version Author(s) Description of Changes # Initials are as follows: STC: Scientific and Technical Committee; MP: Marc Porter; SC: Simon Casley, JA: John Arnett; JF: Jesse Fraser; CK: Carolyn King October 2019 1 MP, SC, JA, JF First draft prepared by Marc Porter of ESSA Technologies Ltd., Simon Casley and John Arnett of Chartwell Consultants Ltd., and Jesse Fraser of Ministry of Forest, Lands, Natural Resource Operations, and Rural Development Dec 2019– 1.1 STC STC review of prepared draft March 2020 March 2020 1.2 MP, SC, JA, JF Revised draft prepared by Marc Porter of ESSA Technologies Ltd., Simon Casley and John Arnett of Chartwell Consultants Ltd., and Jesse Fraser of Ministry of Forest, Lands, Natural Resource Operations, and Rural Development November 2 CK, JF Second draft prepared by Carolyn King and Jesse Fraser of Ministry of 2020 Forest, Lands, Natural Resource Operations, and Rural Development. 2015 provincial data updated to 2018 (most recent) for indicators, and revisions made throughout. ii November 20, 2.1 STC Revised draft completed after receiving comments from STC 2020 – reviewers. Executive summary analysis and interpretation redone, and January 2021 additions made to policy, current monitoring and future work sections. Reviewers included: Jeff Anderson, Sam Pittman, Mike Ridsdale, David Dewit on behalf of Office of the Wet’suwet’en; Mark Cleveland and Kyla Warran on behalf of Gitanyow Nation, and Eric Smith, and Dave Wilford on behalf of the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. January 2021 3 CK, JF, MP Final draft completed by Carolyn King and Jesse Fraser with technical assistance from Marc Porter. February 2021 3 Project Team Final draft endorsed by the SSAF Project Team. iii Table of Contents Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures .............................................................................................................................................. vii List of Tables ................................................................................................................................................ ix List of Acronyms ............................................................................................................................................ x Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 1 State of the Value Report - Disclaimer.......................................................................................................... 8 Skeena ESI Values........................................................................................................................................ 10 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 11 1.1 Report Purpose .......................................................................................................................... 15 1.2 Report Context and Content ..................................................................................................... 15 2 Fish Populations in the SSAF Study Area - Overview .......................................................................... 16 3 Fish Habitats in the SSAF Study Area - Overview ................................................................................ 16 4 Fish Habitat Objectives and Legal Protection ..................................................................................... 17 5 Overview of Fish Habitat Indicators .................................................................................................... 21 6 Assessment Results for each Indicator ............................................................................................... 23 6.1 Road Density .............................................................................................................................. 24 6.2 Road/Stream Crossing Density .................................................................................................. 26 6.3 Road Density near Streams ....................................................................................................... 30 6.4 Road Density on Steep (Potentially Unstable) Slopes ............................................................... 32 6.5 Equivalent Clearcut Area (ECA) (peak flow impacts) ................................................................. 35 6.6 Young Second Growth Forest (low flow impacts) ..................................................................... 37 6.7 Riparian Disturbance ................................................................................................................. 39 6.8 Total Land Disturbance .............................................................................................................. 42 6.9 Dams and Impoundments ......................................................................................................... 44 6.10 Water Licenses........................................................................................................................... 46 6.11 Groundwater Wells ................................................................................................................... 49 6.12 Water Allocation Restrictions .................................................................................................... 51 6.13 Mines ......................................................................................................................................... 53 6.14 Point Source Pollution ............................................................................................................... 55 6.15 Low Flow Sensitivity .................................................................................................................. 57 iv 6.16 Drainage Density Ruggedness ................................................................................................... 60 6.17 Lakes and Wetlands (and Man-made Waterbodies) ................................................................. 62 6.18 Salmonid Habitat Extent ............................................................................................................ 65 6.19 Salmon Spawning Extent ........................................................................................................... 68 6.20 Salmon Escapement .................................................................................................................. 77 7 Interpretation and Key Drivers of Tier 1 Results ................................................................................. 89 7.1 Watershed Pressures ................................................................................................................. 89 7.2 Watershed Sensitivity ................................................................................................................ 89 7.3 Watershed Importance ............................................................................................................. 89 8 Monitoring .......................................................................................................................................... 90 8.1 Summary of Existing Tier 1 and 2 monitoring ........................................................................... 90 8.2 Overview of First Nations Fisheries monitoring programs ........................................................ 93 Gitanyow Fisheries Authority ................................................................................................ 93 Gitksan Watershed Authorities ............................................................................................. 94 Lake Babine Nation Fisheries Program ................................................................................. 95 Wet’suwet’en Fisheries Program .......................................................................................... 96 8.3 Gaps in existing Tier 1 & 2 monitoring ...................................................................................... 96 9 Potential next steps ...........................................................................................................................