November 2009

Salmon Enhancement And Habitat Advisory Board (SEHAB) Roundtable
Date November 6, 2009
Area: Northern Interior
Representative: Tracy Bond

Challenges/Issues and Opportunities/Successes of the Volunteer Aquatic Stewards

A. Management (Fisheries):

• First Nations Fisheries at lower reaches of Fraser River but not enough left for upper Fraser First Nation Fisheries

B. Enforcement (Fisheries and Habitat)

C. Habitat, Freshwater (Protection, Rehabilitation, and Enhancement)

• Water so low in Williams River Mouth the Pink could not make it in to spawn
  Flooding has initiated a number of flood control methods ie. berms (within riparian areas)
  As water has become “flashier” water is uncovering more and more debris from past armouring practices
  Fires in region have impacted a lot of freshwater habitat
  Restoration of Dragon Creek (Quesnel River Tributary) day lighting the creek, clean up of old car dump,
  Clean up of debris in Baker Creek
  Limit vehicle access to Horsefly River under bridge
  Completed project to fix pumphouse so utility vehicles (fire trucks) don’t fill up with water directly from the river
  Change in hydrology due to Pine Beetle

D. Habitat, Oceans, Estuaries and Marine (Protection, Rehabilitation, and Enhancement)

E. Salmon Enhancement (Hatcheries, Production Planning)

F. Science (Research, Canadian Hydrographic Service)

G. Stewardship & Community (Consultations: Acts, Regulations, Policy, Program Development an Implementation, Capacity, and Partnerships)

· The Integrated Sustainability Community Planning that Municipalities must complete as part of their GHG reduction targets has been a great impetus for local groups working with their municipalities

· All groups in the area are broad based and work on many different facets of environmental health (small communities, few volunteers, many issues, similar partnerships required)

· Funding decrease has dropped or will drop most groups to core activities, some regional coordination is suffering

· Horsefly Salmon Festival had over 1500 participants (700 community and about 800 students), not many fish

· A lot of education, awareness and planning activities by all of the groups throughout the region in relation to water, fish, watersheds, and sustainability planning

H. Treaty & Aboriginal Programs (Integration and Coordination, Stewardship and Community)

I. Safe and Accessible Waters (Canadian Coast Guard, Navigable Waters, Small Craft Harbours)
Environment Canada (Water Quality)
Vulnerable aquifers due to size (they are very large)

K. Province OF BC

Invasive Species:

· Small mouth bass in Quesnel River System

 

Riparian Area Conservation and Protection:

· Cumulative losses of small wetlands, riparian areas, and filter areas due to regulatory bodies being unable to respond in time and projects going ahead without authorization

· Lack of presence at planning and management tables

 

 

Water Licensing:

· Over subscription, water table in W.L. and area

Related Species and

 

L Shared Jurisdiction, DFO and MOE

· Prosperity Mine, Mt. Polley in Quesnel Lake area

· Fish Lake draining by Taseko mines to access minerals, Xeni Gwet’in

· Continued logging of Mountain Pine Beetle and changes in Hydrology

· Fish kills in Bouchie Lake due to Phosphorous loading

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October 2007

Roundtable Report

Central Interior
October 26, 27, 28
Tracy Bond
(250) 992-2295
•    Compiling List of active groups:
o This list is the CA contact list
o Many previous groups have disbanded
o the groups that are still around have much larger mandates than fisheries concerns
o Some contacts only occasionally work on watershed concerns
o Three of the groups hold contract to deliver Salmonids in the Classroom
o No direct contact with all groups
Spruce City Wildlife Association:        Denise Collet This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Baker Creek Enhancement Society    Corinne Hynes This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Quesnel River Research Centre        This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
The Land Concervancy of BC:        Barry Booth This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
The Fraser Basin Council PG:        Joan Chess  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Maureen LeBourdais WL                         This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Prince George Public Interest Research Group    This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Recycling & Environmental Action & Action
Planning Society:            Terri McClymont , This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Fraser Headwater Alliance:        Roy Howard         This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Exploration Place:            Amanda Tisseur   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Cariboo Chicotin Conservation Society
Marg Evans,                                        This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Gavin Lake Forest Education Society
Cathy Koot or Mike Tudor                        This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
•    Horsefly Community is starting up a Roundtable
•    Williams Lake having depleting Aquifer and water conservation issues
•    Continued impact from Mountain Pine Beetle impacts on hydrology
•    Increased Mining activity
•    Concerns with increased paperwork, reporting and less resources
•    Concerns with enforcement at all levels of government
•    Impending Economic Downturn
•    Volcanic Activity outside of Quesnel
•    Concerns with lack of consistency between riparian regulations (forestry/mining)
•    Impacts of grazing leases on Creeks (not enough monitoring)
•    Concerns with money coming out from interior resources not coming back into interior natural resources.

June 05

Mandy Jones – Central Interior north of 100 Mile House/Northeastern BC         (Roy Argue/Tina Chestnut)
Gord Stewart – Boston Bar to 100 Mile House (Dennis Demontier)
The snow packs for the Thompson Watershed were near normal this year, but recent reports have put the snow melt three weeks ahead of normal for both the North and South Thompson Rivers. This could mean very low and warm water for the Adams River Sockeye run. Let’s hope for a cool wet summer.
The Nicola and Coldwater rivers are headed for a drought this year again. Both systems had below normal snow packs and an early start to the run off. The Nicola Valley may have to deal with and extreme water shortage this year.
Through out the summer I will be attempting to increase communication with the local volunteer community. I will report on my success or failure.
The School District #73 Salmon in the Classroom Program had another successful year ending with fry releases for the whole month of May at Pine Park.