2006 news releases
“Cash for Ash River"
Alberni Valley Times
Wed 01 Mar 2006
Page: 1 / Front
Section: News
Byline: Shayne Morrow
Source: Alberni Valley Times
A group headed by Hupacasath First Nation has attracted increased funding from BC Hydro for habitat enhancement in the Elsie Lake watershed.
Since the late 1990s, the Bridge Coastal Restoration Program (BCRP) has provided funding for restoration work in watersheds affected by hydro development. Hupacasath manager Trevor Jones said it's been a natural fit for the band, but until recently, getting the money was a hit-or-miss proposition.
"Hupacasath were quick out the door to take advantage of the program in the watershed," Jones said Tuesday. But BCRP money was hard to come by until local interest groups banded together, he said. "We've now created partnerships in a multi-stakeholder group, known as the Alberni Valley Aquatic Resource Group," Jones said.
AVARG includes parties diverse as the Alberni Valley Enhancement Association, personnel from local Fisheries and Oceans Canada operations and the provincial fisheries ministry. The effect has been an expanded centre of gravity for habitat restoration efforts. "AVARG has become a model for groups in other Hydro jurisdictions," Jones said. And the results are showing, he added. Prior to AVARG, the band was lucky to get funding for one or two projects per year.
"For 2005-06, we've had four projects funded, and another five for 06-07," Jones said.
FEEDING A RIVER
Three of those projects involve assessment and study. But according to AVARG consulting biologist Adam Lewis, one of the programs is simple, hands-on stuff.
Called the Ash River Nutrient Enrichment program, it's just that -- putting more food into the eco-system. "There are many ways of fertilizing a stream," Lewis explained. "Last year, we started putting in slow-dissolving, pollock-based blocks of nutrient."
Besides adding food for fish and other aquatic life forms, the supplements also raise critical phosphorous and nitrogen levels in the water. When available, coho and chinook carcasses from Robertson Creek hatchery are also introduced back into the watershed, to replicate the effect of historic spawning patterns
"This program takes place in the Middle Ash River, between Elsie and Dickson Lakes," Lewis said. The river is home to both resident and sea-run trout, as well as coho salmon. Total cost of the program is about $27,000 per year, of which BCRP provides about $18,000. The balance comes from the AVARG stakeholders, Lewis said.
ELSIE ON STEROIDS?
The Elsie Lake Productive Capacity Assessment project was fully funded by BCRP, at a budget of $81,000, with Hupacasath providing the boat and sampling crew. "We're assessing whether putting fertilizer in Elsie Lake would improve salmon capacity," Lewis said. While lake fertilization to increase nutrients is common (nearby Great Central Lake is one beneficiary), it isn't always a good idea."Depending on the food-webs within the eco-system, fertilizing a lake can encourage the growth of species that are actually detrimental to the desired species," he explained. You can wind up boosting the population sticklebacks, which prey on juvenile salmonids, or zooplankton, which benefits no one.
"The lake may be producing more biomass of food, but it may be food that the fish can't eat," Lewis said. The good news is, Elsie Lake appears to be an excellent candidate for fertilization, he added.
The fertilizer comes in the form of a phosphorous-nitrogen drip, which is fed into the lake from barge-based tanks over a period of four or five weeks.
HABITAT AVAILABLE
A third study, budgeted at $63,000, is assessing the productive capacity of the tributaries flowing into Elsie Lake. "What we know is that the Upper Ash River contains a large quantity of habitat," Lewis said. "Fertilizing Elsie Lake would encourage migration of native rainbow and cutthroat trout up into the tributaries."
According to Hupacasath elders, both coho and sockeye salmon spawned in the upper reaches of the Ash prior to construction of the Elsie Lake Dam in the 1950s.
Now the study has turned up a pair of wild cards, with the discovery of both juvenile coho and land-locked sockeye salmon (known as kokanee) in the system.
"We now know kokanee are present in the lake, but nobody is catching them," Lewis said. That raises some interesting scenarios, he explained.
"It's quite possible that the native cutthroat are preying on juvenile kokanee. On the other hand, fertilization would increase the size of the kokanee," he said.
Whether the kokanee are a historic population similar to those found in other B.C. lakes, or a new race created when the dam blocked passage to the lake is another question the scientists will have to wrestle with.
OPENING THE BARRIERS
The $50,000 Ash River Fish Passage Study will deal with both technical and ethical questions, according to Lewis.
"A great way to increase fish production is to link habitat together," he said. Along the Middle Ash are a number of barriers, including Dickson and Lanterman Falls. Increasing fish passage brings into question the wisdom of tampering with the existing eco-balance --especially when it involves a glamour species.
"Upstream of Dickson Falls, the only fish that can pass (according to current wisdom) are summer steelhead, and the province is reluctant to allow salmon passage," Lewis said. And then there's the dam itself.
"There was no barrier there historically, and it's another place where we could look at fish passage," he said. Technically, it's possible, but there are difficulties, such as screening the Ash River turbine intakes to protect migrating salmon smolts.
But restoring coho salmon above the dam, to take advantage of nearly 20 kilometres of Class A spawning habitat, raises another political issue.
The Upper Ash watershed is private timberland owned by Island Timberlands. Should the property be re-designated as salmon spawning habitat, that puts the owner under a whole new set of federal regulations governing harvesting operations, Jones said. "Hupacasath would like to see salmon in the headwaters for that reason," Jones said.
"Island Timberlands has supported this work from the beginning," he added.
Lewis noted that AVARG has applied to extend the passage assessment for another year, partly as a result of the discoveries.
"Halfway through the project, we found coho, so that changed everything," he said.
"We've realized there are a lot of holes in our knowledge -- especially in the small tributaries on the Upper Ash."
RETURN OF THE KING
For Al Ross (Kaa-nowsh), hereditary chief of Hupacasath First Nation, the AVARG work has been an opportunity to return to his roots, in more ways than one. "I worked as a fisheries guardian for Tseshaht First Nation for 15 years.
"This has given me a chance to come back," Ross said.
He now serves as acting fisheries manager for Hupacasath, and has been the go-to guy when it comes to field work.
Ross noted that Hupacasath First Nation is actually a coalition of three inland tribes which lived in the Alberni Valley.
"My own people ruled in the Ash River/Elsie Lake area, right where we're working," he said.
IMMEDIATE BENEFITS
AVEA chair Dave Chitty said AVARG has been a boost for his group.
"Any time we can work together with other groups, it's a win-win," Chitty said. "For example, we had anecdotal knowledge of coho above the barriers, and now we have proof." One of the biggest benefits has been a change in policy by BC Hydro, Chitty said. "As a result of the Ash River Water Use Plan, Hydro is now required to increase its fish flows during the early fall," he said.
In past years, during the dry season, the utility allowed flows to drop to minimal levels, Chitty explained. "Now they've moved the flows back closer to historic levels, which improves the migration of species such as steelhead and coho," he said.
Hupacasath First Nation will be hosting an open house at the House of Gathering, from 4-6 p.m. on March 30. Jones said the public will have a chance to check out the BCRP projects and talk to the biologists.
