2005 news releases

Fish-safe excavator adds spawning gravel to river
By Paul Jacobs
Comox Record Staff Writer
Aug 19 2005

The BC Conservation Foundation (BCCF) oversaw the installation of 560 cubic metres of spawning gravel in the Puntledge River last month. Funded by BC Hydro's Bridge Coastal Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program, crews used a fish-safe excavator to place gravel above Stotan Falls and below the diversion dam. The $37,000 enhancement will provide about a 25 per cent increase in spawning habitat for summer steelhead and chinook salmon to deposit eggs between the falls and the dam.

A recent inventory in the Puntledge found a lack of spawning gravel in the river. Spill events from the dams wash the gravel downstream and the dams impede gravel from moving down the system naturally, according to Scott Silvestri, fisheries technician for the Greater Georgia Basin Steelhead Recovery Plan. "Our plan is to add gravel over the next three years at key locations where we know it will stay," says Silvestri. As well, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans will be adding gravel in other areas of the river.

BCCF will monitor the results from this year's enhancement before installing more gravel at adjacent sites or other new sites.