2006 news releases

Major spawning gravel project starts today in the Campbell
Courier-Islander (Campbell River)
Wed 09 Aug 2006
Page: A1 / Front
Section: News
Byline: Denise Sharkey
Source: Courier-Islander

Work is slated to begin today on a major Gravel Committee project on the upper Campbell River. Gravel Committee chair Mike Gage said this project is the last of the major work they need to do on the Campbell, but that doesn't mean the committee's work will be at an end once it's complete. "This is the last of the major projects involving gravel placement by the Campbell River Gravel Committee, but we will always be focused on the maintenance and the well-being of the Campbell," Gage said.

Crews will be at the river for seven or eight days from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. working on the project, which Gage said will cost around $50,000. The work will be funded by the Bridge Coastal Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program, a BC Hydro initiative.

The project entails constructing a ramp into the river from the helicopter pad on the road into the John Hart Generating Station. Spawning gravel will be placed in the upper Campbell River using an excavator in an area between the First (upper) Island and the John Hart side of the river. Gage said as usual, the gravel will be screened and washed, some of it twice, to reduce the potential of silt getting into the river.

"Man-introduced silt won't be tolerated by the river," Gage said.
The Gravel Committee is going into its 13th year of work and has accomplished a lot. Gage said in the beginning, the committee's focus was solely on chinook salmon. The committee is a sub-committee of the Tyee Club of B.C. and their mandate was to replace gravel in the river that had been washed downstream, leaving nowhere for chinook to spawn.

"Since 1995 we have built just under four kilometers of spawning channels and platforms," Gage said. He said over the years, the committee realized that placing gravel in the river was benefiting more than just chinook salmon. Chum salmon returned to the river in the thousands, causing the overall health of the river to increase drastically.

"The chinook salmon are snobs, they only use about 10 per cent of the gravel," Gage said. "They like rough water, fast water and fairly large gravel. The chum use every last square foot of it. And the chum have been a real benefit to the river in terms of nutrients."

Gage added that populations of mergansers have also increased dramatically.
"These are all good indicators of the health of a river," he said.
He said from time to time, gravel in the river will still have to be replaced, once this last major project is complete.

"We're going to have to maintain what we've done," he said. As Gage looks back over the years, he reflects on the fact that the committee has gone from an adversarial relationship with BC Hydro to a positive one. Gage is chair of BC Hydro's Bridge Coastal Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program and is delighted with Hydro's current flow management regime. Back in 1994, the Gravel Committee's first project at the Second Island Channel was "blown out" in an infamous incident where a large BC Hydro spill washed all the newly placed gravel away. In the end, the project was re-engineered and rebuilt by BC Hydro and the relationship between the two organizations has flourished. For the next week or so, access to the river upstream of the project site will be restricted for activities like swimming, tubing and kayaking. Gage said rafters and tubers will still be able to go down the northeast side of First Island.

The Canyon View Trail will remain open, however there will be a short detour in effect."It will be well-marked and well-policed," Gage said. "We cannot tolerate people coming through the construction zone."

Gage won't be sitting on his laurels once this project is complete. Next on his list is the Salmon River near Sayward He's now part of the Sayward Fish and Game Club. He said the Salmon River is the fifth largest watershed on the east coast of Vancouver Island, but it's seriously under-utilized by fish due to loss of habitat.
The Salmon River has gravel, but it needs to be loosened up, a project Gage and the Sayward Fish and Game Club will be taking on in the future.