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Miriam Trevis
The Record
Quietly and
unobtrusively, Mother Nature is being given a helping hand in the Elk
River valley near Gold River.
The river, once a favourite fly-fishing venue for Roderick Haig-Brown, has
suffered many indignities over the past 50 years. As a result, serious
degradation has occurred along the banks which has allowed the river to
meander from its original course to become a delta of small streams
varying their channels over the large gravel flood plain as the river
enters Upper Campbell Lake.
As part of its Bridge Coastal Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program, BC
Hydro agreed to sponsor restoration work on the Elk River when it was
proposed and the work has been overseen by Ian Redden, a biologist working
for Streamline Environmental Consulting out of Nanaimo. Redden told The
Record that over the past half-century, the river has been impacted by
many natural events and man-made projects. These include the massive
landslide which resulted from an earthquake in 1946 which created
Landslide Lake where the river rises. The landslide sent sediment into the
upper channel of the river. In the 1940's the entire valley bottom was
logged and then further diversions ensued with the construction of Highway
28, the Elk River Timber road and Strathcona Dam.
Roger Dunlop, marine biologist with [he Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council
stated that when the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations entered into
discussions |
with BC Hydro regarding the removal of the Heber Dam
and penstock (pipeline) which diverts the Heber River eastward, all the
rivers in the area were part of the debate. Some thought was given to
putting the original block back at the end of Mud Lake which was opened up
when the pipeline went in. It was decided, however, that considerable work
would then have to be done to Highway 28 as the resulting water levels in
Crest and Mud Lakes would create flooding if the roadbed was not elevated
sufficiently.
Thoughts then turned to restoration of the Elk River which is one of the
major spawning channels for rainbow and cutthroat trout, together with
Doily Varden resident in Upper Campbell and Buttle Lakes.
The silviculture crew from the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations were
hired to do the work which started in September and has now finished for
this season. The object is to build up the gravel bars to push the river
back towards its original course. Four-foot lengths of dogwood and willows
are collected and soaked in the river for a week, thus ridding them of
hormones . which inhibit rooting. At 20,000 stems per hectare, the work is
time consuming as the first three feet of the stems is pushed into the
gravel bar after an excavator has removed the top layer of gravel. The
stems need to be put in that deeply to ensure that the newly rooted shoots
will not be impacted by a drop in me water table.
As the plants become established, debris will be trapped which will allow |
the gravel bars to build up, forcing the river to go
round rather than over them. As nature takes its course, other vegetation
will grow naturally on the raised gravel bars as re-forestation gradually
takes place.
The whole project has received tremendous support from the community of
Gold River according to Redden. Students from the High School, involved
with the Gold River Streamkeepers Society have volun- |
teered time at the site (including a Pro-D day) and the
work done by the members of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations has been
first class.
Everyone involved with the project is hopeful that this is just Phase One.
While no commitment of additional funding has yet been given by BC Hydro,
the groups who have worked hard on this initial phase are hopeful that its
success will encourage further investment from Hydro. |
