Nearest Hospitals

Figure 1: Houston Health Centre - 3202 14 St, Houston, BC V0J 1Z0 - 250-845-2294

Houston Health Centre - 3202 14 St, Houston, BC V0J 1Z0 - 250-845-2294

Figure 2: my_caption

(Smithers) Bulkley Valley District Hospital - 3950 8 Ave, Smithers, BC V0J 2N0 - 250-847-2611

Figure 3: my_caption

Wrinch Memorial Hospital - Hazelton - 2510 Hwy 62, Hazelton, BC V0J 1Y0 - 250-842-5211

Field Plan

Field work methods will result in products feeding reporting formats such as here for 2020 and here for 2021 and here for Skeena 2022 and here for Bulkley 2022 and will generally follow procedures in:

• fish passage assessments (MoE 2011)

• habitat confirmations (Fish Passage Technical Working Group 2011).

Presence/absence of fish, species composition/density and distribution limits can be useful for prioritizing which crossings are a best fit for fish passage restoration and help inform follow up monitoring so electrofishing and minnowtrapping may be conducted. Standard Fish and Fish Habitat Inventory Standard Field Form site cards are used to gather habitat data. Field guide is here

We have PIT tagging equipment so we could consider tagging fish captured at electrofishing sites to help us better understand population sizes and fish movement upstream and downstream of sites over the years.

We are running digital field form tests using a product called Mergin Maps which syncs with QGIS. Crews can access projects with a free trial account. Please send me your usernames and I can begin to share projects/forms.

A guide to freshwater fish id such as McPhail and Carveth (1993) can be useful and can be downloaded here.

Check In Procedures

Call, text or inreach Tara Stark (2505059854) each morning to share the plan for the day (i.e. name of roads and sites). Check in time is before 7 pm each evening although we regularly check in throughout the day (ex. at arrival to site, 1pm and 4pm) on the inreach or by text and report position/provide updates.

Procedures for Failed Check-In - for Check in person

Procedures are summarized in the following Figure. If phone call or inReach check-in is not received by 7pm send text to inreach units, call or text cell phones of field crew members. If no response please call accommodations then personal emergency contacts to see if they have heard anything. Wait 1 hour and text inreach, text or call cell phones and personal emergency contacts and accomodations again. Repeat after 2 hours (9 pm) - if no response then notify the RCMP of a missing persons in field.

Figure 4: Procedures for failed check-in

Table 2: Potential sample locations.

id	stream_name	st_network_km	st_spawning_km	st_rearing_km	watershed_group_code	comments
8454	Trib to Copper	1.91	0.00	0.00	ZYMO	BT and DV confirmed. Two SFC priority sites upstream too. – Small creek on side road. Foot access due to major road failure. Should remove culvert and cross ditch. – Headed by small pond near height of land – Small creek on side road. Foot access due to major road failure. Should remove culvert and cross ditch.
8530	Trib to Copper	2.58	0.00	0.00	ZYMO	Duplicate. Matched to wrong modelled crossing so corrected in bcfishpass. – Barrier to fish. Recommend embedding material in pipe due to its size to reduce water velocity. – About 600m u/s of Zymoetz River confluence. – Barrier to fish. Recommend embedding material in pipe due to its size to reduce water velocity.
8543	Trib to Copper	5.51	0.00	0.00	ZYMO	Just slightly highe than steelhead model criteria. Close to McDonell Lake with fish upstream – Fish survey required. Embed pipe with 30% gravels to mimic stream channel. – About 450m u/s of McDonnel Lake confluence; Cascade listed at crossing on Imap BC; – Fish survey required. Embed pipe with 30% gravels to mimic stream channel.
8547	Trib to Copper	0.73	0.00	0.00	ZYMO	CT (and potentially RB) confirmed. Small lake mapped upstream. – Recommend fish survey. If positive then remove culvert and replace with open bottom structure. – Possible SK at mouth; about 1.3km u/s of McDonnell L. confluence; another crossing near mouth. – Recommend fish survey. If positive then remove culvert and replace with open bottom structure.
58067	Tributary to Gramophone Creek	23.86	2.66	4.72	BULK	NA – Replace with OBS – NA – NA
58159	McDowell Creek	10.36	0.00	7.45	BULK	Restoration likely forthcoming so sampling could inform monitoring program. – Stream flows through the Woodmere Nursury from small culvert on burn pile access road to the Highway. Electrofishing conducted. Abundant cover available primarily as overhanging vegetation and cobbles. Upstream culvert under Highway 16 has been recently replaced by horizontal drilling. Baffles at upstream crossing. Coho fry captured below the Highway crossing. – NA – NA
123377	Thompson Creek	33.50	4.87	9.51	BULK	Would be good to get baseline conditions for species composition and abundance. – Install baffles in culverts, or replace with OBS - 2 culverts present – NA – NA
124500	Helps Creek	36.57	1.84	11.75	BULK	Species compositionupstream and downstream could be insighful for prioritization and baseline if Telkwa Coal helps move this one ahead. – Wetland type habitat upstream with stream channel containing abundant gravels downstream. – NA – NA
195943	Stock Creek	23.12	0.00	8.09	BULK	NA – No access, install OBS and restore channel – NA – NA
197365	Tributary to Owen Creek	10.56	0.00	0.66	MORR	Flow looks good in photos. – 70 cm falls 3m upstream – NA – NA
197378	–	12.33	0.00	0.94	MORR	–
197379	Unnamed	0.84	0.12	0.84	MORR	Would be good to know what fish are here. Good site for tagging? – NA – Sediment entering stream from fill slope; headed by at least 2 small lakes. – Replace RMC with OBS
197640	Tributary to Buck Creek	19.96	1.96	4.65	BULK	Design in progress so sampling could inform monitoring program. Unlikley to have time for this this year though. – Large tributary on section of tributary connected to salmon bearing Buck Creek. Fish rising in outlet pool (estimated 130mm). Some cattle access points downstream. – NA – NA
197949	–	6.16	0.00	0.49	MORR	–
197962	Peacock Creek	6.14	2.98	4.89	MORR	Site remediated. Long term monitoring required but could wait another year as work was conducted late last summer and we might expect CO moving in this fall.. – Historic side channel for fish passage not functioning. 17:47 – Concrete weir built mid-90’s as retrofit, currently not functioning; further ass’t required; High Priority. – Replace RMC with OBS
198008	Tributary to Nanika River	0.60	0.00	0.00	MORR	Site should be reassessed as we surveyed the wrong upstream channel in 2021. – Stream has good flow, well developed channel. 12:50 – NA – NA
198060	Tributary to Owen Creek	7.01	0.00	2.03	MORR	Was passable when assessed in 2021. – Very nice gravels. Some flow. Passable currently but may by higher velocity at higher flows. 8:59 – NA – NA
198064	Tributary to Lamprey Creek	5.05	0.00	0.81	MORR	Hab con completed. Sampling may be enlightening but habitat not stellar. – Habitat confirmation conducted. Fish observed (150mm). Good flows when compared to many other streams. 9:25 – NA – NA
198217	–	5.74	0.16	0.49	KISP	–
198225	Sterritt Creek	3.39	0.64	1.29	KISP	–