Watershed Restoration Program

The Living Lakes Canada Restoration Program is working toward enhancing watershed health, increasing aquatic habitat resilience, and collaborating with partners to restore ecosystems to a functioning natural state that will remain viable in the face of climate change.

PROGRAM GOAL

Enhance watershed health to increase aquatic habitat resilience, and collaborating with partners to restore ecosystems to a functioning natural state that will remain viable in the face of climate change. Through partnerships and relationships with restoration experts, choose the best path forward to mitigate, remediate human-caused environmental issues to enhance and restore aquatic ecosystems.

CURRENT PROGRAM ACTIVITY

The Cottonwood Creek Revival Project: Creek Restoration

Flowing from Cottonwood Lake Regional Park through Cottonwood Falls Park, trickling through Railtown and entering Kootenay Lake at the Nelson Dog Walk, Cottonwood Creek is an important part of our community. However, many parts of the creek are in poor condition and lack habitat that promotes biodiversity.

The goal of the Cottonwood Creek Revival (CCR) Project is to assess the condition of the creek and explore opportunities that could improve the health of the creek in the long term. Living Lakes Canada, Friends of Kootenay Lake Stewardship Society and the Nelson District Rod Gun Club and Conservation Society are partnering to assess the condition of the creek and explore opportunities which could improve the health of the creek in the long term.

A State of the Watershed report was commissioned in 2023, and Living Lakes Canada has been carrying out baseline monitoring of the watershed’s water quality and ecosystem health. From this work, possibilities for future restoration, management and stewardship activities to benefit the creek are being identified.

On February 13, 2024, a public meeting was held to present the findings of the State of the Watershed report and the baseline monitoring. An interactive session will follow where community members can share their concerns, values and visions for Cottonwood Creek into the future.

View the report outlining the results from this public engagement below or click here open it in a new tab.

Columbia Wetlands Enhancement and Restoration

Living Lakes Canada, in collaboration with the Columbia Wetlands Stewardship Partners, is monitoring and ecological restoration of nearly 200 kilometres of the Upper Columbia River and its associated network of floodplain wetlands to ensure sufficient water flow to this vital ecosystem. The aim is to increase the ecosystem functionality of the Columbia Wetlands.

PAST PROGRAM ACTIVITY

Fish Passage Assessments and Habitat Confirmation: Habitat Connectivity Remediation Planning

Type of work
- Living Lakes Canada assisted with the completion barrier assessments and habitat confirmations on high priority streams that have limited or no access for fish downstream due to a anthropogenic barrier.
- Involved in planning for fish habitat connectivity remediation in select watersheds.

Why it's important
- There are hundreds of thousands of stream crossings in B.C., many of which are known or suspected barriers to fish. This reduced connectivity excludes fish from otherwise high quality habitat, negatively affecting all aspects of their life history (spawning, rearing, refuge), overall populations, and gene flow.

Where it's happening
- All roads across B.C., and the country. Often resource roads are targeted for remediation due to overall lower cost to repair (compared to major highways or railway). The BC Government has developed a strategic approach used to address these issues to allocate resources most efficiently.
- Living Lakes Canada assisted with fish passage projects in two main areas, near Smithers, B.C. and Fernie, B.C.
Lead Partner Organization
- New Graph Environment