Foreshore Integrated Management Planning

Douglas Lake FIMP 

We acknowledge this project is taking place on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Syilx Okanagan people. 

Douglas Lake, located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District of British Columbia, is surrounded by important grasslands that fall within the Douglas Lake Ranch private property or Upper Nicola Band lands on the southern end. The lake holds immense heritage value for the Upper Nicola Band (UNB), an inclusive Syilx community, with deep cultural, ecological, and socioeconomic connections to the area. However, pressures along the shoreline threaten the foreshore habitats, raising concerns about declining fish populations, algae blooms, shoreline erosion, and water quality degradation, among other issues. Led by the UNB, Living Lakes Canada is facilitating the survey of Douglas Lake in 2024 and 2025 to inventory cultural and ecological foreshore values and assess the development conditions through the application of the updated FIMP methodology along with the Local Indigenous Knowledge and Values Framework, which was field-tested at Nicola Lake in 2023. This project is funded by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the Aquatic Habitat Restoration Fund.

FIMP Cultural and Archaeological Survey of Wood and Kalamalka Lakes

We acknowledge this project is taking place on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Syilx Okanagan people. 

Since time immemorial, Okanagan lake foreshores have supported lake biodiversity and surrounding communities, and are currently threatened by both natural change and human interference. In partnership and collaboration with local Indigenous communities, stewardship groups, and regional and provincial governments, the Okanagan Indian Band (OKIB) and Living Lakes Canada will guide cumulative impact assessments on the foreshores of Wood and Kalamalka Lakes from 2024 to 2025. Weaving Indigenous Knowledge and Western science, this project will support the inventory, assessment, and mapping of cultural, archaeological, and ecological foreshore values of these critically important lakes. 

This project is funded in part by the BC Conservation Foundation, Central Okanagan Foundation, Friends of Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park, Kal Tire, Okanagan Basin Water Board, Foord Family Foundation, District of Coldstream, and District of Lake Country. 

FIMP Indigenous Knowledge and Values Framework

We acknowledge this project is taking place on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Nlaka’pamux and Syilx people.

In 2021, Living Lakes Canada launched the FIMP Indigenous Knowledge and Values Framework pilot project in partnership with the Upper Nicola Band in the South Central Interior of British Columbia and Sustainability Scholars from the University of British Columbia, with primary funding being provided by the Real Estate Foundation of BC. The goal of this project was to identify opportunities within the lake survey protocol to better acknowledge Indigenous Knowledge and cultural values, informing decision making and promoting more balanced, sustainable, and ethical development as the growing climate crisis continues to threaten the health of freshwater.

The FIMP Indigenous Knowledge and Values Framework was applied and assessed for its effectiveness during a FIMP re-survey of Nicola Lake in the summer of 2023. The results of this test have and will continue to be shared with partners and community members, through reports, presentations, and various community outreach initiatives. Following its success, Living Lakes Canada and Okanagan Indian Band will be using  this Framework to guide the cultural surveys of Wood and Kalamalka Lakes. 

Living Lakes Canada looks to our Indigenous partners — whose values and knowledge of water and the interconnection between land and species have formed over generations of living symbiotically — to help guide the current FIMP surveys. The FIMP Indigenous Knowledge and Values Framework provides practical, actionable direction to structure this process. The goal of the project is to gain a better understanding of foreshore-related impacts and the importance of holistic lake management while building on our connection to local communities. 

This project serves as an example of how applied Indigenous Knowledge may be revered as an essential aspect of environmental conservation initiatives. Highlighting the importance of recognizing Indigenous Knowledge and values is also a progressive step towards Reconciliation with B.C. First Nations as supported by the BC United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People Act (2019).

RECENT PROJECTS

Fraser Lake re-FIMP

Fraser Lake is located in the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako, west of Prince George. Fraser Lake supports a diversity of fish species including Burbot, Bull Trout, Kokanee, Lake Trout, Largescale Sucker, Mountain Whitefish, Northern Pikeminnow, Peamouth Chub, Prickly Sculpin, and Rainbow Trout. It also provides critical rearing and overwintering habitat to the Nechako White Sturgeon population, which has been ranked as Endangered under Schedule 1 of the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) and by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada and provincially ranked as imperiled. Fraser Lake is used by Sockeye and Chinook salmon primarily as a migration corridor to and from spawning areas. Fraser Lake has a shoreline of 70.9 km and was previously surveyed in 2011. 

The 2023 re-FIMP discovered that the total length of disturbed shoreline increased by 2.6% from the 2011 survey, representing an annual increase of 0.2%, or 155m of shoreline each year. Over half of the shoreline was found to be in natural condition (65%), while the remaining 35% was disturbed. Highly impacted areas were generally associated with areas of dense residential development, the CN railway line, as well as areas that had been cleared for agricultural and rural land uses. 

This project was funded in part by CN Rail, the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako, the Cook-Rees Memorial Fund and the Nechako Environment and Water Stewardship Society (NEWSS). This one year project, which ran from March 2023 to May 2024, aimed to apply the updated FIMP methodology and improve the quality and quantity of the foreshore information in Fraser Lake.

You can read the most recent Fraser Lake FIMP Report and Foreshore Development Guidelines here. 

Nicola Lake re-FIMP

Nicola Lake is located in Merritt, BC, and is a popular travel destination for sightseeing, swimming, and fishing. Nicola Lake has incredibly important ecological, socioeconomic, and cultural values for the Upper Nicola Band. However, increasing development pressures threaten the foreshore habitats.

In collaboration with the Upper Nicola Band, Nicola Lake was re-surveyed in the summer of 2023 (following a preliminary survey in 2012) to update the foreshore inventory and assess the development conditions. This comprehensive assessment  applied the updated FIMP methodology and the Local Indigenous Knowledge and Values Framework. 

Results of the 2023 re-FIMP indicate that 51.3% of the Nicola Lake shoreline is in natural condition. The ecological and cultural values of the Nicola Lake shoreline have been degraded by Highway 5A, recreational land use, BC Parks development at Monck Park, and single-family developments.

The results of the combined 2023 Nicola Lake FIMP and cultural assessments, including reports and maps, can now be found on the Water Hub. The Nicola Lake Foreshore Development Guidelines offer valuable insights on habitat quality and development for government, First Nations, stewardship groups, and property owners. Read the media release about this recent development.

This project is funded by the Union of BC Municipalities.

COMPLETED PROJECT

FIMP for Aquatic Species at Risk in the Columbia Basin

In 2019, Living Lakes Canada entered a four-year Contribution Agreement with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and their Canada Nature Fund for Aquatic Species at Risk Program. The overarching goal of this Living Lakes Canada Project was to improve the quality and quantity of information about lake foreshore habitat integrity and species at risk in the Upper Columbia Basin. Species at Risk targeted throughout this project include, Kootenay River White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus), Westslope Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi), and Shorthead Sculpin (Cottus confusus).

The Project reviewed and revised the FIMP methodology, and mapped (or re-mapped) lakes in the Columbia Basin to assess the rate of change in ecological and urban development parameters. For this project, surveyed lakes included:

• Lake Windermere
• Moyie Lake
• Whitetail Lake
• Whiteswan Lake
• Kootenay Lake
• Columbia Lake
• Slocan Lake
• Arrow Lakes
• Trout Lake (funded by the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program)
• St. Mary's Lake

Information collected over the project timeline has and will continue to be shared with government, First Nations, consultants, developers, and other stakeholders to support evidence-based, land-use decision making.

Learn about the key findings and recommendations in the report. 

Living Lakes Canada also gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program, Real Estate Foundation of BC, and Alberta Ecotrust for their contribution to the Foreshore Integrated Management Planning Program.

This program's data is available on the Columbia Basin Water Hub.

FIMP AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate change is a global concern as increasing temperatures and shifted precipitation patterns have led to an increase in hazardous events such as drought, flooding, and wildfire. Following four years of updating and field-testing the FIMP methodology, Living Lakes Canada has recognized a knowledge gap in connecting foreshore values with climate change impacts. With climate change and increasing foreshore development pressure, the foreshore ecological, social, cultural, and economic values are being threatened. FIMP provides a snapshot of the current lake foreshore conditions, which helps to understand the foreshore values. However, in response to the threat of both tangible and intangible losses caused by climate change in the future, long-term monitoring, better foreshore development and management strategies, and more public engagement are essential.

MORE BACKGROUND

FIMP has been applied to 17 lakes across the Columbia Basin since 2006:

• Lake Windermere
• Columbia Lake
• Wasa Lake
• Moyie Lake
• Monroe Lake
• Jimsmith Lake
• Tie Lake
• Rosen Lake
• St Mary Lake
• Lake Koocanusa (transboundary reservoir)
• Kootenay Lake
• Slocan Lake
• Brilliant Headpond
• Whitetail Lake
• Whiteswan Lake
• Trout Lake 
• Arrow Lakes 

You can access the lake reports for all the above-listed lakes on the Columbia Basin Water Hub.

Living Lakes Canada has also expanded FIMP work beyond British Columbia, leading projects for Lac la Biche in Alberta and the South Basin of Lake Winnipeg.

CONTACT

If you would like to learn more about this program contact us at FIMP@livinglakescanada.ca.