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This project has been completed on time and on budget. Salomonids have been reported using the area indicating the project was a great success!
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Area of Closure
July 5-7
July 31 to August 30
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As part of the project, invasive plants in the area, such as blackberry, will be removed. Some Alder trees will also need to be removed for machine access. Removing these trees will occur between July 5-7th, and during this time the treed area will be closed. The alders will be replaced with conifers in the fall.
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Dan Bowen, Project Watershed’s Technical Director, said that while crews will do their best to limit disruption to park visitors, some impacts will be unavoidable. “Project Watershed recognizes that this construction project, in Simms Park during the summer, is an inconvenience to the public,” he noted. “We hope that everyone will have patience with us as we work to improve this local community asset for fish and wildlife.” Project Watershed staff and volunteers will be on site to direct pedestrians and provide information on the project.
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Volunteers Needed!
If you are interested in volunteering on this project please sign up. We will need help fish fry and plant salvaging, dewatering the site, sandbagging, and informing the public about what we are doing during the project. Refreshments and light snacks will be available for volunteers.
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Project Watershed will be working in Simms Millennium Park this summer to improve the habitat in the area for fish and other wildlife. The Simms side channel is used by species such as Coho salmon, however it is not functioning as well as it could be. In order to access the pond habitat, fish must pass through a long culvert which is perched high and only flows when the river and/or tide is high, thereby limiting access. In addition, the pond is a dead-end with no connection back to the river. Fish that access the pond habitat are often trapped, and in the summer the water becomes stagnant due to limited circulation.
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You may have noticed Project Watershed staff, volunteers and contractors measuring, photographing and generally poking around in the Simms Park area over the past year. We were carrying out a seed project to develop a plan for the redesign of the Simms Park side channel habitat.
A seed project is done to further investigate a proposed project to determine the effects the project may have and create a comprehensive project plan for the area. The Seed Project was funded by the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program (FWCP). The FWCP is a partnership between BC Hydro, the Province of B.C., Fisheries and Oceans Canada, First Nations and public stakeholders to conserve and enhance fish and wildlife impacted by the construction of BC Hydro dams.
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We have just finished developing the plan to enhance the Simms Park waterway for fish and wildlife and have received funding from the Recreational Fisheries Conservation Program (RFCPP), Habitat Conservation Trust Fund (HCTF) and FWCP to implement this plan. RFCPP is a Fisheries and Oceans Canada program which provides funding to restore, rebuild and rehabilitate recreational fisheries habitat. HCTF is a non-profit charitable foundation that administers funding obtained from angling, hunting, trapping and guiding licence surcharges and directs this funding into conservation work for provincial wildlife and fish resources. Although primarily hunters, anglers, trappers and guide-outfitters support HCTF it welcomes donations from all people and organizations who wish to further its conservation mission. FWCP is a partnership between BC Hydro, the Province of BC, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, First Nations and public stakeholders to conserve and enhance fish and wildlife in watersheds impacted by BC Hydro dams. The City of Courtenay is providing in kind support for this project. We are very grateful to all our project sponsors.
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Simms Park has been shown to have one of the highest numbers of juvenile trout and salmon over the summer months, demonstrating that it is a key habitat area. This area of off-channel habitat is located early in the out migration route for chinook and coho fry and smolts.
Off-channel habitat has been shown to benefit juvenile salmon growth and survival by:
- decreasing their competition for food and space
- keeping larger predators away
- providing important refuge
- being excellent nurseries – providing conditions favorable for growth, such as lower water velocity, moderated water temperature, and enhanced food availability
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The original construction of fish habitat at this site was completed in 2000 but it did not provide for optimal fish accessibility or connectivity to the Courtenay River.
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Issues with the site:
- the channel is a dead end for salmon (the pipe connecting the channel to the river is too small)
- the habitat offers little complexity
- there is inadequate food production
- the culvert is not ‘fish friendly’ (it is very long and narrow) and is too high so it only flows at very high tide levels
- in summer the water temperatures get too high and the oxygen concentrations too low
- there are too many alders – they shade out other vegetation, limit riparian diversity, and drop excessive leaves in autumn with the potential of increasing biological oxygen demand in the slow moving water
- patches of invasive plant species are established and increasing in size
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We propose to remove the current culvert and replace it with a larger ‘fish friendly’ one installed at a lower elevation. We will also install a pedestrian bridge or another culvert on the opposite side of the pond to connect it back to the river through the slough; creating a new flow through channel. This design concept has been approved by the City of Courtenay and other relevant stakeholders.
We will engage in riparian restoration as part of the project – invasive species will be removed and replaced with native species. Alders will be taken out in some areas for equipment access, and replanted with native conifers. We will add complexity to the off-channel area by deepening areas of the pond, adding rock and large woody debris and building sedge benches. Read more…
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Chum, chinook and coho will all benefit from this project through increased access to off-channel refuge and high quality rearing habitat. Trout will also benefit from habitat improvements, as they occupy similar habitats as chinook and coho.
This project will:
- allow more circulation through the site and improve water quality – decrease temperatures and increase oxygen
- lower the elevations so more habitat is wetted for longer periods of time, and more habitat will be exposed to a variety of tidal cycles
- increase the complexity of the habitat so that there will be greater forage opportunities for fish
- provide more access, connectivity, refuge and escape routes to salmon and trout from seal predation (seal predation of both juveniles and adult salmonids is a large problem in the K’ómoks Estuary)
Since the location of this project is in a high use public park with high visibility this will be a great opportunity for education, and community stewardship.
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If you would like to contribute to this project and others like this please select one of the options below. Your contribution is appreciated and will make a difference.
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