Description:
The Columbia Wetlands Stewardship Partners (CWSP) have been monitoring the water levels, vegetation, waterbirds and water quality of the Columbia Wetlands – little knowledge was available on the hydrology and ecology prior to the Kootenay Connect project. They found that individual floodplain wetlands can be categorized hydrologically based on their connection to the flood pulse of the Columbia River as Most, Partially, and Least Connected. Across the whole ~18,000 ha Columbia Wetlands floodplain, 74% of wetlands are in the Most Connected group, while only 26% are Partially or Least Connected wetlands. This means that most of the wetlands drain out over the winter when the water levels of the Columbia River fall. Beaver dams are important for retaining water in the wetlands over winter and early spring before the spring melt in May and June, and in 20222, CWSP began looking at using Beaver Dam Analogues (BDAs) as a restoration technique to restore selected wetlands, where natural beaver dams had blown out or been removed by humans, in order to increase the amount of Partially Connected wetlands within the floodplain.

Keywords: wetlands; riparian; birds; beaver; hydrology; climate change

Authors:

Organization: Columbia Wetlands Stewardship Partners

Category: Hydrologically Vulnerable Wetlands

Focal Area: Columbia Wetlands

Resource Type: Report

Year: 2026