Awarded to the BC Wildlife Federation to enhance watershed health in the upper Columbia Valley at a tributary of the Kootenay River by increasing hydrologic resiliency and reconnecting the floodplain.
PROPONENT: BC Wildlife Federation
BC Wildlife Federation Photo
DESCRIPTION: Watersheds in the East Kootenays, like many across the world, face increasing threats to their health and resilience, including extreme floods, droughts and fires. Climate projections suggest an increase in the magnitude and the timing of extreme flows, which makes it imperative to enhance watershed resilience. The Kootenay River watershed, including the project site, has also been impacted by forestry operations, road construction, loss of beaver, recreation, mining, and river modifications. The primary goal of this project is to improve the hydrologic resilience of a historic beaver wetland by using low-tech beaver dam analogues (BDAs). Specifically, this project will rehabilitate a heavily logged site by promoting the formation of pools and side channels to increase habitat complexity and support the reintroduction of beavers. BDAs will be constructed within the project site to initiate pooling and increase water residence time.
OBJECTIVE: Specific objectives are to:
1) Construct a minimum of 8 BDAs restoring a minimum of 500 m of stream and 16,000 m2 of floodplain (determined from inundation modeling conducted in 2024);
2) Plant willow and cottonwood live stakes along the floodplain to accelerate vegetation establishment and act as a food source for beavers;
3) Conduct effectiveness monitoring of the project, focusing on assessing structure integrity and maintenance needs, upstream and downstream hydrology through staff gauges and groundwater wells and survivability of live stakes; and
4) Potential future actions include translocating beavers to the project site to maintain and enhance instream structures.
