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Location: Thompson, Salmon River Watershed Project Summary
SUMMARY The project will complete an assessment of over 400 streambank restoration works undertaken since 1992 by the SRWR and its partners in the Salmon River Watershed using site by site before and after comparisons including photo documentation and changes in stream health at each site indicated by scores on structural integrity, hydraulic function, riparian vegetation regeneration, fish habitat features, landowner perception polls and a summary watershed scale GPS database and map series to document improvement. DESCRIPTION The project will complete a series of ongoing site assessments for over 400 streambank restoration projects undertaken by the SRWR and its partners since 1992 to provide a summary of project effectiveness. The goals of completing this assessment were set by the SRWR Executive during the 2009 annual workplanning session. The rationale for setting this goal was to enable completion of a review and effectiveness assessment for presentation by the 20th anniversary of the SRWR in 2013. The product will help the SRWR Executive track progress and effectiveness toward long term fish, fish habitat and other watershed sustainability goals set in 1995 under the CCME ecosystems objectives watershed planning process. Goal 5 A Healthy includes an objective riparian health, which has been pursued by the SRWR through many partnerships including First Nations, landowners, agricultural producers, citizens, students, government and non government agencies and industry. The project will also document the value and outcome of the invested effort to date, which has been substantial and is worthy of assessment. Identifying value in the incremental efforts of many thousands of cooperating individuals from a diverse background of interests acting to address a common concern is the key issue that the project addresses. Thousands of individuals have worked on this project. Those who have been consistently involved over its duration have seen first hand how the partnership and habitat improvements from the site by site restoration approach over 18 years has gained momentum resulting in measurable watershed scale change. The key issue is how to encapsulate the SRWR story and pass the message to others about this watershed scale success. This project does so by assessing each site individually using site condition and landowner perception scoring criteria, supported by individual site photo sets and an overview watershed scale map series to demonstrate the progress to date in restoring streambank and instream and riparian integrity to a river system from a watershed perspective, in a form that can be easily communicated to others. OBJECTIVES
METHODS The proposed 2011 project will apply the same site inventory method developed during the 2010 monitoring project for all remaining sites. Over 400 sites have now been identified and named to the database from file archive searches. These will all be assessed under the 2011-12 project. The method for doing so will consist of completing the extensive information search now partially completed of paper, slide cellulose slide and digital photosets (over 8000 photos) as well as electronic, file and field book notes describing site construction and monitoring observations over the past 18 years to complete the e database. Information gaps will be identified as a result of organizing this photo and field database which will guide and focus field activities in 2012 toward collecting missing information efficiently (such as recent site photos or recent field assessment scores). Field activities in 2012 will include completion of site field assessments to evaluate the condition and features indicating site success at each site relevant so site scoring can be competed. Sites will be organized by age, bioengineering techniques used and score. Other more specific multiple parameter database searches will be possible in the future from the database to further analyze performance and effectiveness. The Method used to evaluate site feature for site scoring is a summary form showing pretreatment and post treatment conditions for each restoration prescription undertaken including calculation of a site condition score based on key habitat features indicating the value and quality of fish habitat, riparian re-vegetation, structural integrity of streambanks and hydraulic function of streambank/instream features (such as root wad spurs , tree revetments plantings). A series of site photos showing progressive change at restoration sites and a series of high resolution air-photo maps showing each site prior to restoration and following restoration through progressive regeneration stages to present time will be assembled using the geo-referenced database. A series of opinion poll results from landowners and other non-landowners and a summary of evidence of human perception and education changes that are evident since the project began will be undertaken and reported on by discussion and interview. A summary spreadsheet of all sites restored organized by age class and condition and a watershed scale GIS data base and map showing full inventory of sites completed to 2012 will be developed by adding 1995 site conditions and restoration site location identification information to a series of high resolution digital air photos in a series of sheets 9see attached example) that cover portions of the river on each sheet. BENEFITS The actual restoration work undertaken on the Salmon River (400+sites) has measurably improved riparian health along the River. This result is powerful d because it also demonstrates that a positive change is visible and measurable at a site by site level and at a landscape overview level. The possibility that individual actions can add up incrementally to trigger a more healthy riparian system is a very valuable product for local communities both in terms of the habitat value gained due to the successful restoration effort and as a tool of persuasion to foster improved human perceptions and practices recognizing the value of fish and fish habitat. At a watershed level this project will generate a product that will help guide future practices within this watershed. Perhaps the more valuable take home message, which is transferable to other watersheds, is that combining an ethic, some guiding principles, goal setting and cooperative, incremental effort by many to achieve of the goal is a method that can work to help restore salmon habitat and ecosystem health.
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