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Following construction of the John Hart dam on the upper Campbell River in 1953, natural recruitment of spawning substrates in the Elk Falls Canyon and the lower river was significantly reduced, leading to gravel poor habitat in those reaches. Increasing spawning habitat and egg to fry survival for the remnant population steelhead and Chinook are important steps in the recovery of these stocks in the Campbell River watershed.
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Author: J. Damborg
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Old Reference Number: COA-F17-F-1218
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Old Reference System: FWCP Fish Wildlife Compensation Program - Coastal
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Date Published: Mar 2017
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Report ID: 52763
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Audience: Government and Public
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Following construction of the John Hart dam on the upper Campbell River in 1953, natural recruitment of spawning substrates in the Elk Falls Canyon and the lower river was significantly reduced, leading to gravel poor habitat in those reaches. Increasing spawning habitat and egg to fry survival for the remnant population steelhead and Chinook are important steps in the recovery of these stocks in the Campbell River watershed.
Completed in March 2016 funded through FWCP, RFCPP, CRSF and Living Rivers, a gravel delivery system was built in Elk Falls Provincial Park to deliver washed spawning gravel into the first pool tail-out, below Elk Falls. The infrastructure, as built, allows for approximately 0.5 m3 of spawning gravel to be dumped at a time using an overhead skyline spanning the canyon. A gravel staging area was selected, located adjacent to the existing footbridge that crosses the wood stave penstocks on BC Hydro property, and accessible using tandem axle gravel trucks. Tracked skidsteers (aka Bobcats) were used to transport the gravel from the staging area through the park, using both existing pedestrian and new trails, to the skyline and bucket. The skyline bucket is loaded directly by the skidsteer and then lowered out over the canyon and released.
Between August 8, and 12, 2016 approximately 200 m3 of graded and washed spawning gravel was delivered into the Elk Falls Canyon, the largest single gravel project at this site since construction of the John Hart Dam in 1952. Costs per unit to deliver the gravel was approximately 60% less than the previously used helicopter method. The gravel pad produced was used by dozens of adult Chinook, Pink, Chum and Coho salmon in the fall of 2016.
This project addressed directly two items in the 2011 FWCP Salmonid Action Plan: Continue augmentation of gravels in Elk Falls Canyon (Priority 1), and Maintenance and monitoring of existing gravel pads in Elk Falls canyon and the lower Campbell River (Priority 1). The primary target species for this project is Chinook and Steelhead, both cited in FWCP 2011 as the highest priority species in the Lower Campbell
Total cost of this project was about $68,000 and was funded largely by the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program (FWCP).
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Report Type
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Fish and Aquatic Habitat Information |
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Subject
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Fish Species - Chinook Salmon - Oncorhynchus tshawytscha |
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Fish Species - Steelhead - Oncorhynchus mykiss |
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Region - Vancouver Island |
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Fish and Fish Habitat - Restoration |
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