fish habitat

Heart Creek Bridge Nearing Completion

/ Peter Klopp / 1 Comment

Excerpt from the Arrow Lakes News

Reprinted with their Kind Permission

Illustrated by my own Photos
Insurmountable Barrier for Spawning Fish 2014

Insurmountable Barrier for Spawning Fish 2014

In a previous issue of Arrow Lakes News, it was stated that the collapse of the highway was not a technical issue.

“This is a Mother Nature issue, not a maintenance issue,” said Bart Chenuz, area manager for roads with the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.

Repairs couldn’t begin until ground had stopped moving. A geological technician had been keeping track of the site. As of March 1, the ground had stopped moving, and work could begin.

Construction on the bridge began in mid-July after the contract to build it was awarded to the company Neel-co in May of 2015.

Part of the reason the bridge is being worked on is because there was a barrier for fish spawning in the river. The barrier was the fact that the fish couldn’t access the upper part of the Creek. The increased length allowed Kokanee to spawn upstream of Highway 6 this year for the first time in 45 years.

Bridge Replacing the Culvert almost Complete

Bridge Replacing the Culvert almost Complete

Once completed, fish such as Kokanee, Rainbow Trout and Bull Trout will have better access to the lower part of the stream.  The new clear span bridge will enable the habitat of the fish to be doubled.

Heavy Duty Machines October 2015

Heavy Duty Machines October 2015

The bridge is 18 metres long and almost 11 metres wide. It will feature steel H-piles with reinforced concrete abutments. H-Piles are dimensionally square structural beams that are driven in the ground for deep foundation applications.

The pilings are imbedded 23 metres into the ground. The bridge deck will be constructed of concrete with steel railings.

Precautions to protect the bridge have been taken if the road ever washes out again. The creek channel has been reinforced with rock in order to contain it within the existing channel.

Construction is scheduled to wrap up around mid-November.

One Lane Traffic until Completion of Project

One-Lane Traffic until Completion of Project

Heart Creek Culvert in Fauquier Soon to be Replaced by a Bridge

/ Peter Klopp / 1 Comment

Fish Enhancement Project on Heart Creek in Fauquier Gets Go-ahead

by Jan McMurray

Reprinted with kind permission by http://www.valleyvoice.ca

A project to eliminate a fish barrier at the mouth of Heart Creek in Fauquier is a go for this year. A large culvert will he replaced with a bridge, hopefully by the end of October.

Photo of Heart Creek Culvert on Highway 6 by Peter Klopp

Photo of Heart Creek Culvert on Highway 6 by Peter Klopp

“The fish want to go up that stream to spawn, but that culvert must be a six-foot jump,” said Hank Scown, president of the Nakusp Rod and Gun Club. “It’s an impossible height for those fish to leap up and get into the culvert.”

The Ministry of Transportation has partnered with the Nakusp Rod and Gun Club, the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans through its Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnership Program, to fund the project.

Scown says there are kokanee, Rainbow trout, and probably Dolly Varden that will spawn in Heart Creek once the culvert is replaced. “Every fish that spawns means potentially many fertilized eggs and more fish that enter the Arrow Lakes,” he said.

Phase two of the project, which Scown says will happen in the “not too distant future,” will see the removal of a second culvert further upstream, opening up an additional 1.2 kilometres of stream habitat for fish.’s

Scown says that if this project proves to be beneficial to fish, “perhaps other systems along the Arrow can be assisted in a similar way. If a creek can naturally produce fish, we should be allowing that to happen.”

He points out that human beings like to manage nature, but it’s been shown over and over that we can’t. “All spawning channels have proven that,” he said. “When things go bad, all your eggs are in one basket.”

Scown said the Nakusp Rod and Gun Club has been wanting to do something about the fish barriers on Heart Creek for a long time. He believes the culverts were installed back in the late 1960’s, when the highway was realigned to accommodate the flooding of the Arrow Lakes and the construction of the High Arrow Dam at Castlegar.

Let us hope that the Fish Enhancement Project will become reality at the Heart Creek in Fauquier, BC.