Coastal Cutthroat Trout as Sentinels of Lower Mainland Watershed ...

74Management Strategy 3: Recovery of Extirpated Cutthroat StocksOf a total of 657 known salmonid streams located from Stave River to West Vancouver,120 of these have been lost (i.e., in-filled, culverted and/or paved over) during the past100 years of land settlement and urbanization (Precision Identification BiologicalConsultants 1997). Many were significant anadromous cutthroat producers which havebeen reduced to mere remnants such as Como Creek in the municipality of Coquitlam.Other urban streams remain, but have been degraded with fish access blocked throughpoor culvert installations, and cutthroat trout have been extirpated or partially extirpated,(e.g., extirpation of cutthroat upstream of Brunette Avenue at Nelson Creek in themunicipality of Coquitlam).Although challenging, stocks of sea-run cutthroat and access to their habitats can berecovered in many of these streams through restoration, contingent upon a strategy basedon public education, public stewardship and municipal involvement that results in:• pollution abatement;• re-establishment of native cutthroat by re-stocking juveniles from downstreamreaches or unfed fry cultured from suitable local stocks;• removal of culvert barriers by baffles, fishways and culvert replacements; and• establishment of stewardship groups to monitor conditions.As soon as possible, an assessment and inventory of extirpated cutthroat streams andstream reaches needs to be completed for the Lower Mainland Region. One or twoextirpated systems should be treated as pilots or demonstration projects to garner publicinterest and advance the concept of cutthroat trout as sentinels of watershed health. Inaddition, an effort should be made to gain cooperative municipal involvement in therecovery project. Where feasible and with sufficient public support, sufficient momentummay be attained to “daylight” small sections or reaches of streams that have been lost forseveral decades. Strong public interest and support will be the major spin-off of thismanagement strategy.Management Strategy 4: Cutthroat Nursery Habitat RestorationHabitat restoration may be required if natural processes have been degraded by excessiveflow withdrawals, obstructions, isolation of off-channel habitats, curtailed supplies ofsalmon carcasses, and lost or simplified cutthroat summer rearing and over-winteringhabitats. Restoration of spawning sites at pool tail-outs is rarely required. A watershedrestoration strategy of “best first and worst (most degraded) last” should be a guidingtheme with cutthroat trout, using benchmark abundances. Early in the planning stages, itmust be recognized that some of the more highly degraded urban streams with severelycompromised watershed processes cannot be restored (S. Barrett pers. comm. 2005).Finally, it should be noted that regulatory approvals are required to undertake instreamand off-channel restoration, with binding letters of approval required by regulatoryagencies. Documented land holder support is required as a condition of regulatoryapprovals.