GMSMON-17 WILLISTON RESERVOIR TRIBUTARY - BC Hydro

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May 22, 2012 Report No. 1114920016-R-Rev0-2000 22 GMSMON-17 WILLISTON RESERVOIR TRIBUTARY HABITAT REVIEW current at several sites) and many potential sites were not feasible to sample because of practical or safety constraints. Access to sample sites with electrofishing and block net equipment (by boat and hiking) was also labour and time intensive, which limited the number of sites that could be sampled. For these reasons, we recommend that alternative methods be considered for the juvenile and small-bodied fish population survey component of this monitoring program. One suggested alternative is a mark-resight program to estimate juvenile fish abundance. Minnow traps would be used to capture juvenile and small fish, which would be marked with hook and yarn markers and released at the capture site. A night-time snorkel survey would be conducted to enumerate the number of marked and unmarked fish at the sample sites. Fluorescent lights can be used during snorkel surveys to help observe fluorescent dye VIE tags. A population estimate would be generated based on the number of marked and unmarked fish observed. Similar mark-resight programs have been used in other locations to estimate the abundance of small and juvenile fish in small streams (Bonneau, Thurow, and Scarnechhia, 1995) and for other BC Hydro studies (Decker, Mcnair and Lewis, 2010). Surveys would be conducted at index sites that would be re-sampled each study year. These methods offer several advantages over closed-cell electrofishing depletion surveys, including potentially more accurate population estimates (Decker, Mcnair and Lewis, 2010) and less time and effort for transporting and installing block nets. 4.2 Amphibians Very few amphibians were observed or heard during the three sampling surveys. In addition, little off-channel habitat was present at any of the four streams. Most of the habitat that was observed turned out to be ephemeral in nature and may not have supported appropriate conditions for amphibian breeding or rearing. Suitable habitat is present within the zone of inundation (wet mud flats) at all the stream mouths, evidence of breeding observed in this area included long-toed salamander eggs at Six Mile Creek and numerous juvenile western toad at the mouth of Factor Ross. 4.3 Birds As the abundance and diversity of migratory birds is invariably linked to numerous factors throughout their range, it is anticipated that linking changes in the diversity or abundance of birds in riparian areas to proposed enhancement works will be difficult and likely not possible. As such, it is recommended that songbird monitoring be suspended and that efforts be reallocated to fish monitoring where the designed enhancement is most likely to yield a change. 4.4 Vegetation The key management question relating to the riparian vegetation section of the Tributary Habitat Review monitoring program is: does riparian vegetation along tributaries increase in abundance and diversity as a result of enhancement? The primary sampling objective of the riparian vegetation task is to address the management question posed above by collecting data necessary to draw inferences and to test the following null hypothesis:
May 22, 2012 Report No. 1114920016-R-Rev0-2000 23 GMSMON-17 WILLISTON RESERVOIR TRIBUTARY HABITAT REVIEW Ho: Riparian vegetation abundance and diversity in and near tributaries does not change following enhancement to tributaries. This management question is difficult to answer without clearly defined locations for enhancement works on each of the treatment tributaries. As such, in consultation with BC Hydro, it is recommended to suspend the vegetation portion of the Williston project until enhancement works can be more clearly defined. Once locations are chosen and enhancement works progress, an example monitoring program could include vegetation monitoring plots that may be established adjacent to the enhancement works to more clearly determine if enhancement works are changing abundance and diversity of riparian vegetation. 5.0 RECOMMENDATIONS Lessons learned during the 2011 field season and a refinement in the scope of the study in consultation with BC Hydro has led us to the following recommendations. Stream enhancement designs have been reviewed and study plans adjusted accordingly (Kerr Wood Leidal, 2011). � Installation of satellite enabled water temperature data loggers in each stream is recommended in order to inform field program scheduling and provide long-term temperature data to further inform the monitoring program. An inference of the water level may be made from temperature information assuming that low temperatures (at or near 0°C) correspond with snow melt and high water levels. Our experience during the first year of the study was that high water levels and cold temperatures, during anomalous spring weather, may have contributed to low fish capture and no spawning observations. Adjustments to the field scheduling (i.e., later in the season) may have yielded better results and may have been forecast with this type of system. � � � Suspend vegetation sampling from the field program and reallocate effort into fish sampling/monitoring. As the proposed enhancement works at the stream outlet are unlikely to result in a measurable change to riparian vegetation composition at upstream locations, it is recommended that this component of the study be postponed until the year of treatment. Additionally, a severe blow-down event (assumed to have occurred during the winter of 2011) at the southern study sites will be an important contributing factor to changes in vegetation composition over time and will likely mask any measurable impacts from enhancement works, should they occur. Once a treatment design has been selected, a monitoring program tailored to the enhancement work can be implemented. Should the proposed enhancement design require removal of vegetated berms, deltas, or the like, there could have been effects to vegetation and terrestrial habitat worth assessing in GMSMON17. As the Water Use Planning Committee did not know what works would be needed to improve the tributary access at the time of issuing the Terms of Reference, songbird habitat monitoring was included in the monitoring program. Now that an implementation design has been selected that does not require a measurable change to songbird habitat, the recommendation is that H6 has been answered and does not need further study. Modify the fish inventory program to a mark re-sight method. As the density of fish in the streams over the first year of data was too low for a meaningful estimation of population via the depletion survey method, it is recommended that a fish marking, followed by snorkel survey method be adopted. Fish would be captured via minnow traps set in ideal habitats along the lower reaches of each stream, captured fish greater than
Page 1 and 2: Peace Project Water Use Plan Willis
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GMSMON-17 WILLISTON RESERVOIR TRIBUTARY - BC Hydro

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