About
The Bulkley River Watershed in northwestern British Columbia is home to both culturally and economically important populations of Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon, Sockeye Salmon, and Steelhead, all of which historically supported sustenance and trading economies of the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan Nations. In addition to their cultural importance, each of these migratory salmonids are keystone species that contribute to productive ecosystems in the Bulkley by depositing marine-derived nutrients and acting as an important food source for Grizzly Bears and many other species of wildlife. For these reasons, it is critically important that freshwater connectivity is maintained and restored to allow these species to access their spawning and rearing habitat during their incredible annual migrations from the sea.
Challenge
Anadromous salmonid populations in the Bulkley River watershed have declined significantly in recent decades, leading both the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en nations to declare harvest moratoriums or fishing bans in their territories. While there are a variety of pressures that have contributed to these declines, aquatic barriers that restrict the fish from accessing their spawning and rearing habitat has been identified as one of the major causes. However, aquatic barrier remediation is both complex and costly, and understanding the relative trade-offs of different remediation options requires participation and buy-in from a variety of stakeholders and rightsholders to ensure that decisions are made using the best available information and that solutions are designed and implemented by local communities in the watershed.
Solutions
Global Conservation Solutions partnered with the Canadian Wildlife Federation to bring together a diverse team of partners to develop a Watershed Connectivity Remediation Plan (WCRP) for the Bulkley River watershed. Using the Conservation Standards planning framework, this 10-year action plan blends local stakeholder and rightsholder knowledge with innovative GIS analyses to gain a shared understanding of where remediation efforts will have the greatest benefit for Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon, Sockeye Salmon, and Steelhead. The Bulkley River WCRP planning team is comprised of 10 partner organizations, including non-profits, Indigenous Nations, and provincial and federal government agencies, each of which has contributed to identifying priority actions that will reduce the threat of aquatic barriers and restore fish passage in the watershed.
Results
The Bulkley WCRP identifies three overarching strategies – barrier remediation, barrier prevention, and strengthening Indigenous connections to land and water. Each of these strategies contains a suite of actions with an associated budget and monitoring plan to test their effectiveness toward reaching the project goals. A total of 30 aquatic barriers have been identified that, if remediated, will provide the greatest ecological return on investment for pacific salmon and Steelhead in the Bulkley. Preparations are now underway to begin this remediation work, and these collaborative efforts will continue for the next 10 years under the current plan. With the blueprint for success designed, the team has set the course for positive change for pacific salmonids and the livelihoods that they support in the Bulkley River Watershed.
Nick Lapointe
Senior Conservation Biologist, Canadian Wildlife Federation
“GCS facilitated an excellent series of workshops held with local partners in multiple watersheds, including representatives from all sectors. They also helped us to develop a watershed connectivity planning framework based on the Conservation Standards and contributed to a guide to help organizations apply this framework in other watersheds. GCS was an integral part of our team, contributing to both the creative development and delivery of the Watershed Connectivity Remediation Planning process.”
