Federal government officials this week announced almost $120,000 in funding to carry out habitat restoration work in a pair of local streams.
Fisheries Minister Gail Shea and local MP John Weston announced on Tuesday (Sept. 24) that $118,804 would go toward enhancing habitat for Chinook, chum, coho and pink salmon, as well as steelhead and cutthroat trout in tributaries of the Cheakamus and Mamquam rivers.
The funding announced today through the Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnerships Program will help the Squamish River Watershed Society restore coho salmon habitat in Tiampo Channel, a groundwater-fed side channel of the Mamquam River, and will help the Pacific Salmon Foundation improve spawning and rearing opportunities for multiple species of fish within Evans Creek, part of the Cheakamus River, Weston said in a statement.
The project will address negative impacts to the river caused by diking and construction of the Daisy Lake Dam that reduced habitat for spawning salmon, officials said. The grant will provide almost half of the project's total budget of $241,375, and will pay for a new water supply system for protected channels that will serve as prime spawning habitat.
