A local group that works with senior governments and First Nations to enhance fish habitat in the Squamish area last week received more than $78,000 to expand its habitat restoration work in channels adjacent to the Cheakamus River.
The Squamish River Watershed Society (SRWS) was one of five groups to have received some of the $946,000 handed out by the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program (FWCP) and announced in a statement last Thursday (April 4).
B.C. Hydro provides money to the FWCP, which is managed by the B.C. government and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, to support wildlife and habitats affected by B.C. Hydro power generation facilities, officials said in a statement.
The $78,111 provided to the SRWS will expand on work done previously as part of the Cheakamus River Floodplain Restoration Project. Habitat restoration work is to take place in the Dave Marshall Salmon Reserve. As well, in partnership with the Squamish Nation, work will take place in Moody's Channel on IR 11 upstream from the confluence of the Cheakamus and Cheekye rivers, Edith Tobe, SRWS executive director, wrote in an email to The Chief on Friday (April 5).
North Vancouver Outdoor School, which is adjacent to the Dave Marshall Salmon Reserve, is also a partner in the habitat restoration work for coho, Chinook, pink and chum salmon as well as steelhead, cutthroat and rainbow trout, Tobe said.
The original floodplain habitats have become degraded in recent years due to changed river flow, sediment accumulation, and access roads that have been constructed over the past four decades, Tobe wrote.
The FWCP has supported some $4.8 million in projects in the Lower Mainland since 1999. The FWCP's total funding for the 15 hydroelectric systems within the coastal region will be $1.6 million, with the work to take place in 2013 and '14, officials said.
