Historical harvesting practices were not designed to protect streams or fisheries resources, and as a result, have negatively impacted riparian ecosystems and stream function. Many streams in the area have reduced fish access, poor water quality and altered hydrological function and this habitat degradation has led to a decline in salmonid populations.
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- Debris jam on Lost Shoe Creek, before stream restoration
In recent years, considerable efforts have been made to develop policies and regulations in British Columbia that protect riparian habitat, and considerable efforts have also been made, on the part of CWFS and the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, to rehabilitate damaged streams and riparian ecosystems.
Central Westcoast Forest Society, together with Parks Canada, is working with various interested parties to repair this damage so that salmon can once again flourish in these streams.
The benefits of watershed restoration include (but are not limited to): environmental rehabilitation, fostering a sense of ownership and stewardship, creating local partnerships, educational opportunities, recreational infrastructure (fishing, picnic areas, hiking trails, increased eco-tourism), contributing to economic diversification and development, generating local ability (project management and labour), employment training and local economic spin-offs
For more information on the Restoration Plan: Kennedy Flats Restoration Plan
For more information on watershed restoration: Restoration approach pdf.
For information on current forestry practices in BC: http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/code/
For information on the Scientific Panel for Sustainable Forest Practices in Clayoquot Sound: http://www.cortex.org/Rep5c1-2.pdf
Current Restoration Projects
- Project Name: Kennedy Flats Spring Clean-Up
- Project Partners: Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, Iisaak Forest Resources Ltd., and Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District
Historical timber harvesting introduced an extensive network of roads, covering over 253 km in this watershed. Scattered throughout this road network are numerous illegal dumping sites. Illegally dumped items often include, household garbage, business trash, construction and demolition materials, appliances, furniture, tires, landscaping and yard watste, and chemical waste. This material can have a serious effects on the environment, wildlife habitat and the ability of others to use and enjoy outdoor recreational areas.
CWFS will be removing garbage from riparian areas and road ways in the Kennedy Flats Watershed with funding provided by the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District. Signs discouraging dumping, marking fish bearing streams, and social media networking will be used to discourage future dumping in the watershed.
Past Restoration Projects
- Project Name: Lost Shoe Creek (LS2A) Restoration Project, 2012
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Project Partners: Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ First Nation, Pacific Rim National Park Reserve
The Kennedy Flats Watershed is the area of land adjacent to Long Beach in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. The watershed historically supported healthy populations of coho, chum, Chinook, pink, and sockeye salmon, as well as steelhead, cutthroat trout, and rainbow trout. Between 1950 and 1980 much of the Kennedy Flats Watershed was logged. Historic logging practices significantly altered the hydrological function and ecological capacity of many important fish bearing streams within the watershed.
Lost Shoe Creek is a subunit of the larger Kennedy Flats Watershed. It is a shallow gradient stream system that flows through an old glacial outwash plain in a westerly direction into the North end of Florencia Bay, exiting into the Pacific Ocean. Historically, this creek offered important spawning and rearing habitat for juvenile salmon. In the late 1960s the riparian forest surrounding Lost Shoe Creek was logged. Slash fires were used to burn stumps; limbs and any other non-merchantable waste wood were bulldozed into the stream. The logging debris restricted water flow and reduced Lost Shoe Creek’s natural ability to scour pools and riffles, flush sediment or transport leaf litter downstream. Overtime water quality degraded and the debris jams became impermeable fish barriers, restricting fish access to upstream rearing habitat.
In 2012, Parks Canada and Central Westcoast Forest Society will team up to help rehabilitate and reconnect this important salmon habitat.
- Project Name: Coho Creek Restoration Project, 2011
- Project Partners: Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ First Nation, Pacific Rim National Park Reserve
Coho Creek was identified by the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation as a culturally and ecologically significant stream that had been significantly damaged by historic timber harvsting activities and World War II era settlements.
In 2011, Parks Canada and Central Westcoast Forest Society teamed up to help rehabilitate and reconnect this important salmon habitat.
- Project Name: Lost Shoe Creek (LS2A) Restoration Project, 2011
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Project Partners: Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ First Nation, Pacific Rim National Park Reserve
The Kennedy Flats Watershed is the area of land adjacent to Long Beach in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. The watershed historically supported healthy populations of coho, chum, Chinook, pink, and sockeye salmon, as well as steelhead, cutthroat trout and rainbow trout. Between 1950 and 1980 much of the Kennedy Flats Watershed was logged. Historic logging practices significantly altered the hydrological function and ecological capacity of many important fish bearing streams within the watershed.
LS2A (also known as Swan Creek), is a tributary of Lost Shoe Creek in the Kennedy Flats Watershed. Historically this small stream offered important spawning and rearing habitat for juvenile salmon. In the late 1960s the riparian forest surrounding Swan Creek was logged. Slash fires were used to burn stumps, limbs and any other non-merchantable waste wood were bulldozed into the stream. The logging debris restricted water flow and reduced the Swan Creek’s natural ability to sour pools and riffles, flush sediment or transport leaf litter downstream. Overtime water quality degraded and the debris jams became impermeable fish barriers, restricting fish access to upstream rearing habitat. In 2008 and 2009, fish sampling in Swan Creek confirmed a zero fish count. A healthy stream that could once support diverse salmon population was now inhabitable and non-accessible.
Stream restoration crew from 2001
Final Reports
Restoration Techniques
In-Stream Restoration
Up until the late 1980s, dams, logging, and salvage logging for shake and shingle products negatively impacted ecosystems, choking many streams with logging waste, blocking fish passage.
During in-stream restoration the excess small wood debris is removed from the creek so water flows freely and fish have access to all reaches of the creek from the mouth of the river to the spawning and rearing areas.
Spawning and rearing habitat is created by strategically placing gravel and large woody debris (root wads and logs) to mimic natural patterns.
Removing wood debris jams allows the stream to re-develop a natural flow pattern, which, in turn, improves the condition of the forest around the stream; reducing flooding, erosion, and promoting healthy vibrant growth on stream-side banks.
Click here to see an illustrated step-by step description of this process.
Riparian Restoration
With former forestry practices, many riparian (stream-side) areas were logged. But most streams need large conifer trees to meet the requirements for fish habitat, stream health, and stream stability. Many riparian areas that were harvested have only new growth and do not function properly. Although it can take hundreds of years for a forest to acquire old-growth characteristics, there are silviculture techniques to speed the process including spacing, thinning, fertilizing, planting, and girdling.
A healthy riparian zone, with healthy coniferous trees, shades the stream helping to regulate stream temperature. Coniferous trees stabilize the stream bank and as they mature and fall over, the trees provide cover for fish and wildlife.
Biodiversity work to create habitat in the riparian area is also important including topping of conifers to create snags, creating dead and dying trees, opening the forest area to create gaps, and modifying trees.
For more detailed information on riparian restoration download: RVT Template
For further information read the following reports:
- Riparian Silviculture: An Annotated Bibilography for Practioners of Riparian Restoration
- Riparian Restoration in BC: What's Happening Now, What's Needed for the Future
Up-Slope Restoration
Watershed restoration starts at the top, on the hillsides. Non-utilized roads and bridges pose an environmental risk (possible failure, slumping, or complete landslide). So the roads and bridges are removed and the hillside returned to a natural state.
Landslide areas are also restored through bio-engineering techniques to prevent soil and other matter from sliding down into the fish creeks below. Bio-engineering is basically the use of live willow cuttings to build temporary living retaining walls as a stabilizer until indigenous plants take hold.
For more information on bio-engineering download: