Water Stewardship Information Sources

Citation Clough, D. 2013. Englishman River Habitat Status Report. Report prepared for Mid Vancouver Island Habitat Enhancement Society.
Organization MVIHES
URL http://www.rdn.bc.ca/dms/documents/dwwp-reports/englishman-river-water-region/englishman_river_habitat_status_report_2013.pdf
Abstract/Description or Keywords The Englishman River Watershed Recovery Plan (ERWRP) is guided by a Community Steering Committee.
The Steering Committee is attended by members of all levels of government, conservation groups, private
consultants and forest companies as well as occasional guests. The Mid Vancouver Island Habitat
Enhancement Society (MVIHES) has chaired the meetings since the Recovery Plan’s inception in 2001.
MVIHES also undertakes information, education and community stewardship activities involving restoration
and monitoring in the watershed.
With massive numbers of reports, restoration plans and actions, stock assessment reports, inventories,
groundwater mapping, water quality monitoring, education and awareness etc. that have focused on the
Englishman River both before and after the Recovery Plan was initiated, MVIHES felt that a Habitat Status
Report was apropos. It was time to see how the river is doing today. A further objective of this report was to
identify habitat indicators of a healthy watershed from the reference material that can generate volunteer
projects such as monitoring programs and restoration activities for the stewardship community - the
community that will care for and protect, as much as possible, its own watershed.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada has developed the framework as part of its staged implementation of the
Wild Salmon Policy (WSP). Work under the WSP started with the identification, in BC, of functionally distinct
groups of salmon, these are called Conservation Units. The salmon populations of the Englishman River
are part of larger Conservation Units for chinook, coho, pink, chum and river sockeye. Strategy 2 of the
WSP informs the assessment of habitat status, which considers the habitat required for each life stage of
each species of salmon and has the significant effects of habitat alteration weighed against its life stages
(spawner, egg, alevin, summer fry, winter fry, smolt, marine coastal, marine offshore, returning adult).
Through the examination of the watershed habitat characteristics and their status, high value habitats can
be identified for protection and potential limiting factors to production can be identified for further
investigation and restoration. This Habitat Status strategy is to allow habitat managers to understand at the
larger CU level as well as the provincial level what are the significant limiting factors of B.C. streams and
how they measure up among themselves in health. The reporting of habitat status should also identify the
habitat indicators appropriate for monitoring in this watershed to provide baseline information for the
stewards to measure the success or failure of their endeavors to keep the watershed healthy and resilient
over time.
The reaches of the Englishman River Mainstem and the salmon bearing tributaries, Shelly Creek, Morison
Creek, South Englishman and Centre Creek plus the Estuary are described following the template
prescribed by Fisheries and Oceans. The descriptions include general habitat conditions, high value
habitats, limiting factors and restoration activities completed.
The Englishman River Watershed is well described as a result of initial baseline inventories of Fish Habitat,
River Morphology and Watershed Assessments which were funded by the Pacific Salmon Endowment
Fund Society, the initiators of the Recovery Plan, in 2001. Many activities have evolved from that start -
other assessments, management plans, monitoring, information and awareness and restoration activities.
Along with many partners, the Englishman River Watershed Recovery Plan (ERWRP) achieved much in the
5 years of its existence. It carries on today thanks to the commitment of the members of the Steering
Committee.
Information Type Report
Regional Watershed Vancouver Island South
Sub-watershed if known
Aquifer #
Comments
Project status complete
Contact Name David Clough
Contact Email [email protected]