| Abstract/Description or Keywords |
The Vernon Creek watershed (Figure 1 and Map 1) is the Community Watershed for the town of Winfield, B .C. Tolko Industries Ltd., Lavington Division ("Tolko"), holds Forest tenure on Crown Land in the watershed. As a Community Watershed, watershed assessment procedures (WAPs) are required under the Forest Practices Code ofBritish Columbia Act to be completed every three years. The original watershed assessment for Vernon Creek was completed in 1995 by the Ministry of Forests (MOF), and was followed by a series of field assessments funded by Forest Renewal B.C. (see Section 2.0 below) . In March 1999, Tolko initiated an update of the watershed assessment, to be completed in two phases: Phase 1 Office Calculations and Interim Report; Phase 2 Field Investigations and Final Report. An interim watershed assessment report was completed in March 1999 (Summit, 1999a) . It presented the WAP Watershed Report Card showing the results of office calculations, and made recommendations for follow-up field assessments . The interim results were reviewed by representatives of the District of Lake Country (the water purveyor) and the Ministries of Forests and Environment at that time. The fieldwork for Phase 2 was completed in September 1999. Following the fieldwork the Watershed Report Card was updated following the most recent guidebook that was released in April 1999 (MOF, 1999). This document is the final IWAP report and presents the results ofboth the office and field investigations. The report also includes an assessment of potential hydrologic risks from forest development proposed for 2000-2005. The general objective of the watershed assessment procedure (WAP) is to identify and evaluate hydrologic risks of forest development, and to provide guidance on avoiding or minimizing risks to water quality and aquatic habitat. Specific objectives are to: 1) Assemble and review all existing information regarding the watershed; 2) Calculate nine watershed indicators of potential hydrologic effects of forest development, and present the results in a Watershed Report Card; 3) Complete reconnaissance-level field inspections of the stream channel and sediment sources; 4) Ifwarranted, revise the watershed indicators based on the field observations; 5) Assess risks to water quality and aquatic habitat from proposed forest development; 6) Provide recommendations to reduce or eliminate the risk. watershed assessment |
