| Abstract/Description or Keywords |
The objective of this study was to estimate the impacts of climate change on Mission Creek kokanee salmon and rainbow trout. Mission Creek supplies about one-third of all of the water that reaches Okanagan Lake each year. The creek is a designated community watershed supplying drinking water to the city of Kelowna. There are 154 water withdrawal licenses on the creek, accounting for as much as one-third of the total flow during a dry year. Mission Creek contains a variety of fish species, including kokanee, rainbow trout, redside shiners and longnose dace. Okanagan Lake kokanee have seen considerable decline in recent decades, and in Mission Creek, spawners have declined from over 350,000 in 1971 to about 13,650 in 2003. Ongoing concern over decreasing kokanee salmon populations has led to the Okanagan Lake Action Plan, aimed at restoring kokanee populations in Okanagan Lake. This Action Plan is considered to be a long-term strategy for lake restoration. For this Action Plan to be effective, it must consider the impacts of natural climate cycle and anthropogenic climate change. Without these considerations, any restoration works are likely to be effective only in the short term at best. stream temperature, climate change, water quality |
