Water Stewardship Information Sources
| Citation | McCulloch, MP. 2005. Construction of artificial fish habitat in the Englishman River, 2004. Prepared for Ministry of Transportation, Pacific Salmon Foundation and Ministry of Environment. |
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| Organization | Ministry of Environment |
| URL | http://www.bccf.com/steelhead/pdf/englishman_river_instream_construction_2004.pdf |
| Abstract/Description or Keywords | The Englishman River is one of the most important salmon bearing streams on the central east coast of Vancouver Island. The watershed supports all five species of anadromous salmon as well as resident rainbow and cutthroat trout. In 2000, the BC government designated the Englishman as a sensitive stream under the Fish Protection Act. Also in 2000, the watershed became part of the United Nations designated Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Reserve (Jamieson 2000). The Outdoor Recreation Counsel of British Columbia has identified the Englishman as one of the most threatened watersheds in BC (ORC 2002). The Englishman River was the first watershed to be selected by the Pacific Salmon Endowment Fund Society for attention in the Georgia Basin salmon recovery process for coho and steelhead trout. The vision of the Pacific Salmon Endowment Fund (PSEF) is to achieve healthy, sustainable and naturally diverse Pacific salmon stocks through the development of recovery plans for specific watersheds. The Pacific Salmon Foundation manages the annual proceeds of the PSEF, and now administers seven watershed recovery plans in BC. The Englishman River Watershed Recovery Plan (ERWRP; Bocking and Gaboury 2001) was developed to identify and prioritize activities required to achieve recovery goals for the watershed and its fish stocks. Several other reports including an Overview Assessment of Fish and Fish Habitat in the Englishman River Watershed (Lough and Morley 2002) and the Englishman River Channel Condition Assessment (nhc 2002) have been developed to complement the original plan and facilitate recovery activities. Significant off channel development has taken place in the Englishman River watershed, with the creation of the TimberWest and Weyerhaeuser side channels. These channels extend for 1,300 and 950 m respectively (8% of watershed anadromous length) and account for 15-25% of coho smolt production in the watershed (Decker et al. 2002). Historically, restoration works in the mainstem Englishman River have been minimal. Recent work completed through ERWRP include several “debris catcher” structures designed to protect the Weyerhaeuser side channel and intake while creating lateral scour pools (built in 2002), 14 instream LWD and boulder riffle sites (McCulloch 2003) and a series of rock groins completed in 2003 and bolstered in 2004 to control bank erosion and create fish habitat in the lower Englishman River. |
| Information Type | report |
| Regional Watershed | Vancouver Island South |
| Sub-watershed if known | Englishman River |
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| Project status | complete |
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