Events Calendar
Skeena Salmon Habitat Conference
Date: September 15, 2009 to September 16, 2009
Location: Smithers, BC
Venue: Hudson Bay Lodge
Sponsored by: SkeenaWild Conservation Trust; Babine River Foundation; Driftwood Foundation
Skeena Salmon Habitat Workshop
On December 3, 2009, the Bulkley Valley Research Centre hosted the Skeena Salmon Habitat Workshop. This Workshop was a follow-up event to the Skeena Salmon Habitat Conference and brought together a diverse group of people with differing ideas about how to proceed from the conference.
Skeena Salmon Habitat Workshop
Bulkley Valley Research Centre
The Proceedings are provided in two different formats:
1. A downloadable PDF file (above) which has:
2. An interactive website (below) where you can:
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
The following content is provided for educational purposes by the presenter. This content may or may not have been peer reviewed. Information, opinions, and recommendations put forward are those of the presenter, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Bulkley Valley Research Centre, or its funders. Copyright for the following material is primarily held by the presenter. This source should be fully acknowledged in any citation. For permission to reproduce or redistribute this material, in whole or in part, please contact the presenter.
Conference Opening *
“Thank you much for attending and thank you very much for the organizers to ask me to facilitate this meeting for you. I’m not sure why I volunteer to do these things at times but I’m looking forward to this one.
My name is Brian Riddell. I think in past years you would have known me within the Department of Fisheries and Oceans but I’ve left that role and I’m now the CEO and president of the Pacific Salmon Foundation. In my bio it talked about a decorated salmon researcher. I’m not sure what that is. I think it refers to when I dressed up as Dr. Laura Richards to do a conference introduction and I have yet to live that down unfortunately.
It’s with great pleasure that we begin this meeting. I’d have to say that, although we spend an awful lot of time in the department focused on the Fraser River, many of us have a real interest in the Skeena. The diversity of salmon, the habitat quality that you have here. So it’s a real interest that we get together and really talk about Skeena habitat.
I think that the organizers have three themes that really follow nicely from each other. We have a good cross section of speakers. So I think we should really start moving forward. We have a series of brief introductions and then before we actually start the first section I am going to put up a slide that Richard and I discussed. Basically the three themes and an outcome that we can discuss as we go through the two days.”
* Transcribed
Brian Riddell, Conference Chair; and President and CEO, Pacific Salmon Foundation
Brian Riddell is President and CEO of the Pacific Salmon Foundation. He has a PhD from McGill University and is former Division Head, Salmon and Freshwater Ecosystems, Science Branch, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Pacific Biological Station based in Nanaimo, BC. Brian is one of Canada’s most respected and decorated salmon researchers and managers.
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Bulkley Valley Research Centre Welcome *
“It’s a pleasure to be here to welcome you all to the conference on behalf of the board and staff of the Bulkley Valley Research Centre.
I think you will see that the conference objectives are actually very parallel to those of the Bulkley Vallley Research Centre. I have to shamelessly put in a few words for the Centre here. I think it is one of the things that really helps make the Valley and events like this resonate. The Centre was formed in 2002 really along similar lines to the goals of this conference. It’s really for independent research to bring people together to help solve some of the problems that challenge the natural resources of the northwest. We don’t advocate any particular position in resource management, it is really about independent research. We run, roughly, something under $1 million worth of research projects currently and we’re really interested in diversifying the kind of research we do, and include human dimensions in that research. In particular it is the talent of the staff, people you see around here, like Kirsteen Laing, Rick Budhwa, Jill Dunbar, Amanda Follett, organizing things like this and pulling it together. Many of you will understand the difficulty and challenges in pulling these things together and making them come off seamlessly. And it’s that kind of talent that we intend to continue to hold and attract to the northwest. And it’s that kind of talent that helps initiatives like this move forward.
So thank you all and I hope you have a great conference.”
* Transcribed
Brian Fuhr, Board Member, Bulkley Valley Research Centre; and Land and Resource Team Leader, Integrated Land Management Bureau
Brian Fuhr is a RPBio who moved to Smithers from Victoria in 1988. Prior to moving to Smithers, he worked as a fisheries research biologist, wildlife consultant and wildlife habitat ecologist throughout British Columbia. He led the development of a methodology for grizzly bear habitat assessment and estimation of carrying capacity for British Columbia. Beginning in 1988 he became the Habitat Protection Section Head for the Skeena Region’s Ministry of Environment. This included leading the Ministry of Environment’s involvement in land use plans, the regional protected areas strategy, the environmental assessment of major projects and forestry. Brian is currently employed as a land use planner for the Integrated Land Management Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands. The emphasis of his current career development is in the fields of sustainability and land use planning processes with a particular emphasis on issues surrounding the balance of environment and economy. Away from work, Brian has a passion for white-water boating, backcountry exploration and sailing on the North Coast.
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WELCOMING REMARKS
Traditional Welcome
Roy Morris,Chief Woos, Cas’Yex House, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief
Roy Morris is Chief Woos, one of the hereditary chiefs of the Wet'suwet'en, and House Chief for the Cas'Yex (Grizzly House) of the Gitumden (Bear) Clan of the Wet'suwet'en. Roy lives with his wife, Augustine, in Moricetown, where he continues to practice traditional lifeways as his ancestors did. He will be performing the conference's traditional welcome ceremony, as Smithers resides within Chief Woos' House territory.
Town of Smithers Welcome
Cress Farrow, Mayor, Town of Smithers
Cress Farrow has lived in Smithers since 1969. He is currently retired after operating Apex Cleaning Services for 28 years. Cress is currently Mayor of Smithers after serving nine years as councillor. He is also chair of the NW Regional Hospital District Board. He has represented the Town of Smithers on the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako for six years and is past chair and vice chair.
Welcome from Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP
Nathan Cullen represented by Shelley Browne
Nathan Cullen was first elected in 2004 and has been elected twice since. He has been the advocate for the Environment and Parks for the New Democrats and recently took over the Energy and Natural Resources portfolio. He also chairs the Green Economy Caucus for the NDP working on ways to help create employment while meeting our responsibilities to the planet’s future generations. Before elected life he was a small business owner and community organizer in northwestern BC. His expertise was in strategic planning and resolving conflicts for businesses, government and non-profit agencies throughout the province. He lives with his wife, Diana, in Smithers.
Welcome from Stikine MLA
Doug Donaldson represented by Shelley Worthington
Doug works for Storytellers' Foundation, a non-profit organization focusing on community economic development in the region. His previous work in the Stikine included jobs in forestry, tourism, education, communications and journalism. This wide variety of experience includes managing Northwest Community College in Houston, as a biologist with a forestry consulting business in Smithers, as a reporter and columnist with the Interior News, communications director with the Gitxsan Treaty Office, coordinator of the cultural tourism program at NWCC, and instructor with the Gitxsan Wet'suwet'en Education Society.
Conference Objectives
- Examine the wild salmon habitat recommendations of the Pacific Salmon Forum.
- Learn about existing collaborative salmon habitat initiatives on the Skeena and coast.
- Learn about the impact of salmon diversity, ecosystem services and climate change.
- Develop the Skeena as a prototype for collaborative, ecosystem-based management.
Brian Riddell, Conference Chair; and President and CEO, Pacific Salmon Foundation
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THEME 1 - INSTITUTIONAL REFORM TOWARDS COLLABORATIVE MANAGEMENT
BC Pacific Salmon Forum Final Report & Recommendations
Jon O'Riordan, Director of Research, Pacific Salmon Forum
Jon O’Riordan graduated with a master’s degree in geography from the University of Edinburgh in 1964, followed by a PhD in resource management from the University of British Columbia in 1969. He worked with the Federal Department of Energy, Mines and Water Resources with a responsibility to manage the Federal-Provincial Okanagan Basin Water Basin Study between 1969 and 1973. He then joined the province in 1973 and worked for the Secretariat to the Environment and Land Use Committee of Cabinet. He joined the Ministry of Environment in 1980 and became Assistant Deputy Minister from 1989 to 2001. He was appointed Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management in 2001 and in 2004 was appointed an adjunct professor for UBC’s School of Planning. In 2005, he was appointed director of research for the BC Pacific Salmon Forum.
Phone: (250) 361-6838 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
BC Pacific Salmon Forum Final Report & Recommendations
Honourable John Fraser, Chair, BC Pacific Salmon Forum
John Fraser was born in Yokohama, Japan and raised in Vancouver. He graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1954 and practised law until his election to the House of Commons in 1972. During his 21 years in Parliament, John Fraser served in key positions, including Minister for the Environment and Minister of Fisheries. He was the first person to have been elected Speaker of the House of Commons by his peers, a practice instituted in 1986. In 1994, John Fraser was selected to head the Fraser River Sockeye Public Review Board investigating the salmon fishery. He was subsequently Canada's Ambassador for the Environment, responsible for Canadian follow-up to commitments made at the United Nations Rio Conference on Environment and Development. He has chaired the Minister's Monitoring Committee on Change in the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces, and currently chairs the Parliamentary Precinct Oversight Advisory Committee. From September 1998, John Fraser chaired the Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council, until his appointment in April 2005 to chair the BC Pacific Salmon Forum throughout its mandate which concluded in March 2009. John Fraser is a Queen's Counsel, an officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Order of British Columbia and he holds the Canadian Forces Decoration. He was awarded honorary Doctor of Laws degrees for his contributions to environmental causes by Simon Fraser University and St. Lawrence University in 1999 and by the University of British Columbia in 2004.
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Questions and Answers - O’Riordan and Fraser
The Path to Coordinated Engagement with First Nations
Sustainable management of natural resources is built upon a foundation of good science, sound regulatory regimes, and informed decision making that is inclusive of public and First Nations interests. The legislative and regulatory framework is complex, at times involving multiple jurisdictions and multiple decision makers. This often leads to an uncoordinated agency approach to engaging First Nations and reviewing projects; the current approach has proven to be inefficient and ineffective for both parties. The province is working to change that through the development of new practices for engagement.
Geoff Recknell, First Nations Initiatives Manager, Integrated Land Management Bureau
Geoff Recknell is currently Manager for the Skeena office of the Integrated Land Management Bureau, First Nations Initiatives Division. For the past 8 years Geoff has worked in a number of capacities for the Province on land use initiatives in the northwest including planning process and technical coordination, facilitation and negotiation. He has Bachelor of Science degrees from the University of Victoria and University of British Columbia in both microbiology and resource management.
Phone: (250) 847-7535 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Questions and Answers - Recknell
Institutional Change and the Wild Salmon Policy
DFO’s Wild Salmon Policy was released in June 2005. The policy was developed to protect the biodiversity of salmon and habitat/ecosystems that drive it. The approach is very much process oriented rather than prescriptive with process to be driven by principles of sustainable development. In this presentation I discuss the implementation of strategies to assess the status of salmon and their habitats/ecosystems and some of the institutional change that has and is required to take place to realize the goals of the Wild Salmon Policy. I specifically consider the role that organizations outside the Department are playing.
Mark Saunders, Division Manager, Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Mark Saunders is the Research Manager for the Salmon and Freshwater Ecosystems Division for DFO at the Pacific Biological Station at Nanaimo, BC. A research biologist studying the population dynamics of groundfish for most of his career, he spent the past five years working on the development and implementation of the Wild Salmon Policy. A recent two-year assignment with the Pacific Salmon Foundation involved directing the multidisciplinary Fraser Salmon and Watersheds Program addressing sustainability issues in the Fraser Basin. A key research interest is in improving the resource management/science interface. He lives in Chemainus with his wife Gail, two teenage girls and a hairy white dog.
Phone: (250) 756-7145 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Canada’s Oceans Strategy and Integrated Management: An introduction to the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA) Initiative
Mel Kotyk, Regional Manager, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Oceans Division
Phone: (604) 666-3861 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Questions and Answers - Saunders and Kotyk
THEME 2 - COLLABORATIVE EXPERIENCES IN THE SKEENA / NORTH COAST
Gitanyow land-use plan
A three part presentation by Glen Williams, Jane Lloyd-Smith, and Bobby Love.
The following three presentations explain who the Gitanyow are, briefly describe Gitanyow’s system of land ownership and provide an outline of Gitanyow’s land use plans to show how this process can be used to achieve ‘certainty’ on Gitanyow territories, not only for Gitanyow but also for the provincial Crown, resource users and developers and area communities.
The presentations focus on the draft land use plans that cover the Gitanyow Territory, briefly describe LUP resource management zones and objectives, identify policy issues and strategic level decisions required to ensure the effective implementation and thus accommodation of Gitanyow Rights, and set out the next steps required to achieve a just reconciliation of rights and responsibilities.
Recognition & Reconciliation Model - Gitanyow Huwilp
Glen is the first presenter on the Gitanyow land-use plan.
Glen Williams, Malii, Hereditary Chief, Gitanyow First Nation
Malii, Glen Williams, is the Head Chief of Wilp Malii, one of the eight historic Wilp of Gitanyow, a Gitxsan village situated in the mid-Nass Watershed in Northwestern BC Glen was privileged to receive a traditional education on Gitxsan histories, Ayuuk (Gitxsan law), Wilp territories and social organization from his grandfather Lelt (Fred Johnson), a Ganhada Chief from Kitwanga, and from his Wilksi’witxw (father’s side), Stanley Williams, also a Gitxsan Chief. This education allowed him to provide testimony in the Delgamuukxw Court Case, the youngest witness to testify for the Gitxsan. Malii has been involved since the mid-1970s in numerous Gitxsan efforts to protect and advance the recognition of the existence and right to exercise Gitxsan Aboriginal Title and Rights, with an emphasis on developing mechanisms that would allow these rights to be respected by and co-exist with non-native society.
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New Approaches: Gitanyow Experience
Jane is the second presenter of the Gitanyow land-use plan.
Jane Lloyd-Smith, District Manager, Ministry of Forests, Skeena-Stikine Forest District
Jane Lloyd-Smith is a registered forest professional who arrived in Smithers, BC in 1980 and has lived and worked there ever since. She has held many positions with the Ministry of Forests and Range, starting in silviculture, and progressing to planning then management. Jane is currently the District Manager of the Skeena Stikine Forest District. Jane has dedicated much of her career to helping communities and interest groups develop strategic land-use plans. In 2002, Jane was awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee medal in recognition of her contribution towards developing leading edge, creative ecosystem management concepts and her commitment to developing trusting relationship with community representatives.
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Nass South Sustainable Resource Management Plan (SRMP)
Bobby is the last presenter of the Gitanyow land-use plan.
Bobby Love, Client Services Manager, Smithers Service Centre, Ministry of Forests and ILMB
Bobby Love is the Client Services Manager for the Integrated Land Management Bureau. He began his career in 1991, working for the Ministry of Forests in Smithers. Prior to his current position Bobby has served as an Inventory Section Head, Economic Development Officer, Land Use Planner, and negotiator for the provincial government.
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Morice River water quality
A three part presentation by Walter Joseph, Ian Sharpe, and Shauna Bennett.
A water quality monitoring and assessment framework and multi-year operational plan has been created for the Upper Morice Water Management Area as part of the implementation of the Morice Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP). The framework and operational plan is a partnership including the Office of the Wet’suwet’en and the Province of BC, and is aimed at ecosystem based aquatic resource management in one of the headwater areas of the Skeena watershed. The following three presentations demonstrate that collaborative management and research is taking place, and that we are using the science of the day, as well as new innovations to evaluate the status of aquatic resources so that land and water management decisions can be better assessed as to their potential and actual consequences. The presentations deal with how the partnership began and is intended to function over a period of decades, what some of the organizational, financial, communications and technical challenges are, and provides an introduction to how the benthic macroinvertebrate based Reference Condition Approach may serve as the centerpiece in an aquatic impact assessment toolbox for the area.
Presentation by Walter Joseph
Walter is the first presenter of the Morice Water Quality.
Walter Joseph, Fisheries Manager, Office of the Wet’suwet’en
Walter Joseph is the Fisheries Manager for the Office of the Wet’suwet’en’s where he has been instrumental in the development of all aspects of their fisheries program. He works closely with Wet’suwet’en chiefs and communities as well as other First Nations groups in the Skeena watershed to improve fisheries management, and social and economic benefits from salmon. Walter is also a board member on the Skeena Fisheries Commission – an organization comprised of all Skeena watershed First Nations focusing on fisheries management, science and conservation issues, and has been instrumental in creating the Upper Morice Water Management Area.
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Presentation by Ian Sharpe
Ian is the second presenter of the Morice Water Quality.
Ian Sharpe, Skeena Region Manager, Environmental Protection Division, MoE
Ian Sharpe has worked as an Impact Assessment Biologist, Section Head and Regional Manager in the Smithers Environmental Protection office since 1992. Much of this time has been spent collaborating with others to develop landscape level aquatic impact assessment tools for use in assessing the effects of a variety of land uses and discharges on aquatic ecosystems. Recent efforts have included partnering with the Office of the Wet’suwet’en on the development of the Upper Morice Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Framework and Multi-year Operational Plan.
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Presentation by Shauna Bennett
Shauna is the last presenter of the Morice Water Quality.
Shauna Bennett, Aquatic Impact Assessment Biologist, Bio Logic Consulting
Shauna Bennett is a private consultant in Terrace BC where she specializes in aquatic biology and impact assessment. She has been a leader in bioassessment tool development in BC since 1996. She has teamed up with BC MOE, Environment Canada, BC Timber Sales, numerous forest companies, and academics from BC, Ontario, the U.S. and Australia, and other Canadian private consultants to develop the benthic macroinvertebrate based Reference Condition Approach (RCA) bioassessment system, and is now engaged in implementing it as an operational tool in support of land and water management decision making.
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Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Implementing EBM in the Great Bear Rainforest: Status Update and Lessons Learned
Over the course of the past 10 years in the Great Bear Rainforest, new collaborative governance mechanisms with First Nations have been developed, large coalitions of unlikely bedfellows have emerged, approx one third of the area has been set aside in some form of protected areas, more ecologically sensitive forest management is being implemented on the remainder of the landbase, significant sums of conservation financing have been raised and expended and new revenue generating mechanisms like carbon credits continue to emerge. Despite media hype to the contrary, however, the process of implementation of ecosystem based management (EBM) in the Great Bear Rainforest is far from over. From the perspective of this interim vantage point, the presentation will explore what has been accomplished to date and what remains to be done. The emphasis will be on lessons learned and key elements necessary for ongoing success as they related to collaboration, the linkages between science and decision making and shifting to an EBM paradigm.
Jody Holmes, Rain Forest Solutions
Jody Holmes has a PhD in biology and is the EBM & Conservation Science Advisor for the Rainforest Solutions Project (RSP), a coalition of environmental organizations including Forest Ethics, Greenpeace, and the Sierra Club BC. She was the conservation sector representative at both the Central and North Coast LRMPs, the Coast Information Team and the EBM Working Group and presently sits on both the Land and Resource Forum Technical Liaison Committee and the Adaptive Management Steering Committee. Jody has been intimately engaged in the creation and implementation of EBM in the Great Bear Rainforest for the last 12 years as a scientist, strategist and negotiator. She delights in working at the interface between science and social change.
Phone: (250) 935-6875 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Questions and Answers - Holmes
Day 1 Conclusions
Brian Riddell, President and CEO, Pacific Salmon Foundation
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Evening Program Introduction
Shannon McPhail, Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition
Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition Website
Evening Program - Slide Show of the Spirit of the Skeena Swim
At the Tuesday evening banquet, Ali Howard gave her first public slideshow presentation since completing her Skeena River swim. The indoor-outdoor event provided a breath of fresh air after the day’s presentations and a passionate perspective on the Skeena watershed’s health, with steering committee chair Richard Overstall calling it the conference’s “emotional highpoint.”
Speaking for an hour, Howard took the slideshow audience through her Skeena journey with stunning images and stories that inspired both awe and laughter. “Our key message and reason for doing the swim was not as an anti-development message,” Howard told the roughly 60 people who gathered for the show. “It was to raise awareness for the watershed, but more importantly it was to invite community members to celebrate the river and become part of the dialogue about its future and its future management.”
During a short question and answer period, Howard was asked if she would swim the river all over again. “The answer to that is, we could never have a trip as magical as that,” she said. “But I also hope that nothing would ever inspire me to act in that way again. I really hope that we can take the momentum of this and get the ear of people who are in a position to make decisions.”
During a short question and answer period, Howard was asked if she would swim the river all over again. “The answer to that is, we could never have a trip as magical as that,” she said. “But I also hope that nothing would ever inspire me to act in that way again. I really hope that we can take the momentum of this and get the ear of people who are in a position to make decisions.”
Awakening the Skeena - Film Trailer
Ali Howard and Brian Huntington, Spirit of the Skeena Swim
Ali Howard has experienced the Skeena River like no one else. This summer, the 34-year-old Smithers resident became the first person to swim its 610-kilometre length from the headwaters to the Pacific Ocean. Over a 26-day period, she navigated canyons, rushing whitewater, whirlpools and tidal currents to arrive at the Port Edward Cannery on Aug. 15. Howard, who works as a chef at the Bear Claw Lodge in the Kispiox Valley, said the trip was inspired by the migrating salmon that swim the river every year: “They’re a powerful metaphor of connectedness and a very real part of our region’s way of life. Everything that happens in our watershed affects the salmon.” Howard’s safety and support crew included photographer Brian Huntington, a biologist and founding member of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition. Since 2004, Huntington has been organizing baseline inventory research for selected fish, wildlife and cultural resources in the remote upper Skeena. Huntington beautifully captured the Skeena’s majesty and the spirit of the expedition in photos.
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Presentation of Patagonia Activist Award
Outdoor clothing giant Patagonia has awarded Ali Howard its Activist Award for her historic swim of the 610-kilometer Skeena River earlier this summer.
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard presented Howard with the award – which comes with $5,000 – yesterday at the Skeena Salmon Habitat Conference in Smithers.
“I was so inspired by hearing about Ali’s swim, that at Patagonia we decided to start a Patagonia Activist Award. And I think of no one better in the last year to give this award to than Ali,” Chouinard told the crowd.
“Some of us have a lot of free time and can volunteer for good causes, some of us are good speakers and can get up and speak about the injustices of the world, and some people have strong arms and legs and great courage and can swim the Skeena,” Chouinard said.
Howard’s swim took her from the alpine meadows of the Sacred Headwaters where the Skeena is born, to the tidal estuary where the river meets the Pacific Ocean. She undertook the swim to raise awareness of the Skeena and threats to its health, including coalbed methane drilling and pipeline development.
In receiving the award, Howard noted Chouinard’s own contribution to environmental conservation: “Under Yvon’s leadership, Patagonia continues to be a corporate leader in sustainability. I’m humbled and grateful at the response the swim continues to receive.”
Media Release, September 16, 2009
Yvon Chouinard, Founder of Patagonia
Evening Program Closing Comments
Shannon McPhail, Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition
Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition Website
Ramping it up: Sharing our Lakelse Lake experience
When everyone is on the same page and focused, we are more powerful and effective at influencing change and have a positive impact on the environment. Ministry of Environment is developing and promoting the use of a strategic approach that is driven by outcomes and fosters a proactive, collaborative way of doing business. Through the use of a logic model framework tool, a visual, flexible, easy to understand plan is mapped out that clearly depicts what needs to be done & why, and in what order. This simple capture method then allows participants to not only see how they can contribute, but also others who need to be part of the solution. Social science concepts have been integrated and require that participants leave behind personal perceptions and in turn, find out why people are doing what they are doing. This in turn informs and guides the type and style of activities to funnel effort and funds into first. With such a plan in place, everyone is on the same page and together we move effectively and efficiently towards positive change.
Sandra Sulyma, Ecosystem Biologist, Omineca Region, Ministry of Environment
Sandra has been an Ecosystem Biologist with Ministry of Environment for the past 14 years. Key initiatives she has been involved with include land and resource management planning, ungulate winter range establishment, and MoE’s Stewardship Outreach Initiative. Home is in beautiful Fort St. James where free time is spent outside or on some ice with husband Randy, and children Joel and Emily.
Phone: (250) 996-5259 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Making Ecosystem-based Management Work
How can we successfully implement ecosystem based management—an approach that aims to sustain ecosystem integrity and human well-being, and that aims to be collaborative and adaptive? Management is the process of developing and implementing strategies (means) to achieve objectives (desired ends). Management can fail in several ways. Objectives can be incomplete or conflicting. Strategies can fail to achieve objectives. Institutional structures contribute to these failures, by dividing management responsibility and by hindering collaboration. Improvements to management strategies can be ad hoc. Adaptive management provides a general solution to these management challenges by promoting better collaboration, logical application of current knowledge and focused, connected research and monitoring. The adaptive management framework developed for the Central and North Coast includes four elements: (1) a management group, representing different jurisdictions and/or interests, has the responsibility for consulting stakeholders about values and objectives, for reviewing current knowledge and for selecting strategies that are consistent with knowledge; (2) an adaptive management group has the responsibility for maintaining a knowledge base that supports decision-making and for selecting research and monitoring projects that improve knowledge most efficiently; (3) a knowledge base supports decision-making by recording explicit hypotheses about how management strategies and natural forces influence the achievement of management objectives; (4) a monitoring prioritization procedure supports monitoring decisions by analysing the knowledge base to identify strategies with high risk and/or high uncertainty and estimates the feasibility and cost of related studies. A critical aspect of decision-support is the separation of knowledge from values, in order to avoid positional bargaining and to develop a shared understanding of collective values and knowledge. The adaptive management framework separates values from knowledge by assigning one group the responsibility for each and by having a knowledge base structure that clearly distinguishes between them. Knowledge models are simple (“high-level”) representations of current science, traditional ecological knowledge and practitioner knowledge, presented in a format directly relevant to management decisions, i.e., showing the probability of achieving an objective for a potential strategy. The framework provides a way for multiple parties to work collaboratively to improve management over time.
Dave Daust, Consultant
Dave Daust and his partner Karen Price are consultants, based in Telkwa. Dave has used landscape models for the last two decades, exploring the ecological and social consequences of land use policies. More recently, he has developing monitoring and adaptive management frameworks. He occasionally dabbles in “real” forestry in the woodlot.
Phone: (250) 846-5359 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Questions and Answers - Daust
THEME 3 - CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES FOR SKEENA SALMON HABITAT
How protecting salmon diversity promotes healthy returns
Salmon stocks are often comprised of a diverse network of smaller subpopulations that occupy a wide range of different habitats. Recent studies of thriving salmon populations in Bristol Bay, Alaska have shed light on how this diversity promotes healthy returns of salmon through an ecological portfolio effect. The portfolio effect is analogous to a diverse financial portfolio that stabilizes returns over time. In many places, intensive human activities have eroded salmon diversity resulting in homogenized stocks that are prone to high variability and crashes. Therefore, efforts to maintain healthy salmon stocks may require fisheries and habitat management actions that explicitly promote and protect salmon diversity.
Michael Webster, Senior Program Officer, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Dr. Michael Webster is a Senior Program Officer with the Wild Salmon Ecosystems Initiative at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Michael is trained as an aquatic ecologist and has earned degrees in zoology from the University of Wisconsin and Oregon State University.
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Questions and Answers - Webster
Ecosystem Services Through Salmon Nutrients
John Reynolds, Professor, Tom Buell B.C. Leadership Chair in Salmon Conservation
After completing his undergraduate at the University of Toronto, John Reynolds completed a Master of Science at Queen’s University, which involved studying behavioural ecology of red-necked phalaropes. For his PhD, Reynolds switched to fish, with research on sexual selection in Trinidadian guppies, studying at Simon Fraser University and later at the University of Toronto. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Oxford and then his first faculty position at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. Reynolds joined Simon Fraser University in September 2005, taking up a professorship at the Tom Buell BC Leadership Chair in Salmon Conservation. His research program focuses on Pacific salmon conservation and ecology with an emphasis on ecosystems, including connections between marine, freshwater and terrestrial habitats.
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Questions and Answers - Reynolds
Forest & Range Evaluation Program (FREP): Introduction to the Protocol for Evaluating the Condition of Streams and Riparian Management Areas
The Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) is a results-based forest practices framework in British Columbia. Under this approach to forest management, the forest industry is responsible for developing results and strategies, or using specified defaults, for the sustainable management of resources. The Forest and Range Evaluation Program (FREP) was established, in 2004, as a multi-agency program to: evaluate the effectiveness of FRPA in achieving stewardship of eleven key resource values; to identify issues regarding the implementation of forest policies, practices and legislation as they affect these resource values; and to implement continuous improvement of forest management. Under the FREP program, teams of specialists work together to identify priority evaluation questions for each FRPA value and to develop protocols to answer these questions. Fish/riparian is one of the eleven FRPA values, the priority evaluation question for this value is: “Are riparian forestry and range practices effective in maintaining the structural integrity and functions of stream ecosystems and other aquatic resource features over both short and long terms?”. To answer the fish/riparian priority evaluation question, Forest Service and Ministry of Environment staff conduct field evaluations using the riparian protocol to collect data on 52 different indicators of stream channel, stream bank, and riparian area health. The data is summarized to determine the condition of streams and riparian area habitat. Additional observations are made to determine the causes of any negative results. The results of the riparian evaluations are communicated to forest professionals in the forest industry and provincial government and to decision makers.
Kerri Brownie, Resource Monitoring Specialist, Ministry of Forests
Kerri is a Registered Professional Forester working with the Forest Practices Branch’s Forest and Range Evaluation Program (FREP) as a Resource Stewardship Monitoring Specialist. Focus areas of Kerri’s FREP position include: resource value team lead for the FRPA value - Karst; trainer for the FREP riparian protocol; FREP lead on identifying links to Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Certification; and coordinating the FREP training program. Prior to joining the Forest Practices Branch, Kerri worked as a consultant conducting SFM certification audits from 2004-2007 and worked for the Forest Practices Board as an auditor from 2000-2004. Prior to 2000 Kerri worked in the fields of landscape unit planning and silviculture for the provincial government, forest industry, and international organizations. Kerri’s hobbies include international travel, cycling, skiing, kayaking, and volunteer work on food sustainability and international development issues. She lives in Victoria with her boyfriend who is a rabid cyclist and fisheries biologist.
Phone: (250) 356-9306 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Questions and Answers - Brownie
Modeling changes in river flows and temperatures caused by climate warming
Working with colleagues at the University of Washington, we used down-scaled predictions of climate warming from 15-20 GCMs to drive a new model of flow and temperature changes for rivers of the North Pacific Rim. The flow-temperature predictions were generated using forcings from the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) macroscale hydrologic simulator linked to a novel routing and coupled stream temperature model we developed. We used the SCE-UA global optimization algorithm to calibrate the model runs. Validation was done by comparison of hind casts to measured stream flows in the study area. In this presentation we will show initial results for the Columbia (1/16th degree downscale) and the Skeena (1/8th degree) Rivers. In both basins we predict a spatially predominant drying trend and both rivers get warmer in the coming decades. The mean annual flow rate of all river segments in the Skeena system are predicted to decrease by 4-170m3/s in the next 100 years. The change in mean annual water temperature will range from -0.02˚C to 0.48 ˚C per decade over all river segments with drainage area >300km2. The mean summer water temperature over all river segments will warm 0.22 ˚C per decade, associated with a 7.2% decadal decrease of mean summer stream flow. This could mean summer temperatures will approach or exceed physiological thresholds for salmonids in some segments. Ground-surface water exchanges in floodplain segments were not modeled and certainly will provide some buffering of flow and temperature. In any case, climate warming effects will be significant and additive to other pressures on Skeena salmonid fisheries.
Jack Stanford, Director, Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of Montana
Jack A. Stanford is the Jessie M. Bierman Professor of Ecology and Director of the Flathead Lake Biological Station at The University of Montana. He has conducted research and education in systems ecology for 35 years with focus on rivers and fisheries.
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Questions and Answers - Stanford
Climate Change and Autumn Low-Flows in the Skeena Watershed
Hydrology is an important yet understudied entity in the Skeena Watershed. Hydrology in the Skeena is the fulcrum for a myriad of biota and a focal point for tourism, First Nations and resource industries. Recent work in British Columbia has identified that hydro-climate responses are highly variable throughout the province, ranging from distinct punctuated affects to indistinguishable influences. This research has used the stream gauge network in the upper Skeena to demonstrate that autumn low-flows in the Skeena Watershed respond very acutely to climate variability mechanisms, such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation in addition to El Nino and La Nina episodes. These findings suggest that hydrology (as per autumn low-flows) in the Skeena may be vulnerable to climate change, via phase dominated hydro-climate responses. Beyond the stream gauge network, this research has also utilized treering research to further demonstrate that ecosystems in the Skeena are moderated by the behavior of the northeast Pacific; which, in turn, is directly influenced by global circulation and ocean-atmosphere dynamics (climate change). Collectively, these findings suggest that we can expect to experience further changes in hydrology throughout the Skeena Watershed as a result of climate change.
Jeffrey Anderson, Geomorphic Earth & Environmental
Jeffrey is an independent researcher and environmental consultant in the Bulkley Valley. His background is in geomorphology and climate-ecosystem impacts. He uses dendroclimatology to uncover temporal and spatial relationships between ocean-atmosphere processes in the northeast Pacific and ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest. His research interests have focused on characterizing relationships between the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, El Nino- Southern Oscillation and hydrometric indices, forest health issues and coastal erosion.
Phone: (250) 877-2816 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Questions and Answers - Anderson
FIVE MINUTE FORUMS
Fish Habitat Issue - Hydro Power Development
Aaron Hill, Watershed Watch Salmon Society
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EBM in the Skeena Watershed
Greg Knox, Executive Director, SkeenaWild Conservation Trust
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Skeena - North Coast Collaborative Salmon Habitat Management
Richard Overstall, Trustee, Babine Watershed Monitoring Trust
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Interest in the Skeena Watershed
Norman Johnson, Gitxsan, Kitwanga Band Member
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Fisheries Renewal BC - Lessons Learned
Joy Thorkelson, Fishermen & Allied Workers Union, Northern Representative
Phone: (250) 624-6048
Lessons Learned as an Active Citizen
Shannon McPhail, Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition
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Conference Closing Comments *
“OK, well, it has been a long couple of days. I think everybody is probably getting a little antsy. I’m going to keep my closing comments really short, because I’m not sure I’ll have a whole lot to add to what I’ve heard the last couple of days. I think you proceeded much further than maybe you give yourselves credit for. So, I only have a few closing comments.
I want to start with what I was thinking about yesterday afternoon when I said I didn’t want to comment without thinking about it. I was extremely impressed with Jody’s presentation on the experiences in the Great Bear Rain Forest. I sat down last night and I started to take a look at her messages that I had scribbled down and there were a lot of lessons. I think I’m up around 15 or something that I scribbled. They’re not all on the same sort of level, but I think the lead five, to me, would be these:
- Create power for change;
- Find the means to work together (and she talked about an evolution of coalitions and that takes time);
- Protecting natural ecosystems is inseparable from human wellbeing, in other words, include people in the steps that you take so you show a benefit for people as well;
- Be bold, paint a compelling vision; and
- Getting from here to there, understanding how you make change." Read More
* Transcribed
Brian Riddell, Conference Chair; and President and CEO, Pacific Salmon Foundation
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POSTERS AND EXHIBITORS
The Babine River Watershed - Current Land Use Planning and Resource Development
The map series focuses on the Babine River Watershed and provides an overview of land use planning, road development, forest harvesting activities and mineral tenures. The map series displays the relevant land use plans pertinent to the entire Babine River Watershed, including a detailed resource management zones map. A summary of the current road development to date, including proposed and deactivated roads, is presented. In addition, harvesting activity, including proposed, harvested, and green-up blocks are presented. The final map displays mineral tenures within the Babine River Watershed.
Babine River Foundation, Johanna Pfalz
Phone: (250) 847-5665 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Valley Vision: Towards a comprehensive vision for the Bulkley Valley
www.ValleyVision.ca offers a user-friendly portal to Bulkley Valley planning activities and a repository for planning-related knowledge and opinions.
Valley Vision, Steve Osborn
Phone: (250) 847-9344 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Bulkley Valley Community Mapping Initiative
The Bulkley Valley Stewardship Coalition has been involved in a community based mapping project. The objective of this effort is to identify the environmental, aesthetic, cultural and recreational features in the Bulkley Valley upon which the public places the most value and which residents would most like to see preserved as development of the Valley unfolds. We use these maps to assist the public in responding to development proposals that might affect the areas that have been identified as warranting special concern when it comes to preservation. Government agencies can also use the maps in their planning processes. Electronic versions of our maps are on display on Valley Vision.
Bulkley Valley Stewardship Coalition, Jay Gilden
Phone: (250) 847-4794 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Lakelse Watershed Conservation Pilot: A Four-step Framework for Collaborative Planning and Strategic Problem Solving
This poster describes the format for a set of two workshops to help with strategic planning and collaboration. It addresses short and long term needs and organized information and ideas so that people could develop projects that were doable, and likely to have biggest effect, without burning out volunteers. It is on-going and has been well supported.
Ministry of Environment, Sandra Sulyma and Anne Hetherington
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The MapChat Skeena Coop: Building an Institutional Framework for the Use of a Geomatics Tool which Facilitates Environmental Planning
MapChat is one of several new technologies developed by the recently completed GEOIDE-funded National Centres of Excellence in Geomatics project Promoting Sustainable Communities through Participatory Spatial Decision Support. MapChat Version 1 and MapChat Version 2 are software tools for Web-based collaboration on matters of local spatial importance. MapChat Version 1 was field-tested in the Bulkley Valley in collaboration with the Bulkley Valley Stewardship Coalition, the Ministry of Environment, and the Town of Smithers. One application related to salmonid habitat. Geomatics tools of the MapChat sort have great potential to facilitate direct democracy in environmental decision-making at the regional scale. Because MapChat was developed from open-source components, access to it is free. However, small groups and organizations require technical assistance to customize its features and apply it. Efforts are currently being made to establish a Skeena MapChat Co-op pooling the resources of Skeena region local governments and other organizations interested in acquiring and using MapChat.
MapChat, Ray Chipeniuk
Phone: (250) 847-5758 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Kitwanga Sockeye Rebuilding
Gitanyow Fisheries Authority, Mark Cleveland
Phone: (250) 635-0778 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
THE SKEENA SALMON HABITAT CONFERENCE WAS PRESENTED IN COLLABORATION WITH:
Buri, Overstall Barristers & Solicitors; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Integrated Land Management Bureau; Ministry of Forests and Range; Skeena Fisheries Commission
SPECIAL THANKS TO THE CONFERENCE STEERING COMMITTEE:
Richard Overstall, Chair; Mark Dulven; Jill Dunbar; Joy Hillier; Greg Knox; Kevin Kriese; Jane Lloyd-Smith; Christine Scotnicki
SPECIAL THANKS TO THE BANQUET CATERERS:
Bulkley Valley Band Boosters; Driftwood Lodge; Meg Hobson; Little Frog Café; Plan B Brewing Co.; Smithers Sausage Factory
The BULKLEY VALLEY RESEARCH CENTRE would like to acknowledge the following organizations for their gemerous support towards the SKEENA SALMON HABITAT CONFERENCE
ITEMS OF INTEREST