Projects funded under the Fraser River Freshwater Ecosystem Initiative

Fiscal year 2024-2025

Project: Watershed CPR Dashboard Visualization Tool - A Coordinated Vision for a Resilient Fraser Watershed

Proponent: Rivershed Society of BC

Government of Canada funding: $60,000 over 1 year

Project Description: This project will raise awareness of the Watershed CPR Visualization Tool in the lead up to public launch in Fall 2025. The Visualization Tool aims to link partners, bridge regional projects, and facilitate the connection of protected and restored sites, demonstrating a coordinated vision of protection and restoration projects across the Fraser Watershed. By showcasing diverse efforts in a unified platform, the tool will enhance collaboration, optimize resource allocation, and amplify the impact of individual projects, ultimately contributing to a more resilient and sustainable Fraser Watershed.

 

Project: Climate change driving watershed change: strengthening preparedness for integrative responses to climate, water and community connections in the Nechako Watershed.

Proponent: University of Northern British Columbia - Integrated Water Research Group

Government of Canada funding: $201,127 over 1 year

Project Description: This project is to strengthen preparedness for integrative responses to climate, water and community connections in the Nechako Watershed. The project will monitor and establish impacts of atmospheric rivers on water, heat and sediment fluxes in the upper Nechako Watershed; partner with the Stellat'en First Nation to identify thermal refuges and their use in the Stellako River and the Endako River; expand the Nechako Watershed Portal to collate and depict climate, water and health related data by developing and piloting a protocol for annual updates of Portal content; and increase the quality of the data generated and to support further generations of this research program through renewal and maintenance of the monitoring  network.

 

Project: Strengthening Collaboration for the Health of the Nicola Watershed

Proponent: Lower Nicola Indian Band

Government of Canada funding: $362,430 over 2 years

Project Description: This project supports the Lower Nicola Indian Band to work with the Scw'exmx family of First Nations in the Nicola Valley to expand a pollution monitoring program, facilitate collaborative approaches to action through a restoration committee, and hold a public Nicola Watershed Restoration Workshop to foster relationships, collaborative priority-setting, and coordination of restoration activities.

 

Project: Advancing the Strategic Plan of the Nechako Watershed Roundtable

Proponent: Fraser Basin Council Society

Government of Canada funding: $356,015 over 2 years

Project Description: This project advances the Strategic Plan of the Nechako Watershed Roundtable by working with a wide range of watershed partners to support the Large Lakes Monitoring Strategy for Takla, Trembleur, and Stuart Lakes; holding a workshop on climate change adaptation and resiliency; establish a youth engagement working group; hold an annual meeting; and secretariat capacity to advance all of these.

 

Project: Foreshore Integrated Management Planning in the Fraser Basin

Proponent: Living Lakes Canada

Government of Canada funding: $164,000 over 2 years

Project Description: This project supports collaborative and sustainable lake management through improved quality and quantity of information on foreshore integrity of Francois Lake, including by interweaving Indigenous Knowledge with Western science by supporting local Nations in identifying cultural and archaeological foreshore values in tandem with ecological values.

 

Project: Advancing the Strategic Plan of the Shuswap Watershed Council

Proponent: Fraser Basin Council Society

Government of Canada funding: $170,000 over 1 year

Project Description: This project advances the strategic plan of the Shuswap Watershed Council by supporting water quality monitoring, development and implementation of the Shuswap Wetlands Strategy, Shuswap Water Council Subcommittee on Water Quality Monitoring, and First Nations in the Shuswap watershed to incorporate local knowledge into cooperative strategies to address local water quality and ecosystem health issues through strengthened partnerships across Indigenous communities and with the Council.

 

Project: British Columbia Lake Stewardship Engagement Initiative

Proponent: British Columbia Lake Stewardship Society

Government of Canada funding: $40,000 over 1 year

Project Description: This project provides personalized hands on and online training and support to lake groups, volunteers, and First Nations with the knowledge and tools needed to facilitate scientifically credible community-based water monitoring that can support governance and ensure the health and climate resilience of our lakes and watersheds in the Fraser River Basin.

 

Project: Expanding Water Quality and Quantity Monitoring in the Nechako Watershed

Proponent: Upper Fraser Fisheries Conservation Alliance

Government of Canada funding: $200,000 over 1 year

Project Description: This project renews and expands a water quality and quantity monitoring program in the Nechako watershed to address priority information gaps in key systems and inform a regional ecosystem recovery planning process.

 

Project: Indigenous-led water and aquatic habitat monitoring in the Chilcotin River Watershed

Proponent: Tŝilqot'in National Government

Government of Canada funding: $200,000 over 1 year

Project Description: This project renews and expands the Tŝilqot'in National Government's (TNG) aquatic monitoring program with critical equipment/hardware and continuous employment of key staff, address key information gaps and recovery planning for specific Chinook and Sockeye salmon stocks/populations, support emergency enhancement projects (including in response to the catastrophic Chilcotin River Landslide in July 2024), and inform a number of multi-government and multi- stakeholder planning processes.

 

Project: Water quality monitoring in selected watersheds impaired by wildfire

Proponent: University of Lethbridge – Department of Biological Sciences

Government of Canada funding: $156,580 over 2 years

Project Description: This project establishes a monitoring program in 2 watersheds in the Fraser River affected by major, high-severity wildfires in 2023, (Bush Creek Fire in Lower Adams River and Kookipi Fire in Nahatlatch River) as a first step towards understanding the impacts of these events on aquatic ecosystem health. This is a partnership with the University of Saskatchewan, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and First Nation partners (i.e. Boothroyd, Skwlax te Secwepemculecw).

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