Crossing 125000 - Chuchinka-Arctic FSR - Trib to Parsnip River

Site Location

Crossing 125000 is located on an unnamed tributary to the Parsnip River under the Chuchinka-Arctic FSR, approximately 2km upstream of the confluence with the Parsnip River and approximately 9km north-west of the outlet of Arctic Lake (Table 1). Arctic Lake is located within Arctic Pacific Lakes Provincial Park which is situated on the north side of the north-south continental divide that separates watersheds flowing north to the Arctic Ocean and the Fraser River watershed that flows south and west to the Pacific Ocean. At the time of the field surveys, a small remote logging camp was located approximately 3.5km to the north-west of the crossing location and active logging was occurring on the east side of the Parsnip River valley adjacent to the camp.

Background Information

The unnamed tributary to the Parsnip River is a 3rd order stream with a watershed area upstream of the crossing of 11.2km². The elevation of the watershed ranges from a maximum of 1600m to 750m at the confluence with the Parsnip River. There are no other stream crossing (culvert) barriers on the stream mainstem upstream of the Chuchinka-Arctic FSR although one crossing was modeled as located on a tributary upstream (crossing 16604087). Provincial records indicate that fish have not previously been recorded in the stream (MoE 2019). The habitat confirmation was completed on September 02, 2019 and September 8, 2020. A map of the watershed including areas surveyed is provided in Attachment 1 – Map 093I111.

Although they concede that information adequacy for assessing critical habitats for Bull Trout in the Upper Parsnip sub-basin is poor, Hagen et al. (2015) report that low juvenile Bull Trout density and turbid water conditions indicate that this area is likely of relatively low importance for the Parsnip River population.

Following office review, PSCIS stream crossing 125000 was ranked as a high priority for follow up with habitat confirmation due to the potential for rehabilitation of the crossing to provide access to upstream wetland (5.7ha) and instream (10.5km) habitat. Of note, the crossing was ranked by Hooft (2014) as a high priority for follow up (Table 2).

Stream Characteristics at Crossing

At the time of the survey, the culvert was considered a barrier to upstream fish passage with a length of 21m, a culvert slope of 3% and an outlet drop of 0.4m (Table 3). There was a large, deep pool (1.5m) at the outlet of the culvert indicative of a severely confined channel (Figures 1 - 2). Water temperature was 10\(^\circ\)C and conductivity was 39uS/cm.

Stream Characteristics Downstream

The stream was surveyed downstream from the culvert for 325m. Immediately downstream of the outlet pool the channel substrate was dominated by gravels with large woody debris abundant throughout (Figure 3). Aproximately 60m downstream of the crossing was a 2m high breached historic beaver dam structure. Subsequent beaver dam structures resulted in stream/wetland complex type habitat downstream consisting of glide sections up to 90 cm deep (Figure 4 - 5). The average channel width was 4.5m, the average wetted width was 3.8m and the average gradient was 1.2% (Table 4). There was a 0.7m high beaver dam located at the downstream end of the site (UTM: 10N 577330 6038336).

Based on google earth imagery and modelled gradients, it is likely that there were additional beaver dams between the downstream end of the stream section surveyed and the confluence of the Parsnip River approximately 1.7km downstream. Minnow trapping (3 traps set and left overnight) and electrofishing (70m long site electrofished for 45 seconds) were conducted downstream of the crossing structure. A standardized 100m long electrofishing site was not completed due to equipment malfunction.Four Sculpin ranging from 57 - 61mm long were captured in minnow traps. One Sculpin (57mm) and one Rainbow Trout parr (61mm) were captured by electrofishing (Figure 6).

Stream Characteristics Upstream

The stream was surveyed upstream from the culvert continuously for 330m to a beaver influenced wetland area where walking became difficult due to water depth (UTM:10N 577830 6038053). The average channel width was 4.4m, the average wetted width was 3.3m and the average gradient was 4% (Table 4). The stream was accessed again from logging roads at points 1.6km upstream from the crossing then again at approximately 2.5km upstream of the crossing. Undercut banks, large woody debris, overhanging vegetation and gravels suitable for spawning were located within all upstream areas surveyed (Figures 7 - 8). An unmanned aerial vehicle was utilized to capture video footage of upstream habitat and is available HERE. Minnow trapping was conducted upstream of the crossing (3 traps set and left overnight) with no fish captured. One culvert on a small upstream tributary (modeled crossing 16604087) was assessed and determined to be a barrier (Figure - 9).

Conclusion

There is an estimated 3.5km of high value mainstem habitat available upstream of crossing 125000. Rainbow Trout and Sculpin were confirmed as present by fish sampling immediately below the crossing. No fish were captured upstream, although habitat appears suitable for not only Rainbow Trout and Sculpin, but also for Bull Trout rearing and spawning. The forest licensee in the area is Sinclar Group and the road tenure holder is the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations & Rural Development. Overall, the crossing located on the Chuchinka-Arctic FSR was ranked as a high priority for rehabilitation.

Table 1: Overview of stream crossing.

Site	Stream	Road	Tenure	UTM (10N)	Fish Species	Habitat Gain (km)	Priority
125000	Trib to Parsnip River	Chuchinka-Arctic FSR	FLNRORD 5506 10 0	577534 6038205	RB, CC	3.5	High

Table 2: Field map, Fish Habitat Model outputs, historic PSCIS details and prioritization for follow up with fish habitat confirmation rank/comments.

Map 50k	Instream (km)	Lake (ha)	Wetland (ha)	Channel Width (m)	Fish Upstream	Habitat Value	Rank	Comments
093I111	10.5		5.7	5.5		High	High	Large channel in wetland area at top of watershed.

Table 3: Summary of culvert fish passage assessment.

Site	Diameter (m)	Length (m)	Embedded	Backwatered	Fill Depth (m)	Outlet Drop (m)	Outlet Pool Depth (m)	Stream Width Ratio	Barrier Result
125000	1.4	21	no	no	2	0.4	1.5	3	Barrier

Table 4: Summary of habitat details

Site	Location	Length Surveyed (m)	Channel Width (m)	Wetted Width (m)	Pool depth (m)	Gradient (%)	Habitat Value
125000	Upstream	350	4.4	3.3	0.4	4	High
125000	Downstream	325	4.5	3.8		1.2	High

Figure 1: Aerial view of PSCIS crossing 125000 (UTM: 10N 577534 6038205).

Figure 2: Outlet of PSCIS crossing 125000 (UTM: 10N 577534 6038205).

Figure 3: View of habitat immediately downstream of PSCIS crossing 125000 (UTM: 10N 577454 6038254).

Figure 4: View of habitat downstream of PSCIS crossing 125000 (UTM: 10N 577408 6038313).

Figure 5: View of habitat downstream of PSCIS crossing 125000 (UTM: 10N 577351 6038341).

Figure 6: View of Rainbow Trout parr captured downstream of PSCIS crossing 125000 (UTM: 10N 577508 6038217).

Figure 7: View of habitat upstream of PSCIS crossing 125000 (UTM: 10N 577807 6038068).

Figure 8: View of habitat upstream of PSCIS crossing 125000 (UTM: 10N 577643 6038097).

Figure 9: View of crossing 16604087 - located on small tributary upstream of PSCIS crossing 125000 (UTM: 10N 578771 6037388).

References

Hagen, John, Susanne Williamson, Mike Stamford, and Ray Pillipow. 2015. “Critical Habitats for Bull Trout and Arctic Grayling Within the Parsnip River and Pack River Watersheds.”

Hooft, Jason. 2014. “Prince George Forest District: Parsnip Watershed 468 Locations Contract: PD14TGB003,” 25.

MoE. 2019. “Known Bc Fish Observations and Bc Fish Distributions.” Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy - Knowledge Management. https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/known-bc-fish-observations-and-bc-fish-distributions.