Crossing 125098 - Unnamed Road - Trib to Parsnip River

Site Location

Crossing 125098 is located on an unnamed tributary to Parsnip River near the 1km mark of an unnamed road (tenure ID R01821B). The road is accessed from the Chuchinka-Arctic FSR. The culvert is located 0.6km upstream from the confluence with the Parsnip River (Table 1). At the time of the field surveys, there appeared to be no active log hauling on the road.

Background Information

At the crossing location, the stream is 1st order with watershed elevations ranging from a maximum of 830m to 780m at the culvert. There were no other crossings upstream.

Provincial records indicate that Rainbow Trout were captured upstream of the crossing by DWB in 2017 (MoE 2019b).

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 125098 was ranked as a moderate priority for follow up with habitat confirmation due to the confirmed presence of Rainbow Trout and modeled low gradient habitat upstream (Table 2). The habitat confirmation was completed on September 08, 2019. A map of the watershed including areas surveyed is provided in Attachment 1 – Map 093I111.

Stream Characteristics at Crossing

At the time of the survey, the un-embedded and non-backwatered 1.2m diameter crossing was considered a barrier to upstream fish passage with a pipe length of 10m, a culvert slope of 4% and an outlet drop of 0.4m (Table 3, Figure 1). Water temperature was 11\(^\circ\)C and conductivity was 43uS/cm.

Stream Characteristics Downstream

The stream was surveyed downstream from the culvert for 215m. Overall, total cover amount was rated as abundant with undercut banks dominant andsmall woody debris, large woody debris, and overhanging vegetation also present. However, the small stream had very minimal flows with moss present mid-channel indicating low flow volumes were typical for the system (Figures 2 - 3). Occasional pockets of gravels suitable for spawning were noted as present. The average channel width was 1.7m, the average wetted width was 1.1m and the average gradient was 4.5% (Table 4). Riparian vegetation was comprised of a mature coniferous forest. Habitat value downstream of the crossing was rated as low due to likely very limited rearing and spawning potential resulting from low flow conditions.

Stream Characteristics Upstream

The stream was surveyed upstream from the culvert for 295m. The average channel width was 2m, the average wetted width was 1.6m and the average gradient was 3% (Table 4). Riparian vegetation was comprised of a mature coniferous forest and total cover amount was rated as moderate. The dominant cover form was undercut banks with small woody debris, large woody debris, and overhanging vegetation also available (Figures 4 - 5). Some pockets of gravels suitable for spawning were noted as present. Habitat value downstream of the crossing was rated as low due to likely very limited rearing and spawning potential resulting from low flow conditions.

Conclusion

Mapping indicates there is 1km of habitat upstream of crossing 125098. Although Rainbow Trout have been recorded upstream, habitat value was rated as low value due to a lack of significant flow volume. Review of Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations & Rural Development (FLNR) licensee operating areas maps indicate that the forest licensee in the area is Sinclar Group with the road tenure holder detailed as Winton Global Lumber Ltd. (MoE 2019a). The crossing was ranked as a low priority for rehabilitation.

Table 1: Overview of stream crossing.

Site	Stream	Road	Tenure	UTM (10N)	Fish Species	Habitat Gain (km)	Priority
125098	Trib to Parsnip River	Unnamed	WINTON GLOBAL LUMBER LTD. R01821 B	582902 6035080	RB	1	Low

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	1			1.4	RB	Medium	Mod	Over 1 km of habitat modelled as between 3-5% gradient. First order stream.

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
125098	1.2	10	no	no	1	0.4	0.3	0.9	Barrier

Table 4: Summary of habitat details

Site	Location	Length Surveyed (m)	Channel Width (m)	Wetted Width (m)	Pool depth (m)	Gradient (%)	Habitat Value
125098	Upstream	295	2	1.6	0.1	3	Low
125098	Downstream	215	1.7	1.1	0.2	4.5	Low

Figure 1: Outlet of PSCIS crossing 125098 (UTM: 10N 582892 6035087).

Figure 2: Habitat downstream of PSCIS crossing 125098 (UTM: 10N 582902 6035084).

Figure 3: Habitat downstream of PSCIS crossing 125098 (UTM: 10N 582978 6035051).

Figure 4: View of habitat upstream of PSCIS crossing 125098 (UTM: 10N 582843 6035121).

Figure 5: View of habitat upstream of PSCIS crossing 125098 (UTM: 10N 582795 6035202).

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.”

MoE. 2019a. “Forest Tenure Road Segment Lines - Data Catalogue.” https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/forest-tenure-road-segment-lines.

———. 2019b. “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.