Crossing 125186 - Chuchinka-Missinka FSR - Trib to Missinka River

Site Location

Crossing 125186 is located on an unnamed tributary to the Missinka River near the 7.5km mark of the Chuchinka-Missinka FSR. The culvert is located approximately 4.1km and 5.1km west of crossings 125180 and 125179 which also were surveyed with habitat confirmation assessments. The stream empties into the Missinka River 0.4km downstream of crossing 125186 (Table 1). At the time of the field surveys, there was very little traffic on the FSR, the road was in disrepair and there appeared to be no active logging in the immediate area.

Background Information

At the crossing location, the unnamed tributary to the Missinka River is a 3rd order stream with a watershed area upstream of the road of approximatley 4.7km². The elevation of the watershed ranges from a maximum of 1400m to 800m at the culvert. There are no other stream crossing (culvert) barriers upstream of the Chuchinka-Missinka FSR.

Provincial records indicate that in 1998 there were Rainbow Trout captured near the crossing location as well as 460m upstream (MoE 2019; Triton Environmental Consultants Ltd. 1999). Hagen et al. (2015) have identified the Missinka River watershed as containing critical spawning habitat for large body adult Bull Trout with potentially less than 50 spawners utilizing the watershed. Additionally, they note that critical juvenile Bull Trout rearing habitat is also present. The Missinka River watershed is also utilized by a possibly genetically distinct, self-sustaining Arctic Grayling population with the mainstem of the river providing critical habitat for fry and adult life stages (Shrimpton, Roberts, and Clarke 2012; Hagen et al. 2015).

In 2018, the Missinka River watershed was designated as a fisheries sensitive watershed under the authority of the Forest and Range Practices Act due to significant downstream fisheries values and watershed sensitivity (Beaudry 2013). Special management is required in the crossing’s watershed to protect habitat for Bull Trout and Arctic Grayling and includes measures (among others) to limit equivalent clearcut area, reduce impacts to natural stream channel morphology, retain old growth attributes and maintain fish habitat/movement (Forest and Range Practices Act 2018).

Following office review, PSCIS stream crossing 125186 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 instream (1.4km) habitat with a relatively large channel size (4.2m) and Rainbow Trout documented 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 093I116.

Stream Characteristics at Crossing

At the time of the survey, the un-embedded culvert was considered a barrier to upstream fish passage with a length of 20m, a culvert slope of 4% and an outlet drop of 0.5m (Table 3, Figure 1). Water temperature was 10\(^\circ\)C and conductivity was 30uS/cm.

Stream Characteristics Downstream

The stream was surveyed downstream from the culvert for 525m. The channel contained abundant gravels suitable for spawning and young of year salmonids were observed approximately 100 m downstream of crossing. Undercut banks comprised the dominant form of cover with overhanging vegetation, large woody debris and small woody debris also present and contributing to high habitat complexity (Figures 2 - 3). The average channel width was 3.8m, the average wetted width was 2.7m and the average gradient was 2.8% (Table 4). There were sections of abandoned dry channel at the bottom of the area surveyed and although the watered channel could not immediately be located during the survey, it is not likely disconnected from the Missinka River mainstem for much of the year (or at all) based the quantity of flow upstream. Following post-survey review of satellite imagery, it appears the channel may meander west of the mapped stream location, joining a wetland complex before flowing into the Missinka River. Habitat value downstream of the crossing was rated as high.

Stream Characteristics Upstream

The stream was surveyed upstream from the culvert for 400m. The average channel width was 3.3m, the average wetted width was 2.7m and the average gradient was 7.8% (Table 4). Riparian vegetation was comprised of a mature mixed forest and instream cover was abundant. The dominant cover form was large woody debris with boulders, undercut banks, overhanging vegetation, small woody debris, pools to 0.6m deep and gravels suitable for spawning present (Figures 4 - 5). Habitat value upstream of the crossing was rated as high.

Conclusion

There is approximately 1.4km of mainstem habitat upstream of crossing 125186 modeled as less than 22% gradient. Habitat surveyed was rated as high value for salmonids with Rainbow Trout presence confirmed up to 450m upstream of the crossing (Triton Environmental Consultants Ltd. 1999). Bull Trout is known to utilize adjacent streams of similiar size and topography within the vicinity of this stream and the watershed is designated as Fisheries Sensitive with critical habitat for Bull Trout and Arctic Grayling spawning as well as critical rearing habitat for Bull Trout juveniles and Arctic Grayling fry known in the Missinka River system. The forest licensee operating in the area was Sinclar Group Forest Products Ltd. and the road tenure holder was the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations & Rural Development. Overall, the crossing located on the Chuchinka-Missinka 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
125186	Trib to Missinka River	Chuchinka-Missinka FSR	FLNRORD 5506 11 0	565417 6052678	RB	1.4	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
093I116	1.4			4.2	RB	High	High	Larger 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
125186	1.2	20	no	no	1.5	0.5	0.4	2.8	Barrier

Table 4: Summary of habitat details

Site	Location	Length Surveyed (m)	Channel Width (m)	Wetted Width (m)	Pool depth (m)	Gradient (%)	Habitat Value
125186	Upstream	400	3.3	2.7	0.4	7.8	High
125186	Downstream	525	3.8	2.7	0.4	2.8	High

Figure 1: Inlet of PSCIS crossing 125186 (UTM: 10N 565434 6052677).

Figure 2: Habitat downstream of PSCIS crossing 125186 (UTM: 10N 565417 6052594).

Figure 3: Habitat downstream of PSCIS crossing 125186 (UTM: 10N 565421 6052574).

Figure 4: View of habitat upstream of crossing 125186 (UTM: 10N 565456 6053159).

Figure 5: View of habitat upstream of crossing 125186 (UTM: 10N 565448 6053144).

References

Beaudry, Pierre G. 2013. “Assessment and Assignment of Sensitivity Ratings to Sub-Basins of the Missinka Watershed in Parsnp Drainage – Ominieca Region. Contract Number: GS14FWH-006.” Report. P. Beaudry; Associates Ltd. http://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/acat/public/viewReport.do?reportId=51631.

Forest and Range Practices Act. 2018. “Order - Fisheries Sensitive Watershed Prince George Forest District.” http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/frpa/fsw/approved.html.

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. 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.

Shrimpton, J. M., S. L. Roberts, and A. D. Clarke. 2012. “Genetic Analysis of Arctic Grayling Population Structure in the Williston Watershedcfe3011493.Pdf.” http://a100.gov.bc.ca/appsdata/acat/documents/r38246/Report_311_GR_genetics_2012_1379090176074_c3e946726980918f9466d47b59978ad28ded2b969041dd7fe53b83cfe3011493.pdf.

Triton Environmental Consultants Ltd. 1999. “Reconnaissance (1:20,000) Fish and Fish Habitat Inventory of the Missinka River Watershed WSC: 236-614900.”