1 Introduction

Nupqu Resource Limited Partnership (Nupqu) was retained by the Canadian Wildlife Federation in the summer of 2021 to conduct fish passage and habitat confirmation assessments at road-stream crossings and dams within the Elk River watershed group as part of connectivity restoration planning targeting westslope cutthrout trout. New Graph Environment Ltd. was sub-contracted by Nupqu to assist with project delivery. The assessments conducted in 2021 complement work completed in 2020 (72 fish passage assessments and 15 habitat confirmation assessments) which can be viewed interactively online at https://newgraphenvironment.github.io/fish_passage_elk_2020_reporting_cwf/ (Irvine 2021).

The health and viability of freshwater fish populations can depend on access to tributary and off channel areas which provide refuge during high flows, opportunities for foraging, overwintering habitat, spawning habitat and summer rearing habitat (Bramblett et al. 2002; Swales and Levings 1989; Diebel et al. 2015). Culverts can present barriers to fish migration due to low water depth, increased water velocity, turbulence, a vertical drop at the culvert outlet and/or maintenance issues (Slaney, Zaldokas, and Watershed Restoration Program (B.C.) 1997; Cote et al. 2005). Also of relevance to aquatic connectivity, there are a multitude of dam structures historically installed throughout the province for numerous purposes such as water extraction and hydropower generation. There are numerous opportunities to restore connectivity by ensuring that fish passage considerations are incorporated into repair, replacement, relocation and deactivation designs for both stream crossing barrier and dam barrier structures.