Salmon Steward

10 2019 psf.ca L ast year, the Pacific Salmon Foundation provided more than $200,000 to help mitigate the eect of wildfires on critical Chinook and Coho Salmon habitat in the B.C. Interior. "The cumulative impacts of wildfires over the last two years on salmon habitat in the region have been significant," says PSF science advisor Dr. Brian Riddell. "This is a complex challenge to deal with and it requires the kind of comprehensive group initiative being undertaken by the Baker Creek Enhancement Society and Nazko First Nation." "The last two wildfire seasons in B.C. were record-breaking in terms of their damage, which not only aected forests and ecosystems, but also aected the fish which rely on those ecosystems," says Doug Donaldson, minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. "The partnership between the Nazko First Nation, the Baker Creek Enhancement Society and the Pacific Salmon Foundation is providing leadership in improving outcomes for salmon in this wildfire-impacted area." In‹the‹summer of 2017 alone, the unprecedented Plateau Fire burned‹over 521,000 hectares of land. Important Chinook and Coho runs were seriously aected, both with respect to their spawning grounds and rearing‹habitat. The geographic focus of the recovery initiative will be the Nazko/Quesnel area, specifically eight sites over an estimated area of 203 hectares. Work will include live-staking of pioneer plant species along rivers and streams, as well as underplanting and upslope planting of conifers and other trees. In addition, a nursery will be constructed to foster restoration of the plant community. "It is going to take substantial eorts and focus from all levels of government, community groups, volunteers and citizens to restore critical salmon habitat devastated by wildfires," says Tracy Bond, executive director, Baker Creek Enhancement Society.‹"We need to find creative ways to work together to ensure the juvenile salmon have food and cover so they can make the journey from the Interior to the ocean and so the adults coming back in the fall have the habitat they require to complete the spawning cycle. The Pacific Salmon Foundation has provided the initial funding to get this project o the ground and to help us attract the many partners we will need to complete this work." Taking place over a three-year period, the project could serve as a model for further wildfire mitigation eorts across B.C. "There are many other areas of the province that have similar impacts on salmon habitat from years of wildfire activity," Dr. Riddell concludes. "The initiative being led by the Baker Creek Enhancement Society and Nazko First Nation will be a catalyst for similar eorts in other regions in order to mitigate the damage that has been done." A new initiative could set the template for restoring habitat ravaged by wildfires Bernice Cremo, Nazko First Nation Economic Development and Resource Management; Robert (Bo) Mills, Quesnel River Environmental; and Tracy Bond, Baker Creek Enhancement Society, in front of habitat decimated by B.C.'s largest-ever forest fire, 2017's Plateau Fire, which was created by 19 fires merging 60 kilometres west of Quesnel. SCORCHED ECOSYSTEM

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