New Blog: A Load Of Bull

[jpinkster]

Apologies to anyone who had already read this, it somehow got itself removed from the forum.

 

 

http://pikepinksterab.blogspot.ca/2015/07/a-load-of-bull.html

 

 

There was something I wanted to add to the content in the blog for discussion:

 

We hear that increased recreational and industrial pressure is causing huge amounts of sediment and silt to enter the rivers. This sediment is hardening and putting a concerete like layer over bull trout spawning grounds. Is there anything that could be done to remove those layers of silt? I'm not talking about having come in with a jack hammer and blast that junk off...but I suspect there could be some remedial actions that could reopen some of these waters to spawning.

[WinstonConfluentus]

Pick-axe, jackhammer or track machine with a ripper is the unfortunate, appropriate approach and has been used in other streams. Our geology being limestone, (calcite) based compounds this problem greatly as carbonic acid in rain breaks chemical bonds which then reform in the stream bed. This is over-simplified, but effectively the issue.

[jpinkster]

Have those measures been at all effective, or does it cause more damage?

[WinstonConfluentus]

It is my understanding these measures can be very effective, but must be applied at just the right time under just the right circumstances. For example, in Hidden Creek it would need to be done after the Cutthroat "hatch" and before the Bulls head in to spawn; preferably before a rain event.

 

It's effectively no different than the streambed mobilization which occurs naturally or in a flood like the one in 2013. The larger the event, the greater the amount of movement and the larger the pieces which are moved. The calcification of the stream bed reduces nature's ability to do this, sometimes to near zero, so places like Hidden Creek and many others may need a hand from us to allow this natural process to once again occur.

 

Another extremely important aspect of this is the lost of the small spaces between the streambed cobble. This is its own small ecosystem critically important to aquatic invertebrates, fry, young of the year etc. Where linier disturbance occurs, roads, trails, power lines, cut-blocks et al, sediment follows and aquatic creatures die; sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, but the net result is clear and quantified.

 

All three of our native fish in the Oldman's watershed are now either listed as at risk or in the process of listing. Cutthroat are down to approximately 5% of their historic range, Bulls are running out of places to spawn and battling high stream temps and Whitefish numbers are way down.

 

Great work on the blog and in raising awareness; we should connect when you are down this way sometime.

 

Clearly, the time for action is now if we want these fish to persist.

[jpinkster]

Thanks, I really appreciate the feedback. I'll be headed up that way from July 31-Aug 1 and then back again at the end of August. Send me a DM, I'd be thrilled to connect!