Introduction
Along the southern edge of the Penelakut Village on the west side of Penelakut Island lies a beautiful wetland which acts as a sponge to receive excess water and prevent village flooding. The wetland receives water from the various drainage ditches around the village as well groundwater and uphill areas. Currently the wetland drains onto the foreshore near Telegraph Harbour via a 600mm round culvert. This study will investigate the natural functioning of the wetland to understand if it possible to change the drainage from that culvert and redirect the wetland flow into nearby Mary Creek.
By redirecting flow in to Mary Creek, the stream will have more consistent flow throughout the year which will encourage anadromous salmonids such as Coho to migrate upstream into the wetland and use both the wetland and stream for rearing and spawning.
Activities
This multi year project will involve different phases:
- Reconnaissance
- Review of LiDAR DEM for potential channel alignment to redirect flow into Mary Creek
- Priority zones for reconnaissance will be identified
- Ground truthing of potential outlet channel locations
- Collection of high resolution drone imagery
- Channel prescriptions will be engineered
- Construction
- Heavy machinery moved to site
- Excavate path of new channel
- Removal of old culverts
- Post Construction Monitoring and Education
- Seasonal inspections and measurements to make sure channel is carrying enough water to keep stream flowing, but not so much as to drain the wetland
- Trapping for juvenile fish to see when salmon start to move in
- Field trips with Penelakut youth to learn about restoration, about how to collection data and to inspire them to work for the SMP team in future.
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