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[jon5hill]

I did some a little homework about independent power projects in the past few days and since I've seen that people are typically opposed to them and their lack of environmental considerations, particularly those that are under 50 megawatts, I looked to see if any were affecting the most popular river in the lower mainland for sportfishing - The Vedder/Chilliwack watershed.

Here is a list of pending applications for power projects in creeks that stem off of the Vedder/Chilliwack River and their estimated megawatt output.

South:

Tamihi Creek [Interpac Power Corp - 7.5 MW]
Tamihi Creek [KMC Energy Corp - 4.9 MW]
Borden Creek [TRIGEN Renewable Energy - 4.0 MW]
Slesse Creek [Interpac Power Corp - 10.8 MW]
Pierce Creek [Larsen Farms Inc - 0.76MW]
Nesakwatch Creek [LINK POWER MANAGEMENT - 3.0 MW]
Centre Creek [LINK POWER MANAGEMENT - 3.45 MW]
Centre Creek [Hydromax Energy Ltd. - 3.3 MW]
Paleface Creek [ECKERT TERESA WANDA - 10 MW]

North:
Post Creek [Hydromax Energy Ltd. - 1.2 MW]
Yola Creek [Pamawed Resources Ltd. - 4.9 MW]
Airplane Creek [Syntaris Power Corporation - 4.9 MW]
Chipmunk Creek [Syntaris Power Corporation - 10 MW]
Chipmunk Creek [Interpac Power Corp. 1.2 MW]

All of these creeks are spawning habitat for salmonids. All of these creeks are going to have reduced stream flow and degraded ecosystems because of these projects when they are ultimately passed. Due to Bill 30, the people of Chilliwack will have no say in the process of passing or rejecting these applications. The fact that they are pending approval is subject to scrutiny in itself, since they never are rejected, only adjusted to accommodate the will of the private company and fit certain "green" standards. Also of interest is that all of these projects are under 50 megawatts, which essentially fast-tracks their application process and circumvents a lot of ecological considerations during planning. What this ultimately means to us is that this list above is probably just a fraction of the hydroelectric facilities that heavily disturb balanced ecosystems upon whose services we are all the beneficiaries of. What will the future of the watershed be like? For anglers, this translates to reduced spawning area, unmitigated silt deposition during their construction decreasing survivorship of eggs, juveniles, and resident fish. A lesson learned from the damming of large rivers such as the Colombia, is that altering the flow and fluid dynamics of the watershed elicits a change in the spawning and migrating time for fish, which may prove to be a tumultuous task for an already jeopardized community of salmonid populations. Logging for powerlines and roads reduces habitat connectivity which has been shown to be a serious concern for moose, bears, deer, and other mammals. Decreased stream flow velocity may lead to the increased abundance of invasive species such as the Northern Pikeminnow, who voraciously consume fish eggs and juvenile salmonids in early spring. The effects of the Northern Pikeminnow are well known on the Colombia basin and have been devastating for anglers.

Overall, the quality of angling on the vedder/chilliwack will reduce. The river will continue to be supported by brood-stocking, which is essentially a life-support welfare system for fisherman. Brood-stocking increases the probability of identity by descent in wild stocks, as wild and hatchery steelhead mate, reducing the genetic variation and mean heterozygosity of the wild steelhead population, among others.

Please share your thoughts and concerns,

I am writing a letter describing my concern for the Vedder/Chilliwack system and following up with a petition for a more transparent and publicly involved management of our natural resources. Bill 30 and the Run of River projects are pillaging our rivers. This is just another tragedy of the commons in the works. The rational economic decisions of a few people have not considered the externalities of our ecosystems and the services they provide us with. The system needs to change, lest our rivers be ruined forever.

J

[Bavarian Raven]

so yet another river to be butchered
why am i not surprised...

[wizard]

seeing that list of rivers/creeks caused a knot in my stomach...

come on, post creek?  its not a river it's a creek!  there is so little to be gained but so much to be lost...forever.  wow I'm at a loss for words.

[Coho Cody]

DISGUSTING

[purple monster]

Should we start selling our fishing gear?  It does not sound like the fishes will be around for long with these projects that will most likely all happen, " in the progress of man"

[jon5hill]

See that section of creek inbetween the Intake and Powerhouse? These mid-sections of the run of river projects are going to have reduced discharge, which means shallower overall mean depth, fewer pools, tougher climbs for fish. Most of the time this leads to blockages when fish can't get up a certain section of the creek, so the fish ladders they input at the Weir will not be that useful since most fish will get stuck somewhere in between powerhouse and intake.

I thought there were some proponents of this run of river energy on this forum.

[mykisscrazy]

From what I have been lead to believe, maybe others can back this up, the steep section of creek is generally impassable to migratory fish. Yes there could be resident fish in the areas that are affected.
I took part in a Stream-Flow and Fish Habitat Assessment for a proposed run of the river hydroelectric power project on a stream in the Lower Mainland.
Once we reported our findings it was too expensive to undertake the project. So, for now it's not going to happen. But depending on the price of power and what is required. It could happen. So, as BC Hydro says be Power Smart

Just because something has been proposed, doesn't mean it is going to happen.
If you are concerned, as one should be, go to any public information meeting and hear the whole story.
See how the area will be affected, what's being affected. Then make a decision and act accordingly.

If there is good science behind each project, these projects could be not as evil as some make them out to be.

[wizard]

we can debate the "evilnesss" of these projects till the cows come home but you have to ask yourself...are they really necessary?  also take into consideration what is at stake.  Even if it is just a chance of them being harmful, is that chance necessary considering these are terminal projects in which will last forever.  to take advantage of ecosystems that have been taken care of responsibly for decades to just throw that away and say "we're going to profit from it" what gives anybody that rght?

[purple monster]

OK, so I took Jon5hill nice little drawing, and multiplied it by 14,  9 for the south, 5 for the North, and looked at it as a whole. 

Once you put it all together, none of it! fits together anymore.  I ran out of room to put all the little drawings together.   That's what the danger is.   Please, tell me someone, why aren't these projects look at as as a major grouping? and not for just one more shot at the pie? This is scary, and, there is no denial allowed anymore.   My father thought me  that "Mother nature must be obeyed, not ordered, or planned"

Wherever we look for the green space, we all noticed that its shrinking like hell.   We have a huge tendency to congest everything.  Cars, yards, and fishes.

[bluesteele]

From what I have been lead to believe, maybe others can back this up, the steep section of creek is generally impassable to migratory fish. Yes there could be resident fish in the areas that are affected.
I took part in a Stream-Flow and Fish Habitat Assessment for a proposed run of the river hydroelectric power project on a stream in the Lower Mainland.
Once we reported our findings it was too expensive to undertake the project. So, for now it's not going to happen. But depending on the price of power and what is required. It could happen. So, as BC Hydro says be Power Smart

Just because something has been proposed, doesn't mean it is going to happen.
If you are concerned, as one should be, go to any public information meeting and hear the whole story.
See how the area will be affected, what's being affected. Then make a decision and act accordingly.

If there is good science behind each project, these projects could be not as evil as some make them out to be.

IMO their is NO good science with these projects especially when taken as a whole as purple monster points out in his post below.

OK, so I took Jon5hill nice little drawing, and multiplied it by 14,  9 for the south, 5 for the North, and looked at it as a whole. 

Once you put it all together, none of it! fits together anymore.  I ran out of room to put all the little drawings together.   That's what the danger is.   Please, tell me someone, why aren't these projects look at as as a major grouping? and not for just one more shot at the pie? This is scary, and, there is no denial allowed anymore.   My father thought me  that "Mother nature must be obeyed, not ordered, or planned"

Wherever we look for the green space, we all noticed that its shrinking like hell.   We have a huge tendency to congest everything.  Cars, yards, and fishes.

Bluesteele 

[chris gadsden]

If these projects do go ahead part of allowing them to procede the companies should be made to pay for creating other spawning and fish habitat areas to replace the habitat effected. I have tried to suggest that to some government officals to do the same for gravel taken from our rivers, the Vedder and Fraser but all you get is a blank stare. They should be made to pay a sum for each ton removed, a compensation payment. The Fishery Act says in projects like these there is supposed to be "no net loss".

The problem is most of these projects are just rubber stamped by those that want the projects to go ahead no matter what the environmental damage can be. We have seen how the government has not told the truth on the deficit and HST to name two examples so how can we believe them any more on the Run of the River projects and lets add in fish farms once again.

I could go on but one gets tired of these issues but that is what the government banks on, we will just give up and disappear like our fish stocks are doing, thanks to this uncaring government.

To me and I said it before the last election we needed to send the present government a lesson and defeat them at the polls, that seems to be the only thing that can get their attention. Darn I am mad now and will have trouble getting to sleep tonight and I wanted to get up early and get a steelhead, before there is none left to catch.

Oh and losing two steelhead today, combined with a Leaf lose has not helped either...

Sorry for the triple hijack.