ee ey hae
a Te Rae tg tm ee mn

“et

CTS a ree oa emer sara bia ae

a ec

salmon
group
could help
through
education,
says local
researcher

by Tod Strachan

The Salmonid Enhancement
Task Group (SETG) met in Ter-
race recently, and perhaps the
greatest value from that meeting
was the knowledge SETG mem-
bers gained of the Northwest.
They toured the Kitimat industrial
and port areas, the Kitimat Hatch-
ery, and in Terrace the Deep
Creek and Eby Street hatcheries.

There were aiso formal presen-
tations providing an overview of
Northwest hatchery projects by
Fisheries and Oceans Community
Advisors. And there was a presen-
tation by Harry Nyce on the histo-
ry of Nisga’a land claims as well
as a presentation by Dr. Norma
Kerby on the value and future
prospects of the Lakelse Lake
Area.

Kerby’s presentation was time-
ly. Since the Orenda Forest Prod-
ucts announcement that proposed
the construction of a coated paper
mill at the Dubose Industrial Site

south of Lakelse Lake, a number

of views conceming the Kitimat
Valley have come forth, some
based on knowledge and experi-
ence, others on misinformation.

What are the real environmen-
tal threats to the area? Logging?
Industrial expansion? The people
who live here? Or all of the
above? Kerby focused in on the
people who live in or visit the area
from time to time.

The Lakelse watershed is rich
in fish and wildlife values, recre-
ational values and tourism values,
says Kerby. And it is provincially
significant for the fishery values it
contains. In the Skeena watershed,
the Lakelse lake and river system
provide 56 percent of all pink
salmon produced, 37 percent of
the coho, and 90 percent of the
chum salmon.

“It’s a very clean, warm, highly
productive lake,” says Kerby.
And, “We're talking about salmon
in the millions using this system.”

This influx of a million or more
salmon each year attracts a large
number of prizzly bears and small
fur bearing animals. But the same
things that attract the salmon,
bears and fur bearers, attract
other users — people.

Warm water lakes in the North-

JACQUES (Ack LEBLANC

Terrace Review —— Wednesday, November 6, 1991 13

Lake suffering under human pressure >

STRAINING THE PLAYGROUND. visitors, residents

and industry are making Lakelse Lake a victim of its own
attractiveness. A Terrace planning consultant, Dr. Norma

Kerby, thinks there will have to be some concessions made
by all groups that use the lake if it is going to remain

healthy.

west are few and far between, says
Kerby, and as a result, “Over 80
percent of the households in Kiti-
mat and Terrace use the Lakelse
Lake watershed for recreation.
Fifty-six percent of households in
Prince Rupert use the Lakelse
Lake system for recreation. And
approximately 30 percent from the
Hazelton’s and Smithers.”

What these percentages add up
to are somewhere between 5,000
to 6,000 people using the Lakelse
area on any given weekend in the
summer for activities that have
recently begun to extend into the
fringes of spring and fall. Even
winter time users are increasing in
numbers: there are more people
today who enjoy ice skating,
tobogganing, ice fishing and
snowmobiling.

“And with that number of peo-
ple,” says Kerby, “comes a
tremendous pressure on that
ecosystem.”

Fish and wildlife thrive in areas
with a vegetated shoreline, but
people do not. “That system is not
as desirable for recreation so what
has been a tend since the 1920's
is the change in environment
towards people-use, which is
detracting from the requirements
of fish.”

But there is a newer trend that
is more disturbing than occasional
users of the lake: the growing
number of residential homes being
built in the area. “This,” says
Kerby, “has a significantly differ-
ent type of impact.”

The fringes of Lakelse Lake are
a flood plain and for that reason a
little landscaping must be done
before building in the area. Year
round sewage, fertilizers and
chemicals in the garden all has to

go somewhere, and the only place
it can go is into the lake. As a
result, the relatively nutrient-poor
system where salmon thrive
becomes a nutrient-rich system
best suited for more coarse fish.

Swamps are excellent areas for
fish fry to eat and grow, but as
permanent residential pressure
builds, there is a tendency to drain
those swamps, fill them in, and
destroy piece by piece the habitat
that supports a million or more
young salmon.

There are also the industrial

No one really knows how much
air emissions are affecting the
Lakelse system at the moment,
says Kerby, because the data nec-
essary to analyze the situation
doesn’t exist. But air emissions
can alter the acidity of the water in
the valley, both with acid rain and
the not-so-familiar impact of acids
retained in snow that is released

rapidly during spring thaw, acid.

snow.

With the variety of users in the
Lakelse area, then, the question
becomes, “What is the carrying

bers. This could be done through
legislation based on data that does
not yet exist. Another solution is
education. But education isn’t
always readily accepted.

Kerby says the Salmon
Enhancement Task Group may
hold the key, Elementary school
students have a hunger for knowl-
edge and the SETG Salmonid
Enhancement'Program in schools
is building a solid base of young
people who are aware of the
importance of maintaining a fish
and wildlife habitat for the future,

users. Logging, the region’s pri-
mary industry, affects fish and
wildlife through the removal of
natural habitat.

“As forest cover is removed
and regeneration gains,” says
Kerby, “there are periods of time
when the hydrology of feeder
streams into the lake is altered. A
clear cut area has much greater
peaks and lows in terms of water
quality. And if that area is stash-
burned, then the nutrients will be
mobilized and go into the system
which is already starting to experi-
ence some stress in terms of nutri-
ent loading from residential
dwellings.”

There are other industrial users
nearby and a potential for even
more to come. The existing pulp
and paper and aluminum plants
pollute the same airshed that is
absorbing a part of the impact of
people who use the lake.

Kerby explains that at certain
times of the year, particularly dur-
ing high pressure weather systems

. in the summer, air dispersion qual-

ilics are poor. At other times there
are inversion layers that hold
industrial emissions in the valley.

capacity of the system?”

According to Kerby: “There is
a threshold level beyond which
you start changing the characteris-
tics of the lake which hasn’t
changed yet, we're still within the
safe boundaries; but in terms of
long-term planning you want to
address that issue and ask, “How
far can we. go before we lose the
resource?’ “*

Finding solutions will be diffi-
cult, but solutions must be found.
Recreational users can't be prohib-
ited, and the residents can’t be
moved away. Existing industries
can’t be shut down. And faced
with current economic factors, it is
very difficult to tell new industries
they are no longer welcomed in
the area,

But if the fish are killed, what
are the economic implications of
such a catastrophic event? The
fishing industry would disappear.
There would be few tourists.
There would be no recreational
fishing opportunity for residents of
the arca. So solutions obviously
must be found.

One solution is to balance the
users, their habits and their num-

In part, the program deals with
compromise, 2 litde give and take
on the part of each user.

And for school children, it’s a
hands-on experience that won't be
forgotten easily. Learning to rec-
ognize the value of reed beds for
rearing fish, visiting hatcheries,
raising fry in the classroom and
releasing them in streams to one
day return and spawn... “For
them,” says Kerby, “It is a touch
of reality.”

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