Estimated Steelhead Habitat Smolt Capacity & Returning Adults (assuming 13% marine survival):

• 1,923 smolts, 250 adults (SHA Model, Ptolemy 2002)

Existing Habitat:
watershed area (km2):	86.2		Comments
mean annual discharge (m3/s):	3.7		Stream bank erosion (slumping clay banks), loss of stable woody debris, low summer flows, urban and industrial impacts, particularly downstream of Quatse Hatchery. Baseflow alkalinity very low at 10 mg/L and predicted biomass or capacity per steelhead size class is 115 g/Unit.
Summer baseflow (%mad)	~7
accessible length (km):	11.9
productivity: (natural)	low

HABITAT RESTORATION TO DATE

• Nil

SPECIAL HABITAT PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS

• Minimize new and address current urban and industrial impacts downstream of the Quatse Hatchery.
• Improve logging practices to minimize impacts on the stream.

STEELHEAD OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES

• Enhance existing steelhead fishery through reinstating hatchery release of 15,000 smolts a year and reducing fry stocking (no change to egg-take target).
• Conduct a biophysical inventory/habitat capability assessment .
• Investigate feasibility of providing headwater storage on Quatse Lake to provide conservation flows in all mainstem reaches.

IDENTIFIED RECOVERY OPTIONS

• Conduct annual stream enrichment (low cost -started in 2001, but temporarily discontinued in 2002 on account of unavailability of slow release product).
• Restore damaged habitats documented above.

NOTES: Wightman 1998 suggests measures for trying to rebuild wild populations. Wild steelhead spawners have since dropped to such low levels that this may not be possible. It is recommended that habitat protection be improved, stream fertilization be done and fry stocking directed to vacant habitat. These measures would benefit wild production of all salmonid species present.

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Streambank erosion (i.e., slumping clay banks), loss of stable large woody debris and headwater storage (i.e., flow augmentation from Quatse Lake) should be the priorities for investigation and possible remedial action.

A nutrient enrichment project began in 2001 using a new solid, slow-release fertilizer product (restoration reach 1 on watershed map). This project was suspended in 2002 when the US-based fertilizer manufacturer abruptly ended supply of the prototype product. Inorganic/organic enrichment of the Quatse River will be resumed once a new product becomes available. Two possible replacement products are now being field-tested by provincial fisheries research staff from UBC.

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Emphasis should be on urban and industrial impacts downstream of the Quatse Hatchery (including the estuary), Forest Practices Code (FPC) regulations compliance, and maintenance of acceptable minimum flows for wild steelhead, coho and sea run cutthroat in all mainstem reaches below Quatse Lake.

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Estimated Steelhead Habitat Smolt Capacity & Returning Adults (assuming 13% marine survival):

• 7000 smolts / 910 adults(based on Ward 1996, SHA Model (Ptolemy 2002) & Tredger 1986 (low)
• Conservation Concern Level @ 30% of capacity is 273 adults

Existing Habitat:
watershed area (km2):	130.2		Comments
mean annual discharge (m3/s):	5.6		Heavily logged in past to pre-FPC standards, but now largely restored at a cost of about $70K per km. Steelhead capacity prior to fertilization = 145 g/Unit
Summer Base Flow (%mad):	7.3
accessible length (km):	32
productivity:	medium

HABITAT RESTORATION TO DATE

• Extensive restoration undertaken by placement of rocks and ballasted large woody debris - serves as a WRP demonstration site.
• Full stream enrichment done annually.
• Headwater storage, side channels and over-wintering alcoves also built in last five years.

SPECIAL HABITAT PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS

• Careful (Helicopter Only) logging on any steep slopes that have the potential for instability.
• Careful control of any net pen operations in O'Connor Lake to prevent accidental escapes.

STEELHEAD OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES

• Re-establish wild stock productive capacity through inorganic enrichment and habitat restoration.

Maintain ongoing steelhead index stream capabilities.

• Operate stream as a research and demonstration watershed - experiments in enrichment and stream enhancement must have full evaluation capability.
• Continue the LGB experimental smolt stocking started in 2001 until at least 2004.

IDENTIFIED RECOVERY OPTIONS

• Conduct annual full stream enrichment (resumed in 2000).
• LGB smolt introduction should be continued (began in 2001 and to continue to at least 2004).

NOTES: This is the province's only long-term research watershed and provides vital applied research information for management and habitat rehabilitation of other coastal steelhead systems. It is imperative that this work be continued and the existing facilities maintained. The LGB program needs full scientific evaluation.

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The Keogh River will continue to serve as a model for watershed restoration, and paired watershed study with the nearby Waukwass River (using the latter as a "control"). A wide range of habitat restoration techniques have been used on the Keogh, including rearing habitat complexing, side-channels/overwintering "alcoves," inorganic enrichment and flow augmentation. Fish population and stream channel responses to these improvements will continue to be closely monitored as required by the experimental design. While most in-stream restoration is now complete, there is a need to continue with inorganic/organic nutrient enrichment, particularly in years following weak salmon escapements.

Media:

The Vancouver Sun, October 16, 2000.
How a 'magic bullet' is saving the Keogh River by Scott Simpson.

National Post.
Salmon River leaps back to life by Mark Hume.

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Given the history of forest harvesting in the Keogh, it is important the Forest Practices Code regulations be strictly applied during logging operations. Furthermore, given the profile of this watershed as a long-term steelhead research site, it is critical that other activities such as net pen Atlantic salmon aquaculture not be permitted in any of its lakes. Escaped Atlantics from other net pen operations have raised the potential for competition with native species, as well as disease and parasite transfers. In the same vein, the Quatse Hatchery net pen operation in O'Connor Lake must be closely monitored to ensure compliance with environmental standards, fish health regulations and the integrity of predator control and fish containment facilities.

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Report:

Adult Steelhead Trout and Salmonid Smolt Migration at the Keogh River, B.C. during Spring 2002, McCubbing (2002) (442KB PDF, opens in new browser window).

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In response to the 1990s steelhead conservation crisis on the east coast of Vancouver Island, the province's Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection developed an experimental Living Gene Bank program (LGB) at the Vancouver Island Trout Hatchery in Duncan in 1998. The LGB includes three winter steelhead stocks from the Keogh, Quinsam and Little Qualicum rivers. These stocks were selected based on: 1) potential for rebuilding a self-sustaining wild population; 2) opportunity to critically evaluate success, and c) geographic location within the region where steelhead stocks were most at risk.

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POST - the Pacific Ocean Salmon Tracking Project, Welch, Boehlert & Ward (2005) (735KB PDF, opens in new browser window)

Abstract: For most of history the ocean has remained nearly opaque to study, and mankind has been unable to understand where salmon or other marine animals go or how they make use of the ocean in any detail. This greatly limits the ability of oceanographers and fisheries biologists to improve the management of many marine resources. The technical basis now exists to track the ocean movements of individual marine fish for months or years at a time, potentially allowing their study over thousands of kilometers at sea in a cost-effective and scientifically credible way. In this article we review how new technologies might be applied to salmon in particular. Our conclusion is that animals as small as juvenile Pacific salmon can be followed for months to years at sea, and thus over great distances. By identifying the migration pathways for individual salmon and specific populations of Pacific salmon, we can establish their ocean foraging grounds. In this paper we outline the approaches and initial results from the Census of Marine Life program POST to improve our understanding of the oceanic life history of Pacific salmon. The research program involves two distinct aspects: (1) the development of an acoustic array for tracking the movements of Pacific salmon during their shelf resident phase of the life history and (2) the use of archival (data storage) tags to measure aspects of their local environment and to delineate their open ocean migration pathways off the shelf. As part of this effort, the planning phase will focus on tagging steelhead using both acoustic and archival tags. We report here on some of the preliminary findings from the first year of the field project using acoustic tags.

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• 1,731 smolts / 225 adults (based on SHA Model (Ptolemy 2002) and Tredger 1986 (low end))
• Conservation Concern Level @ 30% of capacity is 68 adults

Existing Habitat:
watershed area (km2):	96.3		Comments
mean annual discharge (m3/s):	4.1		Main stem channel instability, bank erosion, and sediment transport. Has greater percentage of riffle/cascade habitat than Quatse in upper 8 km. Baseflow alkalinity low at 28 mg/L and predicted capacity per steelhead size class is 192 g/Unit.
Summer Base Flow (%mad):	~7
accessible length (km):	18.9
productivity:	moderate

HABITAT RESTORATION TO DATE

• Inorganic enrichment began in 2001 but was discontinued in 2002 due to slow-release product unavailability.

SPECIAL HABITAT PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS:

• Improve logging practices through strict application of good forest practices - particular emphasis should be placed on cut blocks on steep slopes in headwater reaches where current operations are now largely focused.
• Investigate need to isolate/remove or treat abandoned Port McNeill landfill above Highway 19.

STEELHEAD OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES

• Maintain a fishery for approximately 500 rod-days over 2 to 5-km fishable length through augmentation (winter steelhead smolts and fry raised by Quatse Hatchery) and conserve/rebuild wild stock if possible.
• Review present management strategy and undertake comprehensive biophysical inventory to identify steelhead recovery options and constraints.

IDENTIFIED RECOVERY OPTIONS

• Conduct annual Inorganic nutrient enrichment - middle and upper reaches (done in 2001).
• Conduct stream restoration in the lower 6km. Detailed prescriptions should be developed by consultants - emphasis on bank stabilization using anchored large woody debris and boulders, development of stable side channels and over-wintering alcoves.

NOTES: The stream is now eroding into the abandoned landfill on Crown Land above Highway 19. This is a potential source of toxic leachates.

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The Cluxewe is a prime candidate for significant habitat restoration investments. There is much evidence of mainstem channel instability, bank erosion and sediment transport, particularly in the lowermost 10km. Past logging of streambanks combined with "windthrow" have exacerbated these problems. Emphasis should be placed on bank stabilization using anchored large woody debris, boulders and development of stable sidechannels and "alcoves" (over-wintering ponds connected to the stream). MWLAP staff must take a lead role in getting forest companies, DFO, stewardship groups and First Nations to sponsor and support an aggressive habitat restoration program on the Cluxewe.

A stream fertilization project involving key reaches of the mainstem Cluxewe was initiated in 2001 using a solid, slow release product (restoration reach 1 on watershed map). Enrichment has been suspended pending development of new slow release fertilizer product.

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The Cluxewe's flood hydrology may have been altered by extensive logging in the watershed over the last decade or more. A Coastal Watershed Assessment Procedure (CWAP) should be undertaken to evaluate rate of cut-hydrology relationships. Strict application of FPC regulations should be a high priority for all current logging operations in this system. This particularly applies to cut-blocks on steep slopes in headwater reaches where some current operations are now focussed.

An abandoned landfill near the river's south bank, about 1 km upstream of the North Island Highway (restoration site 2 on watershed map), should be investigated to identify appropriate remedial works. Streambank erosion continues to expose waste materials at this site, and little is known about potential contaminants. At this point, options including streambank armoring and an improved "seal" or "cap" for the deposited wastes could be considered.

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