Barrier Prioritization

Horsefly River Watershed Barrier Prioritization Summary

The primary conservation outcome of the WCRP will be the remediation of barriers to connectivity in the Horsefly River watershed. To achieve Goal 1 in this plan, it is necessary to prioritize and identify a suite of barriers that, if remediated, will provide access to a minimum of 17.44 km of spawning or rearing habitat (Table 1):

Table 1: Spawning and rearing habitat connectivity gain requirements to meet WCRP goals in the Horsefly River watershed. The measures of currently accessible and total habitat values are derived from the Intrinsic Potential habitat model described in Appendix B.

Habitat Type	Currently accessible (km)	Total	Current Connectivity Status	Goal	Gain required (km)
Spawning and Rearing	304.68	335.54	91%	96%	17.44

The barrier prioritization analysis ranked barriers by the amount of habitat blocked to produce an “intermediate barrier list” comprising more barriers than are needed to achieve the goals. A longer list of barriers is needed due to the inherent assumptions in the connectivity model, habitat model, and gaps in available data. Barriers that have been modelled (i.e., points where streams and road/rail networks intersect) are assumed to be barriers until field verification is undertaken and structures that have been assessed as “potential” barriers (e.g., may be passable at certain flow levels or for certain life history stages) require further investigation before a definitive remediation decision is made. Additionally, the habitat model identifies stream segments that have the potential to support spawning or rearing habitat for target species but does not attempt to quantify habitat quality or suitability (see Appendix B), which will require additional field verification once barrier assessments have completed. As such, the intermediate list of barriers below (Table 3) should be considered as a starting point in the prioritization process and represents structures that are a priority to evaluate further through barrier assessment and habitat confirmations because some structures will likely be passable, others will not be associated with usable habitat, and others may not be feasible to remediate because of logistic considerations. The intermediate barrier list was updated following the barrier assessments and habitat confirmations that were undertaken during the 2021 field season - some barriers were moved forward to the “priority barrier list” (see Table 2) and others were eliminated from consideration due to one or more of the considerations discussed above (see Table 4). The priority barrier list represents structures that were confirmed to be partial or full barriers to fish passage and that block access to confirmed habitat. Barriers on the priority list were reviewed by planning team members and selected for inclusion for proactive pursual of remediation. For more details on the barrier prioritization model, please see Mazany-Wright et al. (2021).

Table 2:

The Horsefly River watershed priority barrier list, which includes barriers that have undergone field assessment, been reviewed by the planning team, and selected to pursue for proactive remediation.

ID	Stream name	Road name	Owner	Proposed fix	Estimated cost	Upstream habitat Quality	Barrier type	Habitat gain	Cost Benefit ratio	Priority	Next steps	Reason	Notes
1100000243	Gibbons Creek		Private	Reassess dam presence	5	Low	TBD	2.670	53.40	Low	Barrier assessment		Private owner, unlikely to be cooperative.
1100000814	Rat/Peter Creek		Private	Reassess dam presence	5	Low	Dam	1.410	28.20	Low	Barrier assessment		also test water quality while out there, take a look at the bridge 124264 on Horsefly-Quesnel Lk Rd downstream.
124268	Vedder Creek	Horsefly-Quesnel Lake Road	MOTI	Replace with 4 m clearspan bridge	400	High	Partial	0.175	0.04	Medium	Design	High quality habitat but seems to be accessible to most fish
57507	Wilmot Creek	Horsefly 1242-01	MOTI	Replace with 7 m Clearspan Bridge	700	Medium	Full	1.650	0.24	High	Design	High potential for use by salmon, direct connection to Horsefly
124150	Trib to Deerhorn	Unnamed	Private (Bob & Helen Sullivan)	Replace with 5 m Clearspan Bridge	75	Medium	Potential	1.890	2.52	Medium	Design	Good rearing upstream, good spawning downstream	Owners not super receptive to work right now
124272	Trib to Woodjam Creek	Unnamed	Private (for sale)	Replace with 4 m clearspan bridge	60	High	Partial	0.930	1.55	Medium	Design	Passable to adults but high quality habitat upstream	Property for sale
124256	Harpers Lake Creek	Horsefly Road	MOTI	Replace with 7 m Clearspan Bridge	700	Medium	Full	0.870	0.12	Medium	Design	Direct access to Horsefly R, provide access to Harpers Lake
126471	Trib to Woodjam Creek	unnamed	FLNRO	Replace with 3 m clearspan bridge	60	Medium	Partial	0.110	0.18	Low	Design	Short habitat gain, parr able to pass at some flows, dewatering/ stranding potential
126511	Trib to Horsefly River	unnamed	Tolko Industries	Remove culvert from under bridge	30	Medium	Potential	3.500	11.67	High	Follow up with barrier owner	simple fix, bridge already in place, low cost, decent habitat	Industry barrier (Tolko)
1006800487	Divan Creek	unnamed	W. Fraser Mills	Restore stream channel through deactivated corridor	40	Low	Full	1.440	3.60	Medium	Follow up with barrier owner	Low quality habitat but industry-owned	Industry barrer (W. Fraser Mills)
57158	Trib to McKinley Ck	R02156-887	W. Fraser Mills	Replace with 6 m clearspan bridge	100	Medium	Full	0.360	0.36	Medium	Follow up with barrier owner	short habitat gain (wetland upstream), industry-owned. Poorly definte channel beyond wetland	Industry barrier (West Fraser Mills)
1100001822	Gibbons Creek		Private	Reassess habitat quality	5	Low	Dam	2.420	48.40	Low	Habitat investigations		Private owner, unlikely to be cooperative
57168	Trib to Bosk Lake	Black Creek-Cruiser Lake	FLNRO	Replace with 11 m clearspan bridge	150	Medium	Partial-Full	0.970	0.65	High	Remediation	Potential for upstream spawning and rearing

Table 3:

Updated intermediate barrier list resulting from the second barrier prioritization analysis in the Horsefly River watershed. After assessing the potential barriers on the first iteration of the intermediate list (2021 field season) and either identifying them as remediation priorities or eliminating them from consideration (e.g., because they passed fish or did hot have suitable habitat upstream), the remaining potential barriers in the watershed were re-prioritized. The barriers on this list were prioritized to exceed the connectivity goals of the plan. Barriers highlighted in the same colour represent sets of barriers that have been prioritized as a group. In the Barrier Status column, P = potential barrier and B = confirmed barrier. All barrier assessment data is compiled from the BC Provincial Stream Crossing Inventory System.

ID	Stream name	Data source	Assessment Status	Barrier Status	Spawning and Rearing Habitat Blocked (KM)	Next Steps	Comments
57556	Sucker Creek	PSCIS	Habitat Confirmation	B	3.38	Barrier assessment (reassessment)	Assess culvert retrofit to ensure it is functioning as intended.
1006801130	Wilmot Creek	Modelled	Modelled	P	1.47	Barrier assessment
57470	Black Creek	PSCIS	Assessed	P	1.12	Fix crossing in model	Consultants mapped barrier in wrong location. This should be on Black Creek Road, which is passable.
1006800483	Molybdenite Creek	Modelled	Modelled	P	0.63	Barrier assessment	High up in system near headwaters.
126438	Trib to Horsefly River	PSCIS	Assessed	P	0.85	Barrier assessment (reassessment)	Medium quality habitat. Noted as still passable in 2012. Due for reassessment.
1006800298	Patenaude Creek	Modelled	Modelled	P	0.80	Barrier assessment	CH and CO on record.
1006800581	Trib to Elbow Lake	Modelled	Modelled	P	0.78	Barrier assessment
124249	Trib to Horsefly Lake	PSCIS	Assessed	B	0.71	Barrier assessment (reassessment)	Regular flooding 2013. Possibly been replaced by now?
1006801356	Trib to Horsefly Lake	Modelled	Modelled	P	0.69	Barrier assessment	High up in system at far end of lake.
1006800220	Trib to Harpers Lake	Modelled	Modelled	P	0.34	Barrier assessment?	Part of Trib to Harpers Lake set.
126510	Trib to Horsefly River	PSCIS	Assessed	B	1.33	Barrier assessment	Medium habitat value, despite being low flows upstream, but high up in watershed.
1006800484	Molybdenite Creek	Modelled	Modelled	P	0.37	Barrier assessment	Downstream of 1006800483.
124256	Trib to Horsefly River	PSCIS	Habitat Confirmation	B	0.00	Reassessment	Medium quality habitat would provide access to Harpers Lake.

Table 4:

List of barriers that were prioritized as part of the first iteration of the intermediate barrier list (field assessments occurred during the 2021 field season) but were removed from consideration for pursual of proactive remediation following discussion with the planning team due to these structures not existing, being passable, not be associated with usable habitat, or deemed not feasible to remediate because of logistic considerations.

ID	Stream name	Reason for removal from prioritization	Comments
1006800520	Woodjam Creek	Structure doesn't exist	Access permission not granted. Landowners confirmed bridge / barrier
57596	Bassett Creek	Passable	No stream crossing identified but large woody debris dam exists and was deemed passable to fish
1006800319	Niquidet Creek	Passable	Pedestrian bridge across creek not a barrier to fish passage
1006800657	Niquidet Creek	Structure doesn't exist/Passable	Location is a cattle trail/ford with no crossing structure; not a barrier to fish
1006800240	Trib to Horsefly River	Structure doesn't exist/Passable	Cattle trail/ford crossing location likely refers to historic crossing that has been decommissioned and abandoned at edge of channel
57292	Bassett Creek	Impassable natural barrier downstream
197701	Trib to McKinley Creek	Not suitable habitat	No connectivity to stream poor spawning and overwintering habitat moderate rearing potential
57317	Trib to McKinley Creek	Not suitable habitat	Small defined channel but no water = poor spawning rearing overwintering potential
1006800648	Gibbons Creek	Passable	Road carried by a 2200 mm diameter arch culvert that is 12 m long does not represent a barrier to fish passag

Table 5: List of barriers that were prioritized as part of the first iteration of the intermediate barrier list (field assessments occurred during the 2021 field season) but were removed from consideration for pursual of proactive remediation following discussion with the planning team due to these structures not existing, being passable, not be associated with usable habitat, or deemed not feasible to remediate because of logistic considerations.

ID	Stream name	Reason for removal from prioritization	Comments
1006800520	Woodjam Creek	Structure doesn't exist	Access permission not granted. Landowners confirmed bridge / barrier
57596	Bassett Creek	Passable	No stream crossing identified but large woody debris dam exists and was deemed passable to fish
1006800319	Niquidet Creek	Passable	Pedestrian bridge across creek not a barrier to fish passage
1006800657	Niquidet Creek	Structure doesn't exist/Passable	Location is a cattle trail/ford with no crossing structure; not a barrier to fish
1006800240	Trib to Horsefly River	Structure doesn't exist/Passable	Cattle trail/ford crossing location likely refers to historic crossing that has been decommissioned and abandoned at edge of channel
57292	Bassett Creek	Impassable natural barrier downstream	nan
197701	Trib to McKinley Creek	Not suitable habitat	No connectivity to stream poor spawning and overwintering habitat moderate rearing potential
57317	Trib to McKinley Creek	Not suitable habitat	Small defined channel but no water = poor spawning rearing overwintering potential
1006800648	Gibbons Creek	Passable	Road carried by a 2200 mm diameter arch culvert that is 12 m long does not represent a barrier to fish passag

Out of the 8 on the intermediate list, 16 require further field assessment before selection as a final barrier to pursue for remediation:

Table 6:

Field assessment requirements for the intermediate barrier list in the Horsefly River watershed. The cost per barrier values are estimates based on previously completed field work. The habitat confirmation count is based on the assumption that the 12 barriers requiring barrier assessments will also require a subsequent confirmation. In the case that some barriers are identified as unsuitable candidates for habitat confirmations, the total cost will be reduced.

Field assessment	Cost per barrier	Count	Total costs
Barrier Assessment	$230	12	$2,760
Habitat Confirmation	$3,000	12	$36,000
Total:		24	$38,760

There are currently 14 barriers on the priority barrier list, which will be pursued for proactive remediation to achieve the connectivity goals in this plan:

Table 7:

Preliminary barrier remediation cost estimate to reach connectivity goals in the Horsefly River watershed. Cost per barrier values are estimated based on the average cost of previously completed projects. Barrier counts and total costs are subject to change as more information is collected through the implementation of this plan.

Barrier Type	Cost per barrier	Count	Total Cost
Dam	$435,000	3	$1,305,000
Resource road	$500,000	8	$4,000,000
Municipal/paved road	$1,500,000	3	$4,500,000
Total		14	$9,805,000

Progress Tracking Update

Mazany-Wright, N, S M Norris, N W R Lapointe, and B Rebellato. 2021. “A Freshwater Connectivity Modelling Framework to Support Barrier Prioritization and Remediation in British Columbia.” Canadian Wildlife Federation.