This restoration project is a collaborative effort to enhance, restore and promote shared conservation values in the Heart of the Fraser. Specifically, this project will enhance and restore juvenile and adult Chum and Chinook salmon, improve ecological resiliency in the area and work to support the recovery of critical food sources for the southern resident orca whale population.

Starting around 2015/2016 funded by the FHRI, EcoAction Canada, and AFSAR - Leq’a:mel First Nation connected with Fraser Valley Watersheds Coalition and Fisheries and Oceans Canada to help identify opportunities to revitalize salmon habitat in the Nicomen Slough.

Historically, prior to 1930’s, the Nicomen Slough was connected with the Fraser River and was exposed to open flushing river flows that would clean salmon spawning gravels. However, changing land use pressure led to dramatic alteration of the channel and adjacent floodplain by diking, road and rail construction, and construction of a causeway to Nicomen Island, ultimately turning the open channel into a slough. Now, 90 years later, the Nicomen Slough still supports important biological and ecological value, yet is realizing pressures of succession.

In the first four years of the project, studies to identify opportunities for enhancement of key areas of the slough to benefit salmon and aquatic biodiversity was completed. This work included background assessments and monitoring, stakeholder meetings, and engagements. This work addressed overarching questions about the hydrology (flow of water), biology and distribution of known rare species and identification of infrastructure and social/cultural components to be incorporated into the potential restoration designs. In addition to identifying restoration opportunities, this work involved significant community engagement and outreach events, incorporating environmental and biological values into Leq’a:mel First Nations land management plans, supported short-term operational training on invasive species, soil and biodiversity and had microsite enhancements (planting events) to support natural spaces and outdoor learning classrooms. At the end of this phase, opportunities and limitations were identified and help set the stage for implementing some actions, pending further financial resources.

In 2019, financial contributions from DFO’s Coastal Restoration Fund were approved to begin implementing restoration activities within the slough to benefit chinook and chum salmon and other salmon related priorities within the “Heart of the Fraser.”  This formed a collaborative partnership between Leq’a:mel First Nation, Sqwelets First Nation, Sts’ailes First Nation, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Fraser Valley Watersheds Coalition with support from Pearson Ecological, Hemmera Consulting, Marhag Consulting, District of Kent, Fraser Valley Regional district, Province of British Columbia and the local communities groups.

1.  Planning for, Implementation of and Effectiveness Monitoring for Nancy and William Phillips Slough within the Sts’ailes First Nation IR lands.

2. Planning for Bateson Slough and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)                                                                                                                                                             

3. Complete a Scope of Engagement Process and Draft Framework to Update the Wildlife Management Plan for Lhá:lt/Harrison-Chehalis Wildlife Management Area (WMA)

4. Implement Salmon Spawning Habitat Gravel Augmentation at Sqwuakum Creek (Lake Errock Outlet channel)                                                                                                                                   

The works associated with the Nicomen Slough were scheduled to begin in summer of 2020 focusing on two key areas: Skumulapsh Slough and Norrish Fan.

However, the implementation team lost some capacity related to a serious accident to the senior DFO biologist, the retirement of the DFO engineer and then the world was impacted by the COVID-19 global pandemic. These resulted in the delay of activities but there was a silver lining:

• During the 2020 year, the internal technical team looked at the restoration options from a different perspective and recognized that:
  • Skumulapsh Slough requires further biological and engineering considerations before proceeding and,
  •  the original conceptual plans did not account for the incredible biological and ecological value that the Norrish Creek fan offers to the Nicomen Slough and its biodiversity. This fan is wild. The small tributaries support young juvenile salmon during their rearing and overwintering life-stages, and provides pockets of salmon spawning riffles throughout the fan and within Norrish Creek.  

• Now, with greater understanding of the fan and the slough, and with new restoration considerations being explored, the partnership continues to find opportunities to restore key attributes of the slough. In addition, more research is currently underway to  identify summer cold-water salmon refuges and assess how far up the slough juvenile Harrison chinook salmon swim, feeding along the edges, before migrating to the ocean during the Fraser River freshet.

Coming soon