Researchers from the University of Northern B.C. have received $1 million to fund their next five years of study and exploration of important issues surrounding the Nechako River Basin.
The money comes form the Nechako Environmental Enhancement Fund (NEEF), an organization created through an agreement between the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resources Operations and Rural Development, and Rio Tinto.
The main principles of the work, Environmental Science Professor Dr. Stephen Déry, Forest Renewal BC Research Chairs in Landscape Ecology Dr. Phil Owens and Dr. Ellen Petticrew, and Canada Research Chair in Health, Ecosystems and Society Dr. Margot Parkes who are part of the Integrated Watershed Research Group, will receive $499,950 of the grant, leaving the remaining $499,950 to be matched by other sources.
“Better understanding of the functions of our ecosystems and watersheds is key to making informed decisions,” said Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development Minister Doug Donaldson.
“I’m pleased that NEEF is able to support this ongoing research.”
The four UNBC professors will build on their four-year study in Phase One of their research, in which they examined the impacts of climate change and water security, sediment sources and dynamics, and developed tools to help inform integrated understanding and decision-making in the watershed.
“The ongoing research by the Integrated Watershed Research Group and the collaboration with the communities and the partnerships that have been formed as a result have been instrumental in highlighting solutions directed to ensuring the long-term viability of the watershed,” said UNBC President Dr. Daniel Weeks.
“This funding will allow our faculty and students to continue to create local solutions that have global impact.”
Dr. Déry and his students, who are studying climate change and water security, concentrated upon overall averages and recent changes in air temperature, precipitation and runoff during the first phase of the research.
The information was compiled for the Nechako River basin and its main tributary sub-basins.
Their research revealed that the water temperature had warmed by approximately 2 degrees Celsius between 1950 and 2010 across the watershed and, in the second phase, they will address the role of observed climate change and flow regulation on stream flow volumes and water temperatures in the Nechako River.
Drs. Owens and Petticrew studied sediment sources and dynamics and during the first phase and determined the main sources of the contemporary fine sediment transported by the Nechako River.
That issue has an impact on, among other issues, the continued survival of the white sturgeon population, according to Vanderhoof resident and senior volunteer with the Nechako White Sturgeon Community Working Group, Wayne Salewski.
“That sediment takes away the spawning areas for the Sturgeon and has been largely responsible for their decline.”
During the first phase of work, Dr. Parkes and her group developed and refined a web-based spatially-referenced portal tool that brings together different forms of knowledge and provides a platform for watershed partners to share and exchange new and existing information about the Nechako River basin.
“In the second phase of activity, we will work with watershed partners to use the web-based portal to enhance understanding of overlapping environment, community and health issues within the Nechako River basin, and to encourage integrated approaches to learning, monitoring, and decision making about the watershed,” said Dr. Parkes.
The four faculty members involved with IWRG have studied watershed-based issues for several years, with a focus on the Fraser River basin and other watersheds in Northern B.C., including the Nechako River basin.
“Rio Tinto is proud of its investment of $50 million to the NEEF, including this $499,950 grant,” said Gareth Manderson, Rio Tinto’s General Manager BC Operations. “I am pleased that our investment in the NEEF will in turn support UNBC to advance our understanding of the Nechako ecosystem, potential climate change impacts, and the greater social context of environment and community health.”
Rio Tinto agreed to establish and contribute on a matching-dollar basis up to $50 million to the NEEF as part of a 1997 agreement between the Province of B.C. and Rio Tinto.
