The study recommended watershed restoration work, including $1,013,920 for major project works over the subsequent 4 years, and $283,800 for preparation of watershed restoration prescriptions. The study further recommended semi-permanent deactivation of 274 km of road, permanent deactivation of 199 km of road, and 63 permanent road blockages were proposed. More detailed watershed restoration assessments and prescriptions were expected to arise during subsequent field validation and planning.
FRBC’s Watershed Level Planning and Project Component Objectives were recommended to guide future watershed restoration programming associated with forest activities in the project area. Following recommendations of that report, detailed watershed assessments were conducted in Gorge Creek in 1999 and in Lower Criss Creek in 2000.
A Deadman River Watershed Restoration Plan was developed in 2000 to address outstanding impacts of forest practices in the valley. The watershed restoration committee included the area forest companies, provincial Ministries of Environment and Forests, the band, and the Thompson Basin Fisheries Council. The plan outlines previous assessments, activities to date, and those activities proposed that remain outstanding from previous work and qualified for FRBC Watershed Restoration Program funds.
The plan identified 5 projects for immediate work arising from a field review of 17 upslope road sites on reserve and on private land along the Deadman River below Mowich Lake. The plan also confirmed 57 road blockages throughout the watershed proposed by Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks and the Skeetchestn Indian Band to minimize sedimentation and to protect wildlife and heritage values.
In 2001, a Final Report – Overview of Watershed Restoration Opportunities was prepared by Integrated Woods Services Ltd. with specific reference to instream conditions in 16 kilometers of the Deadman River channel below Mowich Lake. Opportunities for instream work (channel stability and fish habitat) and restoring riparian vegetation communities were included in the assessment. A total 36 sites were identified as a priority for stabilization work. More detailed prescriptions were recommended to direct subsequent major works on 21 sites, totaling 3434 meters of high priority shoreline and on 15 sites of moderate priority totaling 1125 meters of shoreline downstream of the lake. Deadman River sites, below the Skeetchestn Village, were considered a lower priority that regions of higher rearing and spawning value upstream. The lower reaches of the river represent relatively low density rearing, and are frequented by emmigrants to the Thompson mainstem, where juvenile salmonid survival is considered lower than in the Deadman River itself (Don Ignace, pers. com.).
