D.G.R. Consulting
Wetland Assessment
Loon Lake 5.4 Km
For: Island Timberlands Limited Partnership,
North West Bay
Kraig Urbanoski Area Engineer
Island Timberlands
North West Bay Operation
Nanoose Bay
D.G. Rigets E.I.A. CTech.
PO Box 127
Errington BC V0R 1V0
(250) 248-9361
July 24, 2008
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File #: 766
Area: Loon Lake/Horne Lake
Access: By 2 wheel drive from ITLP Office along the Island Highway west to the top of the Alberni Hump,
then 2WD on onto Loon Lake Main. Then approximately 5.4 Km to the first of 3 wetlands.
Objectives:
1. To assess, and class the main output stream of three wetlands.
2. To assess three wetlands for the presence or absence of fish.
Method: Minnow trap, angle, electro-fish.
Definitions:
Pond/wetland with standing water:
The generally accepted definition of a "pond" is that class of shallow standing water in which light penetrates to
the bottom sediments to possibly support rooted plant growth throughout the water body. A lack of thermal
stratification and the occurrence of muddy bottom sediments are also common characteristics of this class of
water.
Introduction:
On July 20, 21 and 22, 2008 Darryl Rigets and an assistant of D.G.R Consulting conducted field assessments
of a series of wetlands, for Island Timberlands Limited Partnership.
The primary goal of this assessment was to determine presence or absence of fish in the stream and wetlands
as Island Timberlands engineering crews established a barrier to upstream fish migration within the lower
reaches of this water course. (Precision West, Cut Block 5003 November 2, 2005 Mike Tripp)
The area of study is situated at the height of land west of Horne Lake and east of Loon Lake. The subject is a
series of wetlands and one outlet stream. The wetlands are surrounded by steep local topography. The outlet
stream is a second order tributary of Horne Lake.
Few input streams occur within the watershed feeding the ponds/wetlands. Most input streams lose channel
definition before entering the wetted portions of the wetlands.
Potential fish habitat within the input streams is poor to nonexistent. The input and output streams were electrofished.
The wetted portions of the wetlands were minnow trapped and angled.
All recorded results, such as pond depth width and length, are approximate as the primary objective of this
assessment was to determine fish presence or absence.
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Field Observations and Results:
Watershed information:
Creek 1:
Watershed Code:
920-490700-56500
Waterbody Identifier:
00000PARK
Stream Length:
6.83 km
Stream Order:
2
Wetland 1:
Dates Assessed: July 20, 21, 2008
Elevation: Approximately 480 meters above sea level.
Area: approximately 1.2 ha.
Depth range: 0 – 1.6-meters.
Width: widest point 60.9-meters.
Length: approximately 120-meters.
o
o
Water temperatures surface: 12.9 c. – 15.9 c.
Water color: Tea
Number of input streams: 2
Number of output streams. 1
Sampling methods: fry trap, creel survey.
Aquatic plants: Buckbean (menyanthes trifoliate), Sweet Gale(Myrica gale)
Littoral plants: sedge, (Carex sitchensis) Labrador tea (Ledum glandulosum)
Insects: water boatman, caddis, water strider, mayfly.
Animals: Bald eagle, deer, king fisher, bushtit, pieleated woodpecker, rough skinned newt, and stellers jay,
Canada goose, common merganser, hooded merganser.
Terrain features:
The terrestrial vegetation along the immediate border of the lake consists of grasses, willow, alder, Douglas fir
and cedar.
Bank materials include soils, bedrock outcroppings, glacial till (coarse fragments: gravels, cobbles).
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Marsh substrates:
Fine sediments.
Aquatic environment:
Water depth ranges from 0-meters at the edge to 1.6-meters in the middle portion.
The marsh substrate is fines/mud.
The marsh perimeter environment has fair numbers of blow downs. Watercolor is tea.
Input:
2 small streams feed into the marsh. Channel widths range is 0.5 – 0.8 meters. Channel substrate is
fines/organic/gravel/cobble.
Output:
The outlet stream occurs at the north east corner the marsh. The average channel width is 2.3 meters.
The channel substrate is cobble/gravel/organic/bedrock.
Fish Sampling:
Angling.
The marsh surface was observed for fish feeding on insects, and when no feeding fish were observed angling
was conducted for 4 hours in 5 locations using flies, spinners and salmon roe:
™
At the main outlet stream,
™
At the mouth of 3 of the input streams
™
At deepest portion of the marsh.
Fry-trap:
Six fry traps were set with salmon roe in the main output stream and left for 24 hours. The traps were checked
at the end of the day and the following morning.
Seining:
A small seine net approximately 5-meters in length and 1-meter deep was used in portions of the wetland
where vegetation was not covering the surface.
Fish presence: No
Results:
Wetland 1 covers an area of approximately 1.669 ha and the maximum-recorded depth was 1.6 meters.
Extensive sampling was conducted on Wetland 1 and included minnow trapping, angling.
Angling took place continuously during the day using various lures, from spinners to salmon roe. No fish were
found.
Output stream:
A barrier to upstream fish migration in the form of gradient barriers of >20% occur within the lower reaches of
the output stream.
The output stream was electro-fished intensively.
No fish were found.
Wetland 1: Non-fish.
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Wetland 2:
Dates Assessed: July 20, 21, 2008
Elevation: Approximately 450 meters above sea level.
Area: approximately 1.3 ha.
Depth range: 1 – 1.8-meters.
Width: widest point 34.2-meters.
Length: approximately 125-meters.
o
o
Water temperatures surface: 12.0 c. – 15.9 c.
Water color: Tea
Number of input streams: 1
Number of output streams. 1
Sampling methods: fry trap, creel survey.
Aquatic plants: Pond Lilly, (Nuphar polysepaum) , Pond weed (Potamogelon natans)
Insects: water boatman, caddis, water strider, mayfly.
Animals: Bald eagle, bushtit, rough skinned newt, and stellers jay, common merganser.
Terrain features:
The terrestrial vegetation along the immediate border of the wetland consists of willow, alder, Douglas fir and
cedar.
Bank materials include soils, glacial till (coarse fragments: gravels, cobbles).
Wetland substrates:
Fine sediments.
Aquatic environment:
Water depth ranges from 0.5-meters at the center to 1.6-meters in the outlet.
The wetland perimeter environment has fair numbers of blow downs. Watercolor is tea.
Input:
1 small stream feeds this wetland. Channel width is1.5 meters. Channel substrate is cobble/gravel/bedrock. The
input stream flows from Wetland 3.
Output:
The outlet stream occurs at the north end the wetland. The average channel width is 2.4 meters.
The channel substrate is cobble/gravel/bedrock.
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Fish Sampling:
Angling.
The wetland surface was observed for fish feeding on insects, and when no feeding fish were observed angling
was conducted for 2 hours in 3 locations using flies, spinners and salmon roe:
™
At the main outlet stream,
™
At the mouth of the input stream
™
At deepest portion of the wetland.
Fry-trap:
Six fry traps were set with salmon roe in the wetland and left for 24 hours. The traps were checked at the end of
the day and the following morning.
Fish presence: No
Results:
Wetland 2 covers an area of approximately 1.3ha and the maximum-recorded depth was 1.8-meters. Extensive
sampling was conducted on Wetland 2 and included minnow trapping and angling.
Angling took place during the day using various lures, from spinners to salmon roe. No fish were found.
Output stream: A barrier to upstream fish migration in the form of gradient barriers of >20% occur within the
lower reaches of the output stream.
The output stream was electro-fished intensively.
No fish were found.
Wetland 2:
No fish were found.
Non-fish.
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Wetland 3:
Dates Assessed: July 20,21 and 22, 2008
Elevation: Approximately 430 meters above sea level.
Area: approximately 1.4 ha.
Depth range: 0.2- 0.4-meters.
Width: widest point 54.6-meters.
Length: approximately 95-meters.
o
Water temperatures surface: 15.9 c.
Water color: Tea
Number of input streams: 2
Number of output streams. 1
Sampling methods: fry trap.
Aquatic plants: Watershield, (Bresenia schreberi), Sweet Gale (Myrica gale)
Insects: water boatman, caddis, water strider.
Animals: Bald eagle, bushtit, pieleated woodpecker, rough skinned newt, and stellers jay, common merganser.
Terrain features:
The terrestrial vegetation along the immediate border of the lake consists of Watershield , Hardhack, willow,
alder, Douglas fir.
Bank materials include soils, glacial till (coarse fragments: gravels, cobbles) sphagnum.
Wetland substrates:
Fine sediments.
Aquatic environment:
Water depth ranges from 0.2-meters at the center to 0.4-meters in the northern portion.
Watercolor is tea.
Input:
2 small streams feed this wetland. Channel widths range is 0.3 – 1.6meters. Channel substrate is gravel/cobble.
Output:
The outlet stream occurs at the north end corner the wetland. The average channel width is 2.8 meters.
The channel substrate is cobble/gravel/organic.
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Fish Sampling:
No sampling possible, not enough open water.
Fish presence: No
Results:
Wetland 3 covers an area of approximately 1.4ha and the maximum-recorded depth was 0.4 meters. The inlet
and outlet streams were electro-fished.
Output stream:
A barrier to upstream fish migration in the form of gradient barriers of >20% occur within the lower reaches of
the output stream.
The output stream was electro-fished intensively.
No fish were found.
Wetland 3: Non-fish.
Conclusion:
All 3 assessed wetlands are connected by a non alluvial intermittent stream, the stream begins at a fourth
wetland that occurs south west of Wetland 1.
A barrier to upstream fish migration in the form of an 2.5-meter high bedrock waterfall and 68% bedrock
cascade occurs within the lower reaches of the output stream. The barriers are approximately 900-meters
upstream from the mouth at Horne Lake and occur downstream from the assessed wetlands.
The subject stream was electro-fished intensively from the input at Wetland 1 to 150-meters downstream from
Wetland 3, no fish were found.
Please call if you have any questions.
Darryl Rigets
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