Nicola Basin Collaborative

Since 2016-2017, the Fraser Basin Council has engaged a number of agencies and private land owners to work on a collaborative plan to identify, prioritize and address issues in the Nicola watershed.

Nicola Basin Chinook Risk Assessment

This summary reports on the results of a Nicola Basin Chinook Level 1 Risk Assessment (RAMS) process that was applied through workshops with the Nicola Basin Collaborative Research and Technical Committee over 2021-2022. The goal was to assess the risks or factors limiting the productive potential of Chinook salmon in the Nicola watershed.

The report finds Nicola Chinook are under intense threats as a result of flooding, droughts, water removals, salvage, logging, fires and removal of riparian areas. The main threats come from forestry, agriculture, human development and climate change.

Read for a look at the risk assessment process and results, see Nicola Basin Chinook Level 1 Risk Assessment.

City of Merritt Groundwater-Surface Water Interaction Study

A 2022 report, produced by WSP/Golder Associates for FBC and the Province of BC, provides an updated analysis of groundwater-surface water interaction within the City of Merrit, and it includes an analysis of the effect of pumping at the municipal wells and sources of recharge to the Upper Merritt.

Learn more: Analysis of the City of Merritt Groundwater-Surface Water Data - Fall 2021.

Restoration in the Nicola Watershed

NEW! See an FBC report on Nicola restoration projects in this January 2022 summary report.

Nicola Water Management Tool Refresher Course: Resources

See materials from the September 15 course on the development and use of the Nicola Water Management Tool.

• Agenda of Sept 15 course
• Presentation slide deck
• Summary of opportunities
• Attendees

Reports & Resources

Here are some of the most recent material produced under the guidance of the Nicola Basin Collaborative initiative

Reports

• Monitoring of Agricultural Effluent Impact on Anadromous Fish in the Merritt Area (January 2022)
• Low summer river flows associated with low productivity of Chinook salmon in a watershed with shifting hydrology (December 2021)
• Nicola Water Temperature Monitoring Project Report (2021)
• Summary of Watershed Restoration Initiative in the Nicola Watershed (January 2022)
• Lower Nicola River Watershed Connectivity Remediation Plan - Canadian Wildlife Federation
• Nicola Basin Fish/Water Management Tool Design Document (March 2021)
  • Nicola Water Management Tool Phase 2B (Task 7): Water Use Sub-module
• Conceptual Design Guidance for Beaver Dam Analogues and Sediment Wedge Stabilization in the Nicola River Watershed
• Coldwater River Sensitive Habitat Inventory and Mapping and Aquatic Habitat Inventory (2021)
• Groundwater-Surface Water Interaction Study, Coldwater River
  
  • Technical Memo: Analysis of City of Merritt Groundwater-Surface Water Data from Fall 2020
  • Technical Memo: Field Reconnaissance and Historical Flow Data Review
• Nicola River Thermal Refugia: 2020 Field Work Update for SFI Funding
• Technical Memorandum: Nicola Valley Modelling Phase 3 | Hydrogeological Modelling (May 25, 2020): Large File (21 MB)
• Coldwater River Groundwater/Surface Water Interaction Study - Phase 1 (March 23, 2020)
• Sediment Supply Conditions and Channel Response to the 2017 and 2018 Flood Events in Guichon Creek (February 25, 2020)
• Preliminary Assessment of Sediment Sources and Channel Instability Potential Along Coldwater River Near Juliet Creek and Nicola River Near Nicola Lake Dam (March 27, 2020)
• Nicola Watershed Characterization (March 2019)

Province of FBC Ecological Catalogue database (EcoCat)

Search the EcoCat database for additional reports and materials. Hint: Search by "Nicola" or Coldwater" and scan search results, which appear in alphabetical order.

Access EcoCat

Nicola Basin Collaborative Research and Technical Committee Meetings

November 2, 2021 Committee Meeting

• Lower Nicola River Watershed Connectivity Plan (presentation deck) Nick Lapointe, Canadian Wildlife Federation (See also "Reports" above)
• Cumulative Effects Model Project (presentation deck) - Jordan Rosenfeld, BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
• Nicola Risk Assessment Methodology for Salmon Update (presentation deck)- Isobel Pearsall, Pacific Salmon Foundation
• SFU update - Jon Moore, Simon Fraser University
• FNWGP data and info sharing update (presentation deck) - Heike Lettrari, BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy and Angie Bain, Scw’exmx Tribal Council
• Update on Nicola Watershed Governance Project (presentation deck) - Leona Antoine, Scw’exmx Tribal Counci
• Fraser Basin Council projects update - Mike Simpson
• 2021 wildfires in the Nicola Watershed map

March 16, 2021 Committee Meeting

• Meeting Summary

March 5, 2020 Committee Meeting (Merritt)

• Meeting Summary
• Risk Assessment Methods for Salmon - Pearsall, Hyatt and Luedke
• Sediment supply conditions and channel response to the 2017 and 2018 flood events in Guichon Creek - Reid
• Homing, redd site characteristics and the effect of dissolved oxygen on larval Coho salmon - Turcotte

September 26, 2019 Committee Meeting (Merritt)

Presentation slide decks from the meeting are available:

• Overview of Drought Conditions in the Nicola - Rich McCleary, FLRNORD
• Guichon Creek sediment source, channel stability, and watershed recovery study  - Dave Reid, UBC
• Nicola Watershed Temperature Monitoring: Project Update - Luke Warkentin, SFU

March 14, 2019 Committee Meeting (Merritt)

Presentation slide decks from the meeting are available:

• Nicola Basin Water Management Tool - Clint Alexander, Essa
• Optimizing use of Mamit Lake Storage to Benefit Salmonid Production in GuichonCreek and the Nicola River - Rich McCleary, FLNRORD
• Nicola Watershed Temperature Monitoring: Project Update - Luke Warkentin, SFU
• Effect of Dissolved Oxygen on Development of Larval Coho Salmon - Luc Turcotte, UNBC
• Site-Level Identification and Characterization of Thermal Refugia in the Nicola River - Tom Willms

Nicola Symposium 2018

Thanks to everyone who was part of the first annual Nicola Symposium “Collaboration in a Sensitive Watershed,” hosted by the Fraser Basin Council, in collaboration with the Nicola
Valley Institute of Technology.

Some of the presentation slides are now available:

• State of the Watershed: Nicola Research Collaborative - State of the Nicola Stocks
  Richard Bailey & Sean Bennett, DFO
• State of the Watershed
  Tracy Wimbush, Nicola Tribal Association
• Nicola Basin Fish/Water Management Tool
  Kim Hyatt, DFO
• Applications of the Cumulative Effects Framework to T-O Regional Operations
  Amy Tipler & Doug Lewis, Thompson-Okanagan Region, FLNRORD
• Twenty Years of Aquatic Habitat Development and Research at Highland Valley Copper in a Warming Climate
  Heather Larratt, HVC
• Importance of Groundwater for the Successful Incubation of Anadromous Salmonids
  Luc Turcotte, UNBC
• Large-scale Temperature Monitoring
  Luke Andersson for Jonathan Moore, SFU