Cariboo-Chilcotin Watershed Work

FBC’s Cariboo-Chilcotin regional office is helping enhance collaborative watershed work in the region. This includes support for two watershed roundtables.

Horsefly River Roundtable

Photo courtesy of Mike Conlin

The Horsefly River Roundtable brings together a variety of interests, including citizens, government agencies, industries and forest licensees, to maintain a healthy watershed. The focus is on coordinated management of resources, respect for all concerns, and cooperative, positive action.

The Roundtable is a registered non-profit society, and FBC provides secretariat support.

The Roundtable each year hosts the popular Horsefly River Salmon Festival. It also manages riparian habitat restoration projects on the Horsefly main stem, as well as in the Moffat and Woodjam sub-watershed, with a focus on sites impacted by past agricultural practices.

The Horsefly River sockeye run is recognized as one of the major sockeye systems in the province, and the Roundtable is in the process of seeking a “Fisheries Sensitive Watershed” designation for the Horsefly River watershed.

Roundtable participants include agricultural producers, the Land Conservancy of BC, regional staff from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Northern Shuswap Tribal Council, Xatśūll First Nation, Williams Lake Indian Band, fishing guides and community members.

Learn more at www.horseflyriver.ca.

San Jose Watershed Roundtable

The San Jose River flows northwest from Lac La Hache to Williams Lake in British Columbia’s Central Cariboo region. The river’s main tributaries include Borland Creek, Jones Creek, Missioner Creek and Knife Creek.

The San Jose River watershed is critical to the region and includes the aquifer that supplies the City of Williams Lake with most of its water.

The San Jose Watershed Roundtable was formed in 2013 following a workshop facilitated by FBC during which participants explored developments in collaborative watershed governance. Roundtable members include agricultural operators, community members and regional staff from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Northern Shuswap Tribal Council, the Williams Lake Indian Band, Ducks Unlimited, City of Williams Lake, Cariboo Regional District and Interior Health.

The overarching goal of this collaborative group is to advance sustainable water management and use in the San Jose watershed by increasing awareness of watershed health issues among water users, the general public and decision-makers.

FBC provides secretariat support to the Roundtable and is helping participants assess options to formalize and carry out their work.