Restoring Watershed Connectivity and Rehabilitating Juvenille Chinook Salmon Habitat Through Beaver Dam Analogues

NEEF Funding: $330,000

Total Project Budget: $1,830,000

Start Date: June 2024

End Date: November 2026

Description:

Nechako Environment and Water Stewardship Society (NEWSS) has been building partnerships with landowners to restore the riparian function of many reaches of streams within the agricultural belt. Beaver Dam Analogs (BDAs) will be constructed to slow water down and create ponding in selected streams to restore the water table along these impaired stream corridors with the overall goal of improving the health of multiple small streams in the Nechako Watershed using BDAs.

Project Goals:

• Development of an installation plan for up to 50 BDAs
• Installation of up to 50 BDAs (over three years)
• Establishment and initiation of a monitoring plan including:
• Baseline assessment of site conditions to allow pre-post assessment
• Baseline fish use to allow for effectiveness assessment
• Baseline water temperatures to assess pre-post outcomes
• Quantify creation of expected habitat above BDAs
• Quantify headwater storage and improvements to stream flow at critical times (late summer)
• Document fish use and fish passage above BDAs where deemed critical
• Extend the results of the project to other landowners and land managers

NEWSS Beaver Dam Analogues Brochure

Proponent: Nechako Environment And Water Stewardship Society