Location
Bessette Creek, Harris Creek, Duteau Creek, Creighton Creek
Key Messages:
- Installation of 18 temperature loggers within the Bessette Creek watershed to monitor stream temperatures during hot summer months. Data will be used to conduct a stream
- temperature modelling exercise in order to pinpoint areas where riparian shading can provide the most benefits in terms of stream cooling effects
- Maintenance of two hydrometric station on Harris creek (one of which funded by a separate project) to assess the effects to different flow release patterns on stream temperature
- Drone flights over sections of streams utilizing a thermal infrared camera to map stream temperature
ONAFD Team:
- Elinor McGrath – project lead
- Brenley Yuan – field lead
- Okanagan Indian Band – field technicians
- Skyeler Folks – Field biologist
Background/History:
Very low flows and high stream temperatures are common in the Bessette watershed, and presents a stressor to aquatic life, including threatened Coho and endangered Chinook populations. We will install 18 temperature loggers to monitor stream temperatures throughout the Bessette watershed. Data collected will be used in a temperature modelling exercise conducted by Ecofish Research to pinpoint where riparian planting would provide the greatest shading potential. We will also map out with a drone the areas near our data collection loggers to observe temperature variations. Furthermore, we will continue to operate two hydrometric stations on Harris Creek (one station is funded by another project), which were installed in 2020, to assess the effects of different flow release patterns on stream temperature. Data collected from this project will inform future riparian restoration efforts, as well as inform Provincial water managers on whether high stream temperatures can be mitigated by flow release from upstream storage.
Time Frame/Schedule:
- Hydrometric stations – maintenance visits throughout the year from April to November
- Temperature loggers – installation in July, data download in August, removal in September
- Drone flights – August during high summer temps, and again through the Fall and Winter to contrast with cool temperatures
Project Partners:
- Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development (FLNRORD)
- Ecofish Research
- University of British Columbia
Real Estate Foundation of BC
Goals:
- Maintain two real-time hydrometric stations on Harris Creek
- Collect discharge and water level measurements to develop rating curves for stations
- Install 18 temperature loggers in the Bessette watershed during the summer months
- Manage data and share with FLNRORD and Ecofish Research
- Trial as a proof of concept – drone map segments of Lawson, Creighton, Duteau, and Bessette Creeks, with a thermal infrared camera in August of 2021 and February 2022.
