Bringing 'Indigenous fish home' to Kelowna's Mission Creek

Creek restoration continues

Photo: Mission Creek Restoration Initiative

Four "riffles" have been built to improve channel stability and fish habitat between the Robert Hobson Environmental Education Centre and KLO Bridge, due to work from the Mission Creek Restoration Initiative, in partnership with the City of Kelowna, Okanagan Nation Alliance and Regional District of Central Okanagan.

Ongoing creek restoration efforts in Kelowna are making headway, and could help bring "Indigenous fish home."

Four "riffles" have been built on Mission Creek to improve channel stability and fish habitat between the Robert Hobson Environmental Education Centre and KLO Bridge, due to the Mission Creek Restoration Initiative, in partnership with the City of Kelowna, Okanagan Nation Alliance and Regional District of Central Okanagan.

The creek restoration group explained in a press release issued Thursday that Mission Creek has suffered extreme aquatic and riparian habitat losses due to land development activities over the past century.

Construction of riffles mimic natural creek function and work toward the restoration of habitat and improved flood protection by providing short sections of turbulent water that regulate creek slope and reduce channel instability. This, in turn, improves fish migration, collects and retains spawning gravels, and oxygenates the water.

“Early assessments indicate the riffles are functioning as designed,” MCRI project coordinator Steve Matthews said.

“Based on assessment results at other riffle projects, they will perform well through extreme low and high flows with minimal to no maintenance.”

“This work represents an important part of the syilx Okanagan Nation’s efforts to restore Mission Creek’s health and bring indigenous fish home; k?kn?I (kokanee) and s?win (Sockeye) salmon have been observed migrating up the riffles and using the backwater pools and spawning gravel," ONA biologist Natasha Lukey said in the press release.

Monitoring will continue for several years to ensure the riffles continue to provide fish and flood protection benefits over the long term.

Final post-construction restoration planting will be completed next spring.

The restoration group is also planning a floodplain expansion project adjacent to the riffles next summer to provide additional fish and wildlife habitat and flood protection benefits.