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An ever-changing landscape : The Big Bar landslide response in British Columbia

In partnership with First Nations governments and the Province of British Columbia, we continue to undertake exceptional measures to restore natural fish passage at Big Bar and support at-risk salmon populations. As work progresses onsite, crews face daily challenges posed by this remote site and its difficult terrain, extreme weather conditions and the mighty Fraser River.

For more information, please visit: Big Bar landslide response

Transcript

The majority of this thing is for the fish. So if we got natural passage through here, we know the fish can be healthy and they could go down to future generations.

But if you haven't got no fish, you ain't gonna pass nothing down to them.

When you look at salmon species, we want to make sure that we have a healthy salmon population out there for future generations.

And it's very high as a priority to make sure that we take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that those fish will continue to be successful in their migration.

Our goal ultimately was to make sure that all that work we did in the winter months would

show some dividends.

The initial response to the Big Bar landslide was to see what rock removal was possible.

And that was the success of the first year of work here.

The crews that came in, did a great job.

They created an access road, they blasted and used heavy machinery to remove that rock

and pull it out of the river.

That significantly improved the river flows through the canyon, along with the alternative passage systems that were installed have enabled fish passage.

However it's not enough. 

The Big Bar landslide is located in a remote section of the Fraser River.

There is no power, there are no services in this area, and very rudimentary roads as well.

So, the landslide response has needed to create roads where no roads existed before, and access has been an extreme challenge for us.

High bluffs and high cliffs here are constantly shedding rock.

And we need to take very very strict precautions to ensure that that rock does not come anywhere near personnel or the equipment that's working below.

The weather conditions in this area are quite extreme.

In the winter, you can have lows to minus 30 degrees Celsius, and in the summertime, you can have highs above 40 degrees Celsius.

It's a difficult area to work as a result, between the heat and the cold. The conditions here are trying.

We can see up to five to six metres of river level change within five to six weeks.

So that is extremely difficult to work with as well when we're mobilizing equipment and crews to the site and trying to work in the area.

In general, the importance of this project is to re-establish and stabilize the salmon populations that spawn upstream of the Big Bar landslide.

If we lose those populations, we will see a devastating effect and impact on the greater salmon population throughout the BC coast and throughout the northern Pacific.

I would describe the work that's taken place here as monumental.

It has required an extreme effort from all parties.

And it's very encouraging to see that the work that has happened, has led to marked improvements in the passage of salmon to date.

So, while we've covered a lot of ground, there is still a lot more ground to cover and we're intent on restoring natural fish passage through this canyon.

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