A ground-breaking science partnership is under way that will develop tools to address the threats posed by climate change and forest management on salmon habitat in the territories of Mamalilikulla, Tlowitsis, Wei Wai Kum, We Wai Kai and K’ómoks First Nations, all members of the Nanwakolas Council.
Background
This three-year research project brings together a unique merger of Indigenous and other scientific approaches. Nanwakolas Council is working with the Hakai Institute and other partners who are committed to respectful collaboration and to uplifting Indigenous knowledge and methodologies that have been gathered and developed over thousands of years. That knowledge will be interwoven with other more recent scientific approaches and practices to produce a strong, rich, and robust set of outcomes for the future wellbeing of salmon, the Indigenous partners in the project, and everyone in the region. We are calling this “reconciliation through science.”
Why is this work needed?
The First Nations have been stewards of their territories for millennia. Now, climate change and land use are causing long-term shifts in stream temperatures with implications for salmon migration timing and survival. The Nanwakolas 50 Watersheds Project will undertake research across watersheds throughout the territories, focusing on climate, forestry, and salmon. The various study areas represent a range of conditions required to develop reliable predictions.
What’s involved?
Data on stream temperature is being collected to improve future stream temperature predictions as they affect salmon habitat under different forestry and climate change scenarios. Existing stream temperature, flow, and weather data are also being compiled from a wide range of sources.
More intensive assessments of salmon habitat will be carried out to understand how riverside forest cover influences stream temperature and to detect the presence and diversity aquatic insects as indicators of salmon habitat health. This information will help characterize the status of regional watersheds, quantify the effect of different forestry and climate change scenarios on water temperature and salmon habitat, and identify areas where conditions pose greater risks to salmon.
Field teams, including the First Nations’ Guardians and Hakai Institute staff, will be collecting data in different ways to provide a fuller picture of watershed health and salmon habitat condition. They will be deploying stream temperature sensors throughout the watersheds, collecting water samples for environmental DNA testing, and using fish-eye lens photographs and vegetation surveys to measure how stream conditions are affected by different levels of shade provided by riparian forest.
Fish Pee and Insect Genes: eDNA sampling
The project includes eDNA testing of the debris – scales, urine, and faeces – of fish and invertebrates in the waterways in the Nanwakolas member First Nations’ territories, with the goal of gaining greater understanding of salmon habitat and assisting in the development of tools to address the threats posed by climate change and forest management on salmon populations. You can watch a short video about the eDNA component of the project on our YouTube channel.
Progress to date
By the beginning of October 2024, water temperature loggers had been installed in streams and rivers across 53 small watersheds and 67 large watersheds. Two of three planned weather stations have also been installed to measure air temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, solar radiation, wind speed and direction. The data allows the research team to track changing conditions on a daily, or even hourly, basis and creates a reference against which to check for anomalies in stream temperature.
As of early September 2024, data from 147 stream temperature loggers, six air temperature loggers, and two weather stations has been downloaded. This represents a huge wave of data entering the project database for analysis. The first round of eDNA sampling is complete and now being analysed, and work has begun on studying how oxygen levels affect salmon in the watersheds. Work has also begun on studying how much solar radiation passes through the forest canopy to streams.
Gratitude
$2.875 million in funding for the Nanwakolas 50 Watersheds Project has been provided by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund. Nanwakolas Council and the Nanwakolas member First Nations are contributing significant in-kind contributions to the project. The Hakai Institute has also committed substantial in-kind support for the work, a contribution estimated to be worth $787,964. This contribution will add immense value to the process and results. Other contributors include expert advisers affiliated with the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, Ecofish Research, and the Pacific Salmon Foundation.
The Ha-ma-yas Stewardship Network Guardians are vital members of the fieldwork team for the project. The Guardians uphold the cultural context for the work, provide continuity and bridging between research and monitoring work across their territories, and contribute local expertise and deep knowledge of the lands, waters and ecosystems. This vital stewardship work on their part supports their Nations in decision-making based on sound, comprehensive information.
Watch this space for a film currently under production on this vital work, coming in the next few months!