NECHAKO WATERSHED COUNCIL: 

THIRD REPORT TO THE

NECHAKO ENVIRONMENTAL ENHANCEMENT FUND MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

December 8, 2000

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION
   
2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
   
   a. The Best Option for the Downstream Enhancement of the Nechako Watershed Area 
   b. Implementation of the NEEF Management Committee’s Recommendations.
   
3. NWC RECOMMENDATIONS 
   
   a. Recommendations to Date
   b. Current Recommendations
   
4. THE ISSUES: APPROACHES AND ACTIVITIES 
   
   a. Issue Identification
   b. Research and Education
   c. Converting Interests into Options
   d. Converting Options into Reality
   
5. IMPLEMENTATION OF NEEF MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS 
   
   NECHAKO WATERSHED COUNCIL MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS .. Appendix A
   STATUS REPORT ON REALLOCATION OF FREED-UP FLOWS
   (Draft as of December 8, 2000) … Appendix B
   

1. INTRODUCTION

The Nechako Environmental Enhancement Fund (NEEF) was established under the 1997 BC/Alcan Agreement.  Under NEEF, a Management Committee is to review, assess and report on options that may be available for the downstream enhancement of the Nechako watershed area.  These options may include, but are not limited to, the development of a Water Release Facility at or near the Kenney Dam, or the use of the NEEF fund for other downstream enhancement purposes.

The NEEF Management Committee was directed to consult with the Nechako Watershed Council, if formed, and any other stakeholders that the Management Committee considers appropriate.  Following two years of intensive effort, nineteen organizations endorsed Terms of Reference creating the Nechako Watershed Council (NWC) on June 28, 1998 (see Appendix A). The purpose of the NWC is to:

“enhance the long-term health and viability of the Nechako Watershed with consideration for all interests, and to provide a forum to address water management and related issues in the Watershed and to work toward cooperative resolution of these issues.”

The review and study of various issues in the Nechako watershed and the options that may be available to resolve these issues has occupied a significant portion of the NWC’s work in the two and one-half years since it was formed.  The NWC’s progress on these topics has been reported to the NEEF Management Committee on two separate occasions: a First Interim Report that was delivered to the Management Committee in October 1999 and a Second Interim Report dated April 8, 2000.  This is the NWC’s third report to the NEEF Management Committee.

2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The NWC has focused its final recommendations in two areas: the best option for the downstream enhancement of the Nechako watershed area and the implementation of the NEEF Management Committee’s recommendations.

    a. The Best Option for the Downstream Enhancement of the Nechako Watershed Area

Based on intensive study over a period of two and one-half years, the NWC believes that a Water Release Facility at the Kenney Dam is the best option for the downstream enhancement of the Nechako watershed area.  No other option provides the primary benefits of a Water Release Facility, specifically:

The NWC believes the only issue is what type of Water Release Facility allows these benefits to be optimized.  The NWC’s recommendations on this option are set out below.

Recommendation 1:

The NWC recommends that the options selected by the NEEF Management Committee for the downstream enhancement of the Nechako watershed area respect the following interests:

Recommendation 2:

The NWC recommends that the best use of NEEF to meet the interests in Recommendation 1 is to construct a Water Release Facility at Kenney Dam with the following features:

b. Implementation of the NEEF Management Committee’s Recommendations

The NWC believes that if the NEEF Management Committee recommends that a Water Release Facility is the appropriate option for the downstream enhancement of the Nechako watershed area, this option will only become a reality if appropriate steps are taken to implement this recommendation.  The NWC is also concerned that a Water Release Facility not proceed until it is satisfied that there has been adequate consideration of all interests in the reallocation and use of the freed-up flows.  In particular, the NWC is concerned that there have been decisions taken in the past with respect to flows in the Nechako River that, at least from some perspectives, have ignored certain interests.  The NWC would like to ensure that this situation is not repeated.

The NWC makes the following recommendations with respect to the implementation of the NEEF Management Committee’s recommendations:

Recommendation 3:

The NWC recommends that it have the following future roles in the implementation of the NEEF Management Committee’s recommendations:

           i. the distribution of releases from Skins Lake Spillway;

ii. the distribution of releases from a Water Release Facility at Kenney Dam; and

         iii. mechanisms under which those releases are implemented and managed.

Recommendation 4:

The NWC recommends that the submission to the British Columbia government and Alcan for financing of a Water Release Facility at Kenney Dam should not proceed until the NWC reaches a consensus on the reallocation of flows that would be “freed up” by the construction and operation of a Water Release Facility at Kenney Dam, including:

3. NECHAKO WATERSHED COUNCIL RECOMMENDATIONS

a. Recommendations to Date

The NWC’s First Interim Report, which was tabled on October 16 – 17, 1999, introduced the structure, history, achievements and potential of the NWC. It recommended to the NEEF Management Committee that:

“Based on the process and analysis the NWC has undertaken to date, the NWC believes that spending NEEF monies on a Water Release Facility of some kind at the Kenney Dam may provide the best opportunity to enhance the downstream environment of the Nechako Watershed area.

The NWC believes that the NEEF Management Committee should focus the majority of its upcoming efforts on thoroughly investigating certain aspects of a Water Release Facility at Kenney Dam.”

The Second Interim Report was tabled with the NEEF Management Committee on April 8, 2000.  The NWC concluded that an informed discussion with respect to the type of a Water Release Facility that would best satisfy the various interests that had been identified depended on answering specific questions and recommended: 

“That the Nechako Environmental Enhancement Fund Management Committee focus its activities toward answering the specific questions … summarized as follows:

In response to a range of opinion on the direction that appropriate investigations into issues affecting the Nechako River should take, the NWC also tabled the following Statement of Nechako Watershed Council – October 1999:

“The Nechako Watershed Council supports the use of independent reviews of specific topics and/or questions, rather than broad, encompassing reviews of all data and information.  It believes that a focused review process would be the most effective use of funds and time.  The Council supports consideration of all interests – environmental, social and economic – using the best information available, including scientific data and local knowledge.

Based on the process and analysis the NWC has undertaken to date, the NWC believes that spending NEEF monies on a Water Release Facility of some kind at the Kenney Dam may provide the best opportunity to enhance the downstream environment of the Nechako Watershed area.

The NWC believes that the NEEF Management Committee should focus the majority of its upcoming efforts on thoroughly investigating certain aspects of a Water Release Facility at Kenney Dam.”

The NWC acknowledges, with appreciation, the NEEF Management Committee’s positive response to these recommendations and renews its commitment to support the Management Committee in meeting these common objectives.

b. Current Recommendations

Since its last report to the NEEF Management Committee, the NWC has focused on three primary objectives:

Although certain aspects of these activities remain in progress, the NWC makes recommendations in this report dealing with basic criteria for enhancement options, attributes of a Water Release Facility at the Kenney Dam, the role of the NWC in the implementation of the NEEF Management Committee’s recommendations and the importance of reaching consensus on a flow regime prior to proceeding with a Water Release Facility at the Kenney Dam.

4. THE ISSUES: APPROACHES AND ACTIVITIES

The use and management of the Nechako River involves a complex interrelationship of issues.  Each issue is itself complex in terms of scientific understanding and human values.  The linkages and connectivity among these issues and their potential solutions compound the complexity. In order to address the many issues involved in the Nechako Watershed, the NWC proceeded according to a strategic process with the following phases:

This approach to reaching consensus on the NWC recommendations is outlined as follows.

e. Issue Identification

The NWC created a preliminary list of issues in September 1998 as a way of organizing them to begin addressing each one, while recognizing the complexity and connections.  This list was based on a number of sources, including:

The list was not intended to foreclose the discussion of other issues and new topics have been added as they were identified.

Issues were accepted as presented. In the process of identifying issues, the NWC made no attempt to determine whether these were real or perceived issues or, if they were real issues, the significance of them. All of the identified issues were treated as being real issues and of equal weight. All are being given equal consideration, and are presented in alphabetical order as follows:

f. Research and Education

Once issues were identified, the NWC began addressing them strategically. The NWC and its formative working groups have from the beginning recognized the importance of being well informed on the issues and initiatives affecting the watershed, including their scientific, technical, political, policy and constitutional contexts. The approach focussed on understanding the concerns and becoming better informed about them, followed by attempts to resolve the issue through a structured series of expert presentations, focused research studies and field trips. The NWC continues to increase its level of knowledge with respect to the issues that have been brought to its attention. 

g. Converting Interests into Options

This phase involved three discrete activities: continued identification and acquisition of necessary information, identification of Water Release Facility options and analysis of those options to meet common objectives.

Based on the level of knowledge gained through the research and education phase, the NWC hosted a January 22, 2000 Water Release Facility “refresher” to explore converting participants’ interests into enhancement options through a process of analysis and synthesis. This process involved a thorough review of the individual interests, goals and aspirations of each NWC member.  From these, the following common requirements or objectives for a Water Release Facility at the Kenney Dam were identified, together with the basic components of a Water Release Facility that would be needed to meet each of the common objectives. The common objectives were:

The basic components of a Water Release Facility that would be necessary to accomplish these objectives were identified as follows:

Underlying all of these objectives was a commitment to economic, social and environmental sustainability.  The NWC believes that a Water Release Facility that meets these objectives will provide optimum enhancement opportunities.  The NWC therefore recommends as follows:

Recommendation 1:

The NWC recommends that the options selected by the NEEF Management Committee for the downstream enhancement of the Nechako Watershed respect the following interests:

Recommendation 2:

The NWC recommends that the best use of NEEF to meet the interests in Recommendation 1 is to construct a Water Release Facility at Kenney Dam with the following features:

h. Converting Options into Reality

This phase has two aspects: providing recommendations to the NEEF Management Committee, with short- and long-term support of the NEEF process; and public relations and awareness.  In keeping with its commitment to openness, transparency and inclusiveness, significant effort has been directed to communicating the NWC’s efforts to the widest possible audience.  In particular:

Participation in the NWC has increased to twenty-five member organizations. Interests that have not become members, including the Cheslatta Carrier Nation and the Skin Tyee and Nee Tahi Buhn Bands, attend as regular observers and participants in their unique issues.  The NWC has also invited Fisheries and Oceans Canada to increase its level of support and participation in the Council to include policy-level as well as technical-level personnel.

5. IMPLEMENTATION OF NEEF MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS

In the thirty months since its formation, the NWC has overcome seemingly impossible formative obstacles and reached substantial consensus on a series of issues, some of which have proved irreconcilable for up to fifty years. It has discharged its mandate under the 1997 BC/Alcan Agreement and acknowledges the NEEF Management Committee for positively considering its advice and for its efforts to incorporate this advice into its larger task. 

The NWC also recognizes that these recommendations inevitably raise issues related to the amount and use of water freed up by a Water Release Facility (see Appendix B), impact on Nechako River flows and implications for environmental, social and economic interests in the Murray/Cheslatta watershed, Nechako and Kemano river watersheds and the communities that depend upon them. 

Finally, the NWC is reminded that the British Columbia Utilities Commission’s December 16, 1994 Kemano Completion Review – Report and Recommendations to the Lieutenant Governor in Council recommended in part:

“the immediate establishment of a watershed management agency for the Nechako reservoir and watershed. The Commission notes that hearing participants supported an approach that is flexible, involves stakeholder participation and is based on consensus-based decision-making. … The Commission believes that the stakeholders in the region should determine the structure and mandate of the agency and how they want the process of establishing the agency to be conducted.”

The NWC therefore believes that it is well-suited to play a significant role in implementing the NEEF Management Committee recommendations.

Notwithstanding this, the NWC believes it is premature to formulate precise recommendations on any ongoing management and advisory processes for the Nechako watershed. Some aspects of this question depend on the ultimate response and implementation of the NEEF Management Committee’s recommendations.  As importantly, the NWC believes that local stakeholders should play a key role in any process to change the current management structures on the Nechako River.  Factors which would figure prominently in the design and evolution of the NWC’s future role may include considerations such as administrative and management support, core funding, representation and membership and the nature of the role, be it advisory, co-managerial or founded on a legislated function.  Any future community process must continue to recognize that Alcan, British Columbia and the Nechako Fisheries Conservation Program retain legal responsibility for managing water flows and the existing infrastructure. 

The NWC sees this process, if it is to occur, taking place over time on an adaptive basis leading up to and beyond the time that a Water Release Facility is in place.  The NWC believes that the only certainty that would result from any decisions that are made now with respect to future management structures on the Nechako River is that they will likely fail when it comes time to implement them.

However, in the short term, the NWC recognizes that there is a need for public participation in the interim period between submission of the NEEF Management Committee’s Report and the implementation of its recommendations. In the longer term, these needs will include supporting and assisting implementation of NEEF decisions as appropriate and participation in any subsequent environmental assessment process pursuant to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act or the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Act.

The NWC therefore recommends as follows:

Recommendation 3:

The NWC recommends that it have the following future roles in the implementation of the NEEF Management Committee’s recommendations:

i. the distribution of releases from Skins Lake Spillway;

ii. the distribution of releases from a Water Release Facility at Kenney Dam; and

iii. mechanisms under which those releases are implemented and managed.

Recommendation 4:

The NWC recommends that the submission to the British Columbia government and Alcan for financing of a Water Release Facility at Kenney Dam should not proceed until the NWC reaches consensus on the reallocation of flows that would be “freed up” by the construction and operation of a Water Release Facility at Kenney Dam, including:

If for any reason including the insufficiency of available funds, the NEEF Management Committee concludes that it cannot support the NWC’s recommended Water Release Facility, the NWC requests the opportunity to continue to participate in the process to determine the best use of the NEEF funds. This participation may include providing further input and recommendations to the NEEF Management Committee or its successors, attempting to secure additional funding or other possible involvement.

The NWC encourages the NEEF Management Committee’s favorable consideration and response to these recommendations.

Appendix A. 

Nechako Watershed Council Member Organizations

(As of November 2000)

Alcan British Columbia

BC Trappers Association

City of Prince George

City of Terrace

Community Futures Development Corporation of Stuart Nechako

District of Fort St. James

District of Kitimat

District of Vanderhoof

Ecology Circle

Fort Fraser Chamber of Commerce

Kitimat Chamber of Commerce

Lheidli T'enneh

Nechako Valley Regional Cattlemen's Association

Northwest Communities Coalition

Province of British Columbia - Ministry of Environment, Lands & Parks

Province of British Columbia - Ministry of Energy & Mines

Regional District of Bulkley Nechako - Area `D'

Regional District of Bulkley Nechako - Area 'E'

Regional District of Bulkley Nechako - Area `F'

Southside Economic Development Association

Terrace and District Chamber of Commerce

Tweedsmuir Recreation Commission

University of Northern BC

Vanderhoof and District Chamber of Commerce

Vanderhoof Fish & Game

Appendix B. 

Status Report on Reallocating Freed-Up Flows

(Draft of December 8, 2000)

Background

A Water Release Facility (WRF) at the Kenney Dam that can release cold water (10°C) as recommended by the NWC will use significantly less water to cool the Nechako River for the protection of migrating sockeye salmon then the current high summer cooling flows.  The difference in the amount of water that would be released over this period if a WRF were built is commonly referred to as the “freed-up” flows.  These flows are approximately 12.8 cms under existing criteria.

The Reallocation Process

In February 1998, Alcan indicated that, while it is legally-entitled to use all of the water that would be freed-up by a WRF, it was prepared to work within an open, transparent and consensus-based process to attempt to arrive at a consensus on the reallocation of the freed-up flows. 

The Nechako Watershed Council (NWC) was formed in June 1998.  Over the next 20 months the NWC concentrated its efforts on identifying, obtaining information and discussing a variety of issues in the Nechako Watershed and on forming a recommendation to the Nechako Environmental Enhancement Fund (NEEF) Management Committee that a WRF is the preferred option for the downstream enhancement of the Nechako Watershed.

In the summer of 2000, the NWC then shifted its attention to the process of attempting to reach a consensus on the reallocation of the freed-up flows.  To date, this process has occupied six meetings:

The NWC discussed various approaches to attempt to reallocate the freed-up flows at the May and June meetings.  The NWC eventually reached a consensus on this process. 

This process involves collectively reviewing the NWC’s list of issues and, where these issues are flow-related, converting these issues into flow-related criteria.  These criteria are then input into a spreadsheet and plotted on a graph.  Some of the criteria involve interests upstream of Cheslatta Falls such as releases from the Skins Lake Spillway through the Murray/Cheslatta system, potential releases for hydroelectric generation at Kenney Dam and hydroelectric generation at Kemano.  However, the NWC has used a common reference point of the Nechako River below Cheslatta Falls for comparison purposes.

Once these criteria are determined, a potential hydrograph is drawn which attempts to respect the various constraints, interests and water available.  The Water Management Branch of the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks in Prince George is leading this process.  This process is ongoing.

The Hydrograph

A draft table and graph that illustrates the above process is attached. 

The NWC’s list of 25 issues is found on the left side of the table.  These issues are characterized by their various types.  As indicated in the key to the table various abbreviations are used to identify whether the issue reflects a minimum or maximum constraint, some form of target or whether the issue is non-flow related. 

The main body of the table contains the various criteria that have been discussed.  Short comments on a number of the respective issues are made in the final column.  Additional notes are provided on a separate page.  The spreadsheet also contains certain “reference flows” for comparison purposes.

The flow-related criteria are then plotted on a graph.  The illustrative graph shows these as horizontal bars related to the various criteria on the right side of the graph.  An attempt is then made to “fit” a potential hydrograph within these constraints.  The blue line on the graph illustrates this.  It should be noted that the current draft hydrograph represents a situation where the minimum flows are being released into the Nechako River.  In many years more water would be released. 

As is apparent from the draft graph, there are some criteria that the NWC have not been successful in meeting.  These are highlighted on the table. 

The red line on the graph compares the potential reallocation of freed-up flows to the current situation in the Nechako River at Cheslatta Falls.

As indicated, the NWC has not completed this portion of their work and the drafts attached should not be used to suggest what the potential outcome of the NWC’s work might be.  They should only be used for illustrative purposes of the work completed to date.  However, the NWC does believe that it has developed a tool that, together with other tools (i.e., communication), will allow it to reach a consensus on the reallocation of the freed-up flows and will allow the NWC to address other situations as they arise.  It is not expected that there would be a single hydrograph for the Nechako River.  Rather, it is expected that the NWC will arrive at a consensus for determining how the freed-up flows will be reallocated and the tools for how flows will be determined in different years and potentially adapted over time.

Next Steps

The NWC is continuing its work to attempt to arrive at a consensus on the reallocation of the freed-up flows.  It has accomplished a significant amount in this process.  However, there is also additional work that still remains.

As indicated above, at the current stage of the NWC’s work, there are criteria that are not being met by the draft hydrograph.  As a result, both these criteria and the draft hydrograph must be re-examined to determine if these interests can co-exist or must be reconciled.  The NWC will continue to refine these until a solution is found.  The NWC also must do further work to refine the potential distribution of flows between the Murray/Cheslatta system and a potential Water Release Facility at Kenney Dam.

Once a consensus has been reached with respect to the reallocation of the freed-up flows, the NWC must also arrive at a consensus on the specific legal mechanisms to ensure that these releases will be made into the Nechako River.

 Summary

The NWC has made significant progress on the process of reaching a consensus on the reallocation of the freed-up flows if a Water Release Facility is built at the Kenney Dam.  While it still has more work to do on this it is confident that it will be able to reach a consensus on this issue and the specific legal mechanisms to ensure that these releases will be made into the Nechako River.